SHOCKING videos show Athens engulfed in flames as a Molotov-wielding mob turned it into a warzone overnight, torching cars and clashing violently with riot police.

Street battles broke out just after midnight on Saturday as a group of around 50 people hurled petrol bombs, stones and fireworks at officers outside a police station in Exarchia.

Cops responded with tear gas and flash grenades, but the violence spiralled out of control, with fires raging across Kallidromiou, Benaki, Charilaou Trikoupi and Methonis streets.

Dramatic footage shows cars exploding in fireballs as thick black smoke choked the sky.

Stunned residents, meanwhile, watched the chaos unfold from windows.

A total of 21 cars were torched, with five completely destroyed, and a house and a shop were damaged.

The entrance and ground floor of an apartment building on Emmanuel Benaki Street caught fire and had to be evacuated.

Fire crews scrambled to contain the inferno, with 18 firefighters and seven engines tackling the blazes.

Garbage bins were also set alight and used as makeshift barricades as the mob battled police in running street fights that lasted over an hour.

Cops detained 72 people and reported one officer injured during the mayhem.

“Incidents occurred on Saturday night in Exarchia where unknown persons attacked police forces,” Greek Police said.

“According to ELAS, the incidents began shortly before midnight when groups of unknown persons attacked police forces at the intersection of Kallidromiou and E. Benaki streets with Molotov cocktails and stones, with the police responding by using chemical weapons.”

Police are now investigating to identify the attackers, as scorched vehicles and charred debris litter the streets of Exarchia.

It comes just a couple of days after a bomb exploded in central Athens after authorities received a tip from an anonymous caller.

The blast took place outside the Hellenic Train offices – Greece‘s main railway company that was involved in the tragic 2023 rail disaster, which killed dozens of people.

Footage showed a huge flash as a padlocked backpack, reportedly tied to a pillar and left on a bike without plates, detonated following a warning call from an anonymous tipster.

Local media said the caller warned at 8.53pm on Friday the bomb would explode in “30 to 40 minutes” and insisted “it is not a prank.”

Emergency crews cordoned off the area after residents reported a loud blast.

No injuries have been reported, but damage is still being assessed.

Christos Dimas, Greece’s Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, said: “The bomb attack that took place today at the offices of Hellenic Train is an absolutely condemnable act.

“This is a criminal act, which endangered the lives of people, employees and passers-by, in a central point of Athens and during peak traffic hours.

“Nothing justifies terrorism, no act of violence brings justice.”

The explosion comes amid ongoing anger over the 2023 rail tragedy, which saw two trains collide head-on after being mistakenly put on the same track.

The crash, which killed dozens and left 66 injured, including children, was blamed on human error, poor maintenance and staffing shortages.

A trial date has yet to be announced.