Violence in Greece begins to subside

The killing of this boy on Saturday sparked the riots

The funeral took place in Greece on Tuesday of the 15-year-old boy, Alexander Grigoropoulos, who was shot dead on Saturday.

His death sparked violent disturbances that spread across the country and continued for several days.

Clashes have continued, but they have been on a smaller scale, as the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Athens.

Listen Listen to Sarah Rainsford (57 secs)

First broadcast 11 December 2008

Here is a selection of our coverage from earlier in the week:

Listen Listen to sounds from Athens on Monday night (25 secs)

Peaceful daytime protests have turned into riots after dark in most of Greece's major cities.

Joost Meijerink is a Dutch businessman who was on a trip to Athens and witnessed the rioting from his hotel room.

Listen Listen to Joost Meijerink (1 min 39 secs)

Aris Molfetas-Lygiaris is a 23-year-old trainee lawyer, who has taken part in the peaceful protests.

Police are the main target of many of the rioters

Did he join the demonstrations purely in sorrow for the death of this one boy?

Listen Listen to Aris Molfetas-Lygiaris (1 min 17 secs)

Much of the violence has been targetted against the police, but there is also a great deal of indiscriminate rioting, causing widespread destruction to whole areas of cities.

Panos Livadas is the government spokesman for the centre-right government, headed by Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis.

Listen Listen to Panos Livadas (2 mins 18 secs)

The opposition leader, George Papandreou, has called for early elections.

The BBC's Robin Lustig asked him whether it was not his duty to do everything he could to bring this violence to an end.

Listen Listen to George Papandreou (3 mins 37 secs)

The funeral of Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Tuesday drew huge crowds to a coastal suburb of the capital. His family had asked for calm, although there were clashes after the service outside the cemetery.

The rioting is taking place in many big cities across Greece

Europe Today's Audrey Carville heard about the day's events from the BBC's Sarah Rainsford.

Listen Listen to Sarah Rainsford (3 mins 48 secs)

So what lies behind the protests?

Are they simply a reaction to the shooting of the teenage boy, or are there deeper causes?

Dr Othon Anastasakis is the director of South East European studies at St Anthony's College, Oxford, and Pavlos Tsimas is a leading Greek journalist and political commentator.

Listen Listen to their discussion (4 mins 17 secs)

First broadcast 9 December 2008