THESSALONIKI – Clashes between anarchists and riot police are continuing at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece’s second-largest city in a battle for control of some campus buildings.

Three people were arrested during more confrontations a couple of days after a gang of sledgehammer wielders destroyed a wall being built to create a library after police retook a squat that had been held for 34 years.

In this latest incident, a group of people hurled stones and other projectiles at construction workers on the site where work is being carried out to create the library, police called in again, said Kathimerini.

Police used some chemical weapons to beat back the crowd which gathered directly in front of the university building that has become like a scene from a movie with constant fighting.

Members of anti-establishment groups tried to enter the building and broke the shutters and the windows in the entrance and stayed, taunting authorities and demanding the police leave so they could continue their vandalism unimpeded.

Despite a vow from the New Democracy government to stop it, violence remains unchecked at some universities ahead of the deployment of some 400 unarmed security forces who will be left to deal with the troublemakers.