Political riots

Police said on Saturday morning that eight people were arrested after violent clashes between soccer fans on Friday afternoon in the area of Seismoplykta in Ioannina, northwestern Greece.

The people involved in the incident are aged between 19 and 30, and four of them ended up in hospital. Two were hospitalized under guard.

France is bracing for a new round of nationwide protests and strikes on Thursday after a meeting between the prime minister and unions failed to break the deadlock over a deeply unpopular pension reform bill, Reuters reported.

Protesters hold placards during a protest outside the French embassy in solidarity with French workers protesting pension system changes, in Athens, Thursday. [Reuters]

More than 1 million people demonstrated across France on Thursday against unpopular pension reforms, and violence erupted in some places as unions called for new nationwide strikes and protests next week, coinciding with King Charles III's planned visit to France.

Another night of protests and clashes with the police in France over the pension reform. Police used tear gas against demonstrators in Paris who set garbage containers and a motorcycle on fire.

Greek police fired tear gas and protesters hurled firebombs on Thursday as more than 40,000 people took to the streets to slam the government and voice outrage at last month's train disaster that killed 57 people.

The protests were accompanied by a 24-hour strike -- the biggest yet since the disaster -- this time called by Greece's leading private as well as public sector unions.

Clashes broke out in Athens Thursday after a general strike in Greece that was called in response to a rail disaster last month.

Flights to and from Greece were grounded and ships remained docked at ports on Thursday, as Greek workers walked off the job to protest over the country's deadliest train crash on record which killed 57 people on Feb. 28.

Flights to and from Greece will be grounded and ships will remain docked at ports on Thursday, as Greek workers walk off the job to protest over the country's deadliest train crash on record which killed 57 people on Feb. 28.

Students from art and music schools gathered on Friday noon at Syntagma Square in Athens for a protest concert over the failings that led to the train accident at Tempe, northern Greece.