ATHENS - Anti-racism campaigners were set to march in Athens on Saturday against tougher EU asylum policies, in the wake of two weeks of violent street unrests triggered by the police killing of a teenager.

Teachers, labour unions and immigrant groups were supporting the demonstration that was gathering in the heart of the Greek capital at 3 pm (1300 GMT).

Protesters demanding justice for the death of Alexis Grigoropoulos, 15, meanwhile continued to occupy hundreds of schools and many universities throughout Greece.

Athens Polytechnic, site of a 1973 student uprising that hastened the fall of military dictatorship in Greece, was among the occupied campuses.

The anti-racism demonstration is directed at the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, adopted by EU leaders on October, that would increasingly oblige refugees to apply for asylum status from outside the bloc.

More than one million immigrants live in Greece -- roughly one-tenth of the population -- of which more than 200,000 lack residency papers.

Swelling the numbers are fresh arrivals mainly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.

Saturday's march follows daily protests in Athens and in Greece's second city Thessaloniki over Grigoropoulos' death on December 6 -- protests that regularly turned violent.

Tension escalated Wednesday after another teenager, the son of a union leader, was wounded in a mysterious shooting incident.

Masked youths Friday attacked the French cultural institute in Athens after about 1,000 students and communist activists marched in the western district of Peristeri to condemn the second shooting.

High school protest committees were meeting Saturday to determine whether to continue their mobilisation through the Christmas holidays.

Students occupying Athens Polytechnic were meanwhile scheduled to gather on the street corner in the bohemian district of Exarcheia, where Grigoropoulos fell exactly two weeks ago.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis's conservative government is under fire over the unrest, with labour unions putting extra pressure on the government ahead of a parliamentary vote Sunday on the budget.

Karamanlis is shrugging off opposition calls to resign. Last week he announced financial measures in a bid to dampen the criticism and to support the business and tourism sectors hard-hit by the unrest.

Hundreds of shops and banks in Athens and elsewhere have sustained damage due to street violence that nearly killed off the Christmas shopping season.

With trading gradually resuming, rumours are rife in the Greek news media that Karamanlis will reshuffle his government -- which hands on a fragile single-seat majority in the 300-deputy parliament.