Greece is effectively shut off today with all airports closed as rioting continues through major cities in the wake of police shootings. The funeral of a teenager has sparked anarchy in Athens, with protesters throwing rocks at police, firebombing buildings and cars and destroying property. But who is rioting and why? The latest from the global newsroom:

Greece struggles to contain growing unrest. Police have clashed with rioters on the streets of Athens for the third consecutive day after a 15-year-old boy was shot dead by police. Anger at the shooting has added to wider dissatisfaction with the government and economic hardship. Dozens of buildings have been looted and set ablaze. Video. — Al Jazeera

On the Greek riots: Irregular updates on the situation in Greece. Over 1,000 people are in the streets — effectively in control of the centre of the city. Many banks are smashed — at least 6 or 7 so far. The central commercial street of Agiou Nikolaou is completely blocked off with barricades. — OccupiedLondon

The feeling here is if you have money and status you can pretty much do what you want. We have a saying here: “If you’ve got money, you’re innocent.” There’s a feeling that it’s the rich versus the rest, and there’s unity between those who aren’t rich. You just have to look at the reaction over the last few days to see how people have come together. There are three groups involved. There are the communists, who believe in peaceful protest and are not damaging property. They are the ones who try to stop the others destroying buildings or burning banks. The anarchists are the ones you may have seen on television wearing masks. They are burning the banks and state property. They do have support from some communists. The third group are the younger people who like to think that they are anarchists but they don’t know what they stand for. They are the ones who have been looting – they are neither anarchists nor communists. They are calling themselves anarchists but making things 20 times worse. I sympathise with them. — Anna Giabanidis @ BBC Eyewitness

Flickr stream Days of rage. Greek riots 2008:

As riots continue, Greece faces mounting political crisis. That the shooting death of a teenager, however tragic, could bring an entire country to its knees speaks to the deep political, social and economic unrest in Greece. The center-right government of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis hangs by a one-vote majority in Parliament and is roiled by a corruption scandal in which two senior ministers have already resigned. Unemployment is high and the global recession hitting hard. For the second day in a row Tuesday, students, teachers and workers used the demonstrations inspired by the death of Alexandros Grigoropolos, 15, to protest everything from school reforms to the grim economic situation. On Tuesday, the Socialist party leader, George Papandreou, renewed his call for early elections. Yet it remained unclear whether the riots would cause the government to fall. — International Herald Tribune

Rioting Greeks have 3,000-year history of readiness to fight behind them. The smouldering centre of Athens yesterday provided the latest evidence of a propensity to political violence that has characterised the Greeks since Homeric times. Watching the hooded hordes of anarchists torching public buildings at will for three days, it was hard not to agree with Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher, who wrote famously that “the Greeks, the most humane men of ancient times, have a trait of cruelty, a tigerish lust to annihilate … that must strike fear into our hearts throughout their whole history and mythology.” — Times

Mourners and police clash at Greek schoolboy funeral. As hundreds of protesters clashed with police outside the Greek parliament, the Socialist opposition leader, George Papandreou, said Greeks had lost trust in the government as the disorder across the country entered its fourth day. “The country doesn’t have a government to protect it,” he said, speaking after emergency talks with the prime minister, Costas Karamanlis. “Citizens are experiencing a multiple crisis: a social crisis, a crisis of values. People have lost trust in the government.” — The Guardian

Strike to halt all Greece flights on Wednesday. Greek flights will be grounded on Wednesday as air traffic controllers walk out for one day to join a general strike over labour reforms and the government’s economic policies, union officials said. “All flights from and to Greek airports will be halted and only emergency flights will take place,” Panagiotis Hatzakis, secretary-general of the air traffic controllers’ union, told Reuters on Monday. Greeks fear the nationwide strike could cause further unrest as rioting continued for a third day across Greece, triggered by the fatal shooting of a teenager by police at the weekend and fuelled by economic hardship. — Reuters