Athens  - Greek riot police clashed with more than 200 stone-throwing anarchists in downtown Athens in the early hours of Friday following the arrest of four people suspected of taking part in a spree of bomb attacks.

The hooded youths hurled stones at police and set fire to rubbish bins near the central district of Exarchia. Police responded by firing tear gas. No injuries, arrests or major damage was reported.

The clashes came less than two weeks before general elections scheduled for October 4.

The country has been plagued by a series of bomb attacks by leftist groups across the country since the police shooting of a teenager last December in Exarchia, which sparked the country's worst riots in years.

Anti-terrorist police arrested four young Greeks and raided a house in Athens Wednesday, discovering materials used to make explosives. The raid followed a bombing outside the home of an member of the Socialist opposition which caused minor damage.

The detainees are suspected of belonging to the small leftist guerilla group Fire Conspiracy Cells. The group claimed responsibility for a bombing in a government building in the northern Greek port of Thessaloniki earlier this month. (dpa)