Labour union activists blockaded some shops in central Athens that were trying to open yesterday.

The shopkeepers’ association had asked to keep their businesses open for a second consecutive Sunday – one more than the customary Christmas exemption to the usual opening hours. They wanted to try to recoup some of their losses from the economic slowdown and from the riots that followed the police killing of a 15-year-old boy.

Unionists said the shop owners wanted an excuse to extend Sunday shopping.

Financial Times