AFP
Athens, Nov 18 Some 32,000 people took to the
streets of Greece to mark the 41st anniversary of a deadly
student uprising that sparked the country’s return to
democracy in the 1970s.
As the march that officials said drew 18,000 people in
Athens was winding down yesterday, the 7,000-strong police
contingent used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse a crowd
burning American and European Union flags in front of the US
embassy.
Some 14,000 demonstrators in Greece’s second largest city
Thessaloniki, who were watched over by 1,000 police, went home
peacefully.
The march, which is a left and labour union tradition in
Greece, commemorates the November 17, 1973 Athens Polytechnic
university student uprising against the then ruling military
dictatorship.
More than 20 people were killed in clashes that day, but
it marked the beginning of the end for the junta that had held
power since 1967, with democracy being restored seven months
later.
Each year the demonstrators march to the US embassy for a
protest to denounce the role US intelligence agents played in
the military dictatorship’s rise to power.
In recent years demonstrators have also used the
anniversary to voice opposition to the harsh austerity
measures imposed on Greece by its international creditors
after the global financial crisis.
“At a moment when the government is trying to remove all
sense of social justice through austerity measures, the
demands of the Polytechnic remain current,” the General
Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE), the country’s main
union, said in a statement.
Last week students clashed with security forces in front
of Athens Polytechnic over a decision by the head of the
University of Athens to shorten by one day the annual
three-day shutdown of the school for the uprising anniversary.
