Police in Greece's second-largest city say they have arrested two people as suspects in an attack that left the mayor of Thessaloniki hospitalized.

About a dozen people set upon Mayor Yiannis Boutaris at a Saturday ceremony honoring Greek victims of purges by the Turks during World War I and the subsequent Greek-Turkish war. He was thrown to the ground and kicked all over his body.

Ippokratio General Hospital director Vana Papachristodoulou says the 75-year-old Boutaris was admitted with a leg injury and bruises and in a state of shock, and discharged early Sunday.

Police say one of the detained suspects is a 36 year old, the other age 20. They are looking for more suspects.

The Greek government blamed the beating on "extreme-right thugs." Boutaris is reviled by extreme nationalists.