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Greek protesters, riot police scuffle in Athens

  • Riot policemen detain a protester during a demonstration against austerity measures in Athens, on Thursday March 6, 2014. 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 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. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)
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    Riot policemen detain a protester during a demonstration against austerity measures in Athens, on Thursday March 6, 2014. 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 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. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)
  • Protesters affiliated to the Communist Party shout slogans as riot policemen block them during a demonstration against austerity measures in Athens, on Thursday March 6, 2014. 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 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. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)
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    Protesters affiliated to the Communist Party shout slogans as riot policemen block them during a demonstration against austerity measures in Athens, on Thursday March 6, 2014. 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 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. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)
  • 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)
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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)
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  • Greek President Karolos Papoulias, third from 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)
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    Greek President Karolos Papoulias, third from 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)
  • An army officer watches the preparations for Friday's visit of German and Greek Presidents, at the monument with the names of villagers who German army troops massacred, in the village of Ligiades near the northwestern town of Ioannina, Greece, on Thursday, March 6, 2014. German President Joachim Gauck's three-day visit to the country will include a speech Friday at the 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/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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    An army officer watches the preparations for Friday's visit of German and Greek Presidents, at the monument with the names of villagers who German army troops massacred, in the village of Ligiades near the northwestern town of Ioannina, Greece, on Thursday, March 6, 2014. German President Joachim Gauck's three-day visit to the country will include a speech Friday at the 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/Thanassis Stavrakis)
  • An army officer watches the preparations for Friday's visit of German and Greek Presidents, at the monument with the names of villagers who German army troops massacred, in the village of Ligiades near the northwestern town of Ioannina, Greece, on Thursday, March 6, 2014. German President Joachim Gauck's three-day visit to the country will include a speech Friday at the 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/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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    An army officer watches the preparations for Friday's visit of German and Greek Presidents, at the monument with the names of villagers who German army troops massacred, in the village of Ligiades near the northwestern town of Ioannina, Greece, on Thursday, March 6, 2014. German President Joachim Gauck's three-day visit to the country will include a speech Friday at the 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/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Riot policemen detain a protester during a demonstration against austerity measures in Athens, on Thursday March 6, 2014. 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 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. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)
Protesters affiliated to the Communist Party shout slogans as riot policemen block them during a demonstration against austerity measures in Athens, on Thursday March 6, 2014. 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 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. (AP Photo/Kostas Tsironis)
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)
Greek President Karolos Papoulias, third from 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)
An army officer watches the preparations for Friday's visit of German and Greek Presidents, at the monument with the names of villagers who German army troops massacred, in the village of Ligiades near the northwestern town of Ioannina, Greece, on Thursday, March 6, 2014. German President Joachim Gauck's three-day visit to the country will include a speech Friday at the 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/Thanassis Stavrakis)
An army officer watches the preparations for Friday's visit of German and Greek Presidents, at the monument with the names of villagers who German army troops massacred, in the village of Ligiades near the northwestern town of Ioannina, Greece, on Thursday, March 6, 2014. German President Joachim Gauck's three-day visit to the country will include a speech Friday at the 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/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek riot police used tear gas, pepper spray and batons in scuffles Thursday with anti-austerity protesters who took to the streets despite a partial ban on demonstrations in the capital during a visit by German President Joachim Gauck.

The scuffles in central Athens broke out when a group of several dozen demonstrators attempted to break through a police cordon set up on a major avenue as they headed toward the Finance Ministry.

The demonstrations by hundreds of union members were about job cuts and the government's ongoing austerity measures, and were unrelated to Gauck's visit. The German president met with his Greek counterpart earlier Thursday, a day before a visit to the site of a World War II Nazi massacre in northwestern Greece.

Citing security concerns, authorities banned all demonstrations from 8 a.m. to 7p.m. local time in parts of central Athens. Several austerity-related protests, however, had already been scheduled.

Greece has been hammered by a vicious financial crisis since late 2009 that has developed into an economic depression. The country's economy has shrunk by around a quarter while unemployment has soared. Seasonally adjusted figures released by the statistics authority Thursday showed the jobless rate dipped marginally in December 2013 to 27.5 percent from 27.6 percent the previous month.

Since May 2010, Greece has been dependent on billions of euros in rescue loans from the other European Union countries that use the euro, and from the International Monetary Fund. In return, successive Greek governments have had to slash spending, increase taxes and enact wide-ranging economic reforms.

On Thursday, the Bank of Greece announced the results of stress tests conducted on the country's battered commercial banking system. It said in a statement that the capital needs of all Greek lenders through 2016 were estimated at 6.4 billion euros ($8.8 billion). It said these can be covered by existing buffers, capital increases, assets sales and untapped European funds.