Violent protests broke out in Athens and Thessaloniki

Greece over the police shooting of a Roma teenager after he allegedly filled his vehicle at a gas station and drove off without paying.

One thousand five hundred people smashed shops and threw Molotov cocktails at police in Thessaloniki. Earlier, 100+ Roma folks erected barricades and burned trash cans outside the hospital where the boy was being treated, hurling bottles at police who tried to disperse them.

Clashes also have broken out at a police station between riot police and residents of a nearby Roma settlement.

The teen, whose identity has not been officially released but has been identified as a member of the Roma community by relatives, was hit in the head and is in critical condition in Thessaloniki.

The 32-year-old police officer who shot Roma boy Costas Fragkoulis in the head during a chase on Monday faces charges of attempted murder with possible intent (a felony), conducting illegal shooting to immobilize or neutralize (a misdemeanour).

In Menidi, Megara and other areas of western Athens and Attica where Roma settlements are located, the angry crowd threw stones at riot police squads deployed there.

This comes one day before the anniversary of Alexis Grigoropoulos' murder, which set off the 2008 uprising in Greece.