Thousands of Greeks marched through central Athens and other cities on Thursday to mark the 49th anniversary of a violently quashed students’ uprising in 1973 that helped topple the military junta which then ruled the country.
Thousands demonstrate during the Polytechnic Uprising anniversary in Athens, while 5000+ police officers are deployed. #Greece #Πολυτεχνειο pic.twitter.com/dlIEB6KP2Z
— Savvas Karmaniolas (@savvaskarma) November 17, 2022
The annual march to the embassy of the United States, which many Greeks accuse of supporting the 1967-1974 military dictatorship, often becomes a focal point for protests against government policies.
The US Embassy guarded by police. #Greece #Πολυτεχνειο https://t.co/pVjFxIXM7K pic.twitter.com/Tntwhwgpx2
— Savvas Karmaniolas (@savvaskarma) November 17, 2022
Demonstrators on Thursday held banners reading “US and NATO get out, disengagement from war”.
Χιλιάδες στην πορεία για το #Πολυτεχνειο, που οδεύει προς την πρεσβεία των ΗΠΑ. #17Νοεμβρη pic.twitter.com/OwpkrdDeSx
— Savvas Karmaniolas (@savvaskarma) November 17, 2022
A few protesters wore T-shirts that read “Fight for peace and disarmament”.
At the front of the procession, youths held a blood-stained flag that belonged to the students engaged in the 1973 revolt.
Earlier, people laid wreaths and carnations at the Athens Polytechnic, site of a bloody clamp-down on Nov. 17 1973 when tanks smashed through the gates to crush the revolt that heralded the end of the junta.
While the marches run peacefully, tensions erupted short time later in Thessaloniki and Patras where protesters threw molotov cocktail bombs at riot police that responded with teargas.
Video: Thessaloniki
Seven people have been detained in Thessaloniki.
Video: Patras
Τhere was minor tension with anti-authoritarian protests in Athens where police had deployed some 5,500 officers.. A helicopter and drones hovered over the central Syntagma Square and neighborliness districts through the day.
Reuters called that the junta unravelled in 1974, amid a public outcry over a coup they instigated in Cyprus, triggering Turkey’s invasion of the island just days later.
