Athens - Hundreds of mask-wearing municipal workers used bulldozers and water hoses to clear the streets of Athens from marble chunks, broken glass and burned barricades on Thursday following five days of rioting and social unrest.

While no major demonstrations were planned Thursday, authorities braced themselves for more civil unrest as tensions remained high over the police shooting of a
15-year-old boy at the weekend.

Two officers involved in the teenager's shooting were taken into custody and charged with manslaughter.

University and public school students refused to return to the classroom and more demonstrations were planned on Friday and over the weekend following a crippling general strike Wednesday.

Widespread violence, which quickly spread to more than eight cities across the country as soon as news of the shooting got out, including the port cities of Thessaloniki and Patras, had abated by the early hours of Thursday.

Scores of people have been injured and hundreds arrested.

For some, the violence and explosion of rage that followed the tragic shooting seemed excessive, but analysts insist it was triggered by long-simmering anger and discontent with the government over a series of financial scandals and unpopular economic, pension and education reforms.

The shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was seen as the last straw by many young Greeks whose economic future is bleak in a country with a high unemployment rate and low wages.

Unemployment is pegged at over 7 per cent, and nearly 20 per cent of Greeks live below the poverty line, earning less than 600 euros a month.

Commentators in Greece have pegged the new generation of young people as the "600-euro-a-month generation of workers."

"Everyone appears to have let our children down. Students have become more hostile towards us and to figures of authority," Christos Kittas said on resigning as the dean of Athens University after rioting spread to campuses.

Evading calls to step down by the opposition party leaders that are demanding early elections, the prime minister left for Brussels Friday to attend an EU summit on the economy.

The government, which has seen its popularity ratings fall sharply behind the opposition Socialists in recent months, promised once again to compensate businesses for the millions of euros of damage suffered - announcing loans, emergency subsidies and tax relief measures.

Dimitris Katsaridis, president of the Federation of Business in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, told Greek radio that the measures were not enough.

"We are doubtful about how quickly these measures will be implemented; we need them immediately and do not have the luxury to wait."

The conservatives won their way to power in March 2004, riding a wave of discontent at nearly 20 years of socialist rule.

They vowed to fight corruption and to improve the everyday life for the average Greek.

While they scored winning points with the European Union for cutting budget deficits and pushing privatizations, many said they failed to meet any measures to support the poor.

When devastating forest fires ripped through large part of Greece more than a year ago, the prime minister had promised emergency subsidies for the residents whose homes and livelihood were ruined.

The residents claim the government's promises were never met.

When the economic crisis finally reached Greece, the government immediately reacted by implementing a series of tax measures and announcing a 28-billion-euro bail-out plan for Greek banks, which unlike banking systems abroad were not exposed to toxic assets and had no capital adequacy problems.

"The students are out demonstrating on behalf of all the poor, the pensioners and for the average worker who is constantly been taxed to the bones," said a 68-year-old civil servant who rallied in Athens along with thousands of strikers on Wednesday. (dpa)