Greek riot police and anti-fascist protesters clashed at a rally in central Athens on Saturday.

More than 3,000 supporters of the fascist Golden Dawn party had rallied near the country's parliament to commemorate a 1996 dispute between Greece and Turkey over an uninhabited Aegean Sea island.

Police did not interfere with the right-wing rally but violent clashes occurred at a counter-demonstration in nearby Syntagma Square, staged by anti-fascist groups protesting against the Golden Dawn rally.

The authorities had banned both right and left protesters from marching through central Athens.

But scuffles broke out when anti-fascists spotted a man carrying a Greek flag.

Riot police used stun grenades and tear gas to break up the scuffle and set off in pursuit of escaping anti-fascists.

The chase eventually ended at a metro station, where police again used tear gas on protesters and commuters alike, chasing the protesters through the tunnels.

Protesters set fire to rubbish bins and a cash machine.

Police detained six anti-fascists but eventually arrested only one of them.

During the right-wing rally, Golden Dawn spokesman and MP Ilias Kassidiaris announced the founding of National Dawn, a front for Golden Dawn that he claimed would serve as a way to circumvent a possible electoral ban on the fascist party.

"Patriots will have a party to vote for in the next election if the authorities go ahead with the coup to ban Golden Dawn," he told the gathering of baying rightwingers.