Families with their children, seniors with their own memories, young people, they all have been flocking to the Polytechnic School in downtown Athens to lay a carnation or a wreath in the memory of the students and workers who lost their lives during the Students’ uprising on November 17th 1973 after the bloody intervention of the military junta.
“Here, the students were shouting Bread, Education, Freedom,” a father explains to his young son, while a 92-year-old man says he comes every year “to honor the heroes.” Another father tells his kids “here is the entrance door the tank smashed.”
A middle-age woman tells reporters that she comes every year because “here lays the historic memory of our democracy.”
The Students’ Uprising initiated the political developments that brought the junta down eight months later in July 1974, thus restoring Democracy.
On November 17th 2016, the atmosphere outside the Polytechnic School is festive as usual, with political parties and student organizations to have set tables with leaflets and information material. Revolutionary songs are heard from the megaphones.
In a special commemoration session in the Greek parliament, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said:
“The only reason the anniversary of the Polytechnic [Uprising] still inspires is obvious: years may go by and the times may change but the will of the society for more Democracy remains alive together with the challenges and problems of each era. Today’s challenges may not have the brutality of the seven-year repression [of the junta], however, they are real challenges and much more complex.”
From the fall of the junta until today, Greece has experiencing “the longest period of democratic stability however without missing the social struggles.” Tsipras said and added:
“Democracy in Greece of bailout agreements and guardianship has suffered immeasurably and has been degraded. The rights of students, workers and intellectuals have been seriously affected, they are either unemployed or they migrate or are underpaid. The government took [the responsibility] to take the country [out of the crisis’ with the society standing. To break the vicious circle of austerity and to restore the wounded democracy in our country of the loan agreements.”
Seven thousand policemen have been deployed in the area between the Polytechnic School and the US embassy next to Megaron Mousikis, as the Polytechnic Uprising march often ends in riots, fire bombs, teargas and clashes with police.
At noon, a group of people wearing hoods threw stones at a vehicle of secret police parked nearby, the riot police evacuated the policemen in the car. However,r before the policemen managed to lock the car doors, the hoodies alleged managed to grab two shields and two helmets they later hanged at the square of Exarchia.
The march is scheduled to start at 3 pm from the Polytechnic School to Stadiou Avenue – Syntagma – Vassilissis Sophias – Hilton – US embassy. Main roads will be closed to traffic.
Several metro stations in downtown Athens are expected to be closed to public. <Megaro Mousikis> to close at 3pm, <Syntagma>, <Evaggelismos> at 5 pm.
Marches will take place also in other Greek cities like Thessaloniki.
More Information on the Students’ Uprising in older posts by KTG:
17 November 1973 – Athens Polytechnic Students’ Uprising (rare footage; videos)
Students’ Uprising-Nov 17, 1973: The Deads and the Songs (Videos)
https://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/2010/11/16/17-november-1973-athens-polytechnic-students-uprising/
I fail to see the relevance of marching to the American Embassy any more. It is the Germans and the French and their banks who have looted the country and it is the Germans who have stolen our money in 1942 and burnt the place to the ground.
It is good to commemorate such events but there is no right to riot or break things. I hope these troublemakers are punished once and for all because every year they get away with doing what they want!