Greek farmers clash with police at mass Athens protest

Greek farmers clashed with riot police in Athens during a mass protest against pension and tax austerity reforms demanded by the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Around 10,000 farmers from across the country were joined by worker unionists in central Syntagma Square on Friday, waving Greek flags and led by 20 tractors loudly blaring their horns.

The farmers lit a fire in front of the Greek parliament and some brought tents in preparation for a long protest.

"We are determined to stay here 10 days, we've brought tents," Stavros Haralas, a farmer from the northern region of Pieria, told the press. "We can't grow anything. At this rate, we will have to leave the country and become immigrants ourselves.”

"We have come to demonstrate peacefully," Christos Georgakopoulos, a 42-year-old raisin grower from Nemea in the Peloponnese, told AFP.

"We are demonstrating against the pension reform and we want to be taxed fairly.”

Earlier on Friday, farmers from Crete clashed with riot police outside the agriculture ministry after arriving by ferries at the port of Piraeus.

They pelted the police with tomatoes and other items, smashed windows in the ministry and set fire to dustbins.

Police, who blocked their route, responded with teargas and arrested four people.

"The first floor of the building sustained damage, it is fortunate that no staff were hurt," Agriculture Minister Evangelos Apostolou told reporters.

The minister urged protest leaders to contain "extreme" elements in their midst, as officials said that far-right militants had joined parts of the protest.

Nikos Toskas, the junior interior minister for police, confirmed that 10 police officers had been hurt during the protest, two of them requiring hospitalisation.

"The plan is for farm vehicles to be parked aside so the farmers can participate in the protest without causing confusion in the city," Toskas told state TV ERT. "We will safeguard the city centre and the protests," he said.

Including the Cretans, farmers' groups descended on Athens from at least three sides.

Police also confronted farmers from the Peloponnese peninsula who tried to break through barriers into the city centre from a western suburb with their farm vehicles.

They also fired teargas there after a hooded protester smashed the windshield of a squad car.

Another large group came from the north, and plans to camp at Syntagma Square, opposite parliament, until Sunday.

The Greek farmers are angry about government plans to increase their social security contributions as part of wider austerity reforms of the country's ailing pension system.

They have also condemned plans to double their income tax by 2017 and scrap benefits such as cheaper fuel.