Thousands of people flocked to the Polytechnic campus in downtown Athens on Sunday to pay their tribute to the Students’ Uprising against the colonel’s junta on 17. November 1973. the 51th anniversary s being celebrated with events and the traditional long march to the US embassy.
The gates of the historic Polytechnic campus on Patission Street in downtown Athens closed at 14:30 on Sunday, after three days of events to commemorate the 1973 Students’ Uprising against the military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967 until 1974.
A large crowd of people had paid tribute to the 51st anniversary of the Polytechnic Uprising this year, coming to lay flowers and wreaths upon the monument erected in its honor.
Despite the rain that fell in the first hours after the opening of the Polytechnic gates on Sunday morning, many families with children, representatives of parties, organizations, associations and the university community came out to pay their respects.
At 14:30, the gates closed and the customary memorial event of the November 17th Celebration Committee was held, during which the anthem of the Polytechnic Uprising was played after the list of the names of the victims was read out.
“November 17, 1973 was a peak moment of resistance to the constitutional dictatorship that had suffocated the country for seven whole years. The sacrifice of the youth, students and citizens is a symbol of unity and resistance and an example of how we as a people can defend our values,” noted the vice-rector for administrative affairs and student affairs of the National Technical University of Athens, Panagiotis Psarrakos.
“ The student uprising is recorded in the consciousness of our people as a symbol of the struggle for freedom, the struggle against fascism and the questioning of the country’s dependence on foreign interests,” emphasised the president of the Association of Imprisoned and Exiled Resistance Fighters, Vangelis Giougkis.
The event on Sunday is followed with a massive march to the US embassy in downtown Athens. The march starts at 17:00 from Klafthmonos Square on Stadiou Street. Main avenues are closed to traffic.
See also: Metro stations closed in downtown Athens on Nov 17
Commemoration events and marches are also being held in several cities across the country.
At least 113 people have been detained as “suspects” [for riots?] ahead of the big march in Athens.
At least 24 people including a 5 year-old boy were killed in the Polytechnic campus and the surrounding streets. Reports speak of 40 dead and 1,103 injured.
See more on 1973 Students’ Uprising here on KTG.
