Greeks Mark 1973 Student Uprising Anniversary

Southeast Europe | November 18, 2016, Friday // 10:41|  views

Photo: BGNES

Greeks marked on Thursday the anniversary of the crushing of a 1973 student uprising against the military junta that ruled the country from 1967-1974, with protest marches planned to the U.S Embassy in Athens, according to Fox News.

In recent years the march has served as a platform for demonstrators to vent over the imposition of harsh fiscal measures as part of the country's successive bailouts.

According to the reports, some 300 self-styled anarchists in hoods pelted riot police units with petrol bombs in and around the Athens Polytechnic, the side where, 43 years ago, army tanks crashed through the gates to put down a student revolt, reportedly leaving dozens of dead behind.

Before the outbreak of the clashes, the anniversary was marked by some 16,000 people who took part in a peaceful march through Athens, chanting slogans against rising unemployment, pension and wage cuts, and the leftist-led government, which went back on its pre-election promises to scrap austerity, says the English-language version of Kathimerini daily.

Speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras marked the anniversary saying that ruling SYRIZA has held on to the ''thread of the student uprising in 1973 and is building a new Greece''.

''No one imagined that the junta regime would fall and make way for democracy. Since then Greece has embarked on the longest democratic period in its modern history'', said also Tsipras.

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Tags: greece, anniversary, Uprising, protest

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