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“Indignant” Greeks Force Lawmakers to Flee in the Dark
Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Society
Greek lawmakers, ministers, journalists and personnel found themselves in the grip of angry protesters while they were leaving the Parliament building Tuesday night in Athens. Police and fire brigades built barricade with vehicles to allow the politicians to leave the area without harm. It was shortly after 10 p.m. when protesters gathered around the main entrance of the Parliament, ‘trapping’ inside the lawmakers in the building. A Plan B was quickly put into practice. A ‘heroic exodus’ through a rare exit. Police squads escorted some 30 members of the parliament through the darkened paths of the National Gardens.
However the fear of being located by the protesters hindered the policemen to light their torches. And yet! Protesters got a whiff of the fleeing MPs and got together at the exit.
At the same time, MP’s drivers were leaving the Parliament main entrance in order to pick them up on a side road. The angry protesters kept chanting “Thieves! Thieves!” and “Traitors!”, booing and cursing. Some even hit with their hands the windows of the cars. A rain of typical Greek gestures of insult, Moutzes, fell towards the cars of the lawmakers even if they were not inside.
Security forces had failed to cordon the area and protect the lawmakers as huge crowds of protesters flocked in front of the Parliament for the seventh consecutive day. The crowds swelled as people who had earlier attended the protest rally organized by musician Mikis Theodorakis joined the protesters at Syntagma Square. Theodorakis had urged the people to stand up and oppose the austerity measures.
It was the first time after the begin of the peaceful protests by “Indignant” Greeks last Wednesday that the situation went out of control.
“Indignant” Politicians React
Greek politicians reacted with indignation to the incidents and took their place in front of radio microphones and television cameras to express their indignation.
“No to leveling of politics, not to leveling of Democracy” said Mariliza Xenogiannaopoulou, alternate Foreign Minister.
“No to collectively condemning of lawmakers” said former Minister Gerasimos Giakoumatos, from centre-right Nea Dimokratia. He spoke of lawmakers with vision who worked hard and stressed that “When people chant ‘Burn Down, Bor… Parliament’ , OK let it burn, but what do you suggest? Let the Memorandum go away, but what do you suggest?”
“The implementation of these cries may lead to difficult situations” said another lawmaker from ND.
Parliament speaker, Philippos Petsalnikos stated ” On the occasion of the incidents where some attempted to enclose the Greek Parliament, I am obliged to highlight the dangers of such phenomena for our Democracy.
Internet Users comment
All these politicians comments were posted in news portal in.gr. Now I translate for your some of the so far 563 visitors’ comments:
“Those beloning to governing parties have no right to speak.”
“Leveling democracy? How about the workers’ rights, the right to work, the right to dignity? You speak, instead of lifting the MP’s immunity, punish the thieves of the nation and confiscate their wealth.”
“You all will be judged by history.”
“Soon beans will fall! Thieves and abusers are offended? Incredible!
“Shoo! Parasite, drones… Thieves out!”
And so on… and so forth….
Watch Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dZSH9XTNUUQ, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvSrQTfbNmk&feature=player_embedded
See more pictures in Zougla and NewsIt
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Don’t you just love the way the journalist refers to these “people” as lawmakers. I much prefer thieves and parasites who always put their own welfare far above the people they are supposed to be serving. Oops sorry can’t prosecute you for stealing or the bribes you took because of your immunity and even if I could prosecute – the statute of limitations has expired. What a terrible joke these “lawmakers” play on the poor taxpayers of Greece.
I am quite sure that there are few Greeks today that don’t agree with the “Indignants”, however as I said before this is not helping the situation. Now demonstrators are crossing the line of peaceful demonstration and you know very well that here in Greece there are elements that are only to happy to take advanatge of these situations. We had this Christmas time two years ago when young Greeks were encouraged to burn their own city, for which there was NO excuse. Again recently, we had tragic deaths of Bank employees, do we need this again before people realise the dangers. Yes, I feel desperately sorry for the unemployed. A widow in her 40′s with two young sons and Euro 500 a month to exist on, shopowners in their 50′s too young to retire and NO early pensions from TEVI. However there must be a better way than this. Why can’t anybody organize a civil action against the politicians that we KNOW have corrupted the system, just pick one or two and take them to the cleaners. This would be far more effective and democratic rather than verbual abuse and the risk of an innocent member of Parliament being hurt.
“Why can’t anybody organize a civil action against the politicians that we KNOW have corrupted the system, just pick one or two and take them to the cleaners” – can you, please, describe the exact procedure in terms of legal and democratic means? the civic movement needs urgently good ideas.
Ann, I agree with you totally. I am perplexed by otherwise seemingly intelligent Greeks, who so emotionally protest an issue that they themselves have caused.
In Ireland, the people’s response is much more measured, and they are just trying to do whatever it takes to fix the problem, unlike the Greeks who seem more interested in pointing the blame away from themselves.
I tend to think that Pangalos has the correct view “We all ate” or something like that. Ask yourself how many Greeks have NEVER paid a fakalaki or a bribe, have NEVER tried to use “meson” to get an advantage, or have ALWAYS insist on a receipt at a store.
Keep talking is a fantastic site that is in English but I only wish that Greeks who didn’t speak English could read the views of American/Brits/Australian etc who could give them a realistic view of what people think about Greece, because Greeks in the street seem to have this view about themselves and their country that is not really reality based.
Sorry to say, but just my opinion based on years of listening to their conspiracy theories about foreign interests and their welfare.