Athens  - Riots continued throughout Greece on Sunday following the death of a teenaged boy shot earlier in the night by police.

In the capital Athens, hundreds of riots destroyed dozens of shops in along the city's most important commercial street Ermou.

In Thessaloniki, Greeces second largest city, hundreds of youths rioted through the city and the protests also spread to the southern Mediterranean island of Crete and the northern cities of Komotini and Ioannina.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos offered his resignation to the prime minister. The offer was rejected.

According to media, the rioting began in the Greek capital after groups of youths in the central neighborhood of Exarchia began attacking a police car with stones and firebombs late on Saturday.

One of the officers inside the police vehicle retaliated by warning firing shots, one of which seriously wounded the teenager in the stomach. The teenager died upon arrive at hospital.

Witnesses however claim that there was only a verbal exchange between the youths and police, and that a policeman shot directly into the group.

"It was cold-blooded murder," an eyewitness told a radio broadcaster.

The interior minister said "an investigation to clarify the situation has already began and all those involved will be punished so that such a thing does not happen again."

Two police officers have been arrested in the incident and were being questioned just as dozens of people staged a march outside the police headquarters where they were taken. (dpa)