In what was supposed to be a day of nationalist propaganda, with military parades across the Greek territory (a remnant of military dictatorships past) to celebrate the “national day”, things have taken quite a different turn. In Thessaloniki, the Greek president of democracy was forced to leave the military parade under the constant booing of hundreds – the parade was subsequently cancelled. In Patras and Heraclion, local politicians came under a shower of eggs, and more booing.
In the Northern city of Xanthi, the local students abandoned the parade, choosing to demonstrate in the streets of the city instead:
…and in the small central Greek city of Trikala, a local PASOK Member of Parliament was beaten by an enraged demonstrator, while booed by hundreds:
There are reports of further turmoil in Agrinio, Pyrgos, Mytilini and plenty of other Greek cities. Today’s events are entirely unprecedented, as it is the first time military parades are cancelled under the pressure of popular rage.
10 Comments
This is GREAT!!!
I feel really warm and fuzzy inside today…this is beautiful…finally people didn’t buy the fairy tale of national unity and pride…this is very exciting…i hope this becomes a habit all the way to actual lynching…it may sound extreme but politicians across the world in the whole of human history know that when they put themselves in a position where they can play with peoples lives, eventually their own lives are at risk…(enter Gaddafi in youtube for examples of “lynching” )
From what I see in the clips most people just stand around. And though the politicians are in the middle of hundreds of Greek citizens they face nothing worse than eggs. Perhaps one person lands a blow before his isolation forces him to run. A long long way to go then. Since Greece will be a protectorate of the EU for a decade at least and the impoverishment will continue for at least that long(or is planned to last that long) this is just the opening phase of the struggle between the Greek working class and their overlords..
Godamn it can we not celebrate for once! i WILL celebrate the 28th of October…the 28th of October 2011 as a great day…and yeah a long way to go for most things we dream of…but knowing the disgusting nationalist sentiment that this country is diseased with…i think this represents a big chunk of that way.
Politicians were also egged today in Kalamata.
What is all this news coverage about the parade not taking place? It did take place, but only after the president and all other vips had left their seats. Shortly later a big crowd of protesters (with banners: political parties and syndicalists) was left through by the police and joined with a smaller group of protesters (who had spontaneously turned from bystanders into a protest crowd. After that, the parade followed under loud applause. People had gone and sit on the vip chairs and stood on the road, leaving just enough space for the parade to pass.
Sorry Keller for being a wet blanket. I’ll take your word for it and celebrate the distance already travelled.
You can check out more pictures and videos in the following links:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1349024
http://www.babylonia.gr/folders/thematikes/28-oktobriou.html
@ JONAS
In most of Greek cities no official military troops paraded. Parades were officially cancelled. Where there were student’s parades, turned to protests. In Thessaloniki, the main military parade of Greece was supposed to take place with the presence of the president of democracy but was officially cancelled when the president left under the constant boos of the people. Prime Minister which is usually also present in the main parade, did not even think of it to be present this time.
Only groups of traditional clubs with traditional clothes, volunteers, old soldiers, etc. made a “parade” among the people.
It is truth however that many of the people that were in the audience and booed the politicians and the president, have a strong nationalism-patriotism thought (they were there to watch the parade). In Greece this thought is cultivated from the school in a quite strong manner, although not so much in recent years. Those were the people that applaused, even for some paramilitary old commandos’ groups that tried to parade. But they were united with leftish people that went there to protest against the vips.
The crucial bet in Greece is this mixture of people from different thoughts to move towards a leftish or even anarchism position and realize the class war that is taking place, away from nationalism-patriotic or conspiratorial ideas that may be more easily understood in their ears.
And one more video from many cities together:
http://www.ellinofreneia.net/video.php?id=1549
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