A police officer has been arrested after a 16-year-old boy was shot in the head during a car chase because of an unpaid bill at a petrol station.
The teenager, who is in a critical condition in hospital, was not named but was identified by relatives as being a member of the Roma community.
The incident happened early on Monday outside Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city.
Officers from a police motorcycle patrol chased the boy in a pick-up truck after authorities were alerted by a petrol station worker over an unpaid bill of 20 euros (£17).
Now the arrested officer will appear before a public prosecutor on Tuesday to face charges of attempted manslaughter.
The shooting happened on the evening of annual protests in Greek cities to commemorate the deathly police shooting in Athens in 2008 of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, whose death prompted several riots that lasted for weeks.
Anniversary protests held since the shooting have often led to violent clashes between protesters and riot police.
Government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou commented: "The value of a human life can never be measured by any amount of money."
Police said the officer, who was a passenger on one of the pursuing motorcycles, fired two shots to try to stop the suspect ramming the bike.
A statement said the driver of the pick-up truck had "repeatedly made dangerous manoeuvres" before the shots were fired, adding that the vehicle subsequently crashed.
A spokesman for Greece's main opposition, the left-wing Syriza party, accused the centre-right government of failing to keep excessive policing methods in check.
"Society can no longer tolerate this climate of fear created by extreme police brutality which, for trivial reasons, has threatened the life of an underage 16-year-old child," said Christos Spirtzis, the party spokesman for public order.
Protests against the shooting were planned in Athens and Thessaloniki later on Monday.
