A massive security operation is underway in the capital ahead of the visit of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.
Up to 7,000 police will be on duty in central Athens, a large bloc of which has been declared a “red zone” in which all public gatherings and protests have been banned from 9am to 10pm on the order of the authorities.
Merkel, on her first visit to Greece since July 2007, is expected to remain in Athens for six hours.