ATHENS – After squashed any attempt by protesters to engage in street battles during the Nov. 17 commemoration of the 1973 student uprising that helped bring down a military dictatorship, Greek police went back into the anarchist-dominated area of Exarchia and said they seized firecrackers and rocks that could have been used against them.

Two men were arrested, said Kathimerini, a 47-year-old cafe worker and a 33-year-old student who are believed to have rented the apartment a few days earlier with the aim of using it as a base for attacks on riot police that didn’t happen after 5,000 cops were put on the streets.

That came as a prosecutor brought charges against 28 suspects who were arrested following clashes in Exarchia between self-styled anarchists and riot police as the New Democracy government is making good on its vow to take back the neighborhood and stop violence.

Four minors were among a total of 32 suspects detained and released from custody while other 28 suspects face charges ranging from supplying and being in possession of explosives to insulting police officers and assault, all misdemeanors.

Six had been apprehended following a Nov. 17 raid on the rooftop of an Exarchia apartment block that led to the seizure of materials used to manufacture firebombs, Molotov Cocktails, that could have been rained down on police.

Stymied from a full-scale confrontation with police, the notorious anarchist group Rouvikonas instead scattered fliers outside the home of Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis in Maroussi, splashed red paint at the Vyronas Town Hall, used sledgehammers to smash the facade of a cement company in Nea Philadelphia and then threw bottles of paint at the offices of two private power providers near Halandri.