Athens mayor hopes to clear protesters from centre

Hoping to boost tourism in a city shaken by waves of protests, the mayor of Athens announced Friday that he will try to convince protesters camped for more than a month in the city's central square to leave. A spokesperson for Mayor George Kaminis said he plans to meet Friday evening with leaders of "indignants" movement currently occupying Athens' Syntagma Square to protest tough budgets cuts adopted by the government. The mayor's office said he hopes "to find a solution to restore the image of the square", which touches the Greek parliament and two luxury hotels. When he meets with the protest leaders, Kaminis will try to strike a deal that would remove them from the square, "without violence", his spokesperson said. Leaders from the indignants movement are planning to make decisions on the future of their movement this weekend and declined to comment on the upcoming meeting with the mayor. The indignants were at their strongest in late May, when tens of thousands of sympathisers rallied around the movement as the Greek government prepared to push through another set of austerity measures demanded by the country's foreign creditors to avoid default. But their ranks have diminished significantly in recent weeks and on June 29 Greece's socialist government won parliamentary approval for the new austerity law loathed by the protesters. The movement has clashed several times with Athens police, notably on the day when lawmakers were voting on the new austerity law. City officials said the protesters had caused significant damage in central Athens. They destroyed some 300 trash cans and uprooted bits of sidewalk and other fixtures, which were at times hurled as projectiles at anti-riot police.