ATHENS, July 20 (AFP) - Civil rights demonstrators sabotaged one of hundreds of cameras installed on the streets of Athens in protest at security measures for next month's Olympic Games.
Footage on private television station Mega showed a young protestor standing on a ladder and daubing black paint on the camera installed on a 12-metre (40 feet) tall cement pillar in central Athens. Others were seen cutting the camera's cables on the ground.
Protestors fear Greece's massive security operation for the Games will undermine civil rights.
Police observing the small demonstration that took place in broad daylight did not intervene.
Hundreds of security cameras have been installed throughout Athens in recent days, feeding images to Greek police's separate Olympic security and traffic control commands.
Small, leftist parties and Greece's biggest labour union have protested the arrival in to Athens of a hi-tech security zeppelin fitted out with high-resolution cameras designed to keep watch over the August 13-29 Olympics.
Around 70,000 military and police personnel will be involved in Greece's 1.2 billion euro (1.5 billion dollars) Olympic security programme.