Protesters, riot police scuffle during ban on demonstrations for German president visit

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Greek President Karolos Papoulias, left, and his German counterpart Joachim Gauck, right, inspect a presidential guard during an official welcome ceremony outside the presidential palace, in Athens , on Thursday, March 6, 2014. Gauck is on a visit that will seek to lay to rest some of the ghosts of a brutal Nazi occupation, amid renewed anti-German sentiment stoked by Greece\'s financial crisis. His three-day visit will include a speech Friday at a site where German army troops massacred 92 villagers near the northeastern town of Ioannina, and a meeting with the town\'s Jewish community. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)

ATHENS, Greece – Riot police have used tear gas and pepper spray during scuffles with union members protesting austerity measures, during a ban on demonstrations in parts of central Athens due to a visit by German President Joachim Gauck.

Scuffles broke out Thursday when a group of several dozen demonstrators attempted to break through a police cordon on a major avenue in an effort to march to the Finance Ministry.

The demonstrations were unrelated to the visit by Gauck, who was meeting with his Greek counterpart and was due to visit the site of a Nazi massacre in central Greece Friday.

Authorities banned all demonstrations from 8 a.m. to 7p.m. local time in parts of the city, citing security concerns. Several hundred union members, mainly construction workers, had already scheduled demonstrations.

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