Greek government under fire over handling of riots

By Renee Maltezou and Silvia Aloisi

ATHENS (Reuters) - A week of violence in Greece has taken its toll on the fragile conservative government, with opinion polls showing on Sunday many think authorities mishandled the worst rioting in decades.

The Dec. 6 killing of a 15-year-old boy by police unleashed a wave of unrest by thousands of students and anarchists across the country, feeding on growing anger over political scandals and the impact of a global recession on Greece's economy.

While the violence has generally subsided in the past few days, small groups of hooded youngsters hurling fire bombs are still rampaging at night in the capital, fighting running battles with riot police and smashing shops.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has pledged to ensure security, rebuffing calls for early elections, but he has drawn widespread criticism for not acting quickly and decisively to tackle the revolt.

An opinion poll published by Ethnos newspaper on Sunday said 83.3 percent of Greeks were unhappy with the government's response to the violence.

Discontent was high -- 65.6 percent -- even among supporters of Karamanlis' New Democracy party, which has a one-seat majority in parliament.

Another survey, in Kathimerini daily, put disapproval of the government at 68 percent with 60 percent of those polled saying the riots were a social uprising rather than an isolated outburst by a small fringe of violent protesters.