GREECE: Fears of protests by unemployed workers turn an annual students Independence Day parade into a police fortress in Athens

Record ID: 450845

  • Title: GREECE: Fears of protests by unemployed workers turn an annual students Independence Day parade into a police fortress in Athens
  • Date: 24th March 2014
  • Summary: PARADE UNDERWAY WITH BANDSTAND IN BACKGROUND WHERE POLITICAL OFFICIALS ARE STANDING AS PARADE PASSES VARIOUS OF DEPUTY EDUCATION MINISTER SIMEON KEDIKOGLOU STANDING ON BANDSTAND AS PARADE PASSES VARIOUS OF STUDENTS IN TRADITIONAL GREEK DRESS PARADING VARIOUS OF CROWDS WATCHING PARADE FROM BEHIND METAL BARRICADES AND POLICE OFFICERS IN FRONT OF THEM VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS IN LONG LINES STANDING BETWEEN AUDIENCE AND PARADERS
  • Embargoed: 8th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAB139LOEUEKE4075UT3JX10NX5
  • Story Text: An annual student parade in Athens on Monday (March 24) looked more like a police exercise as thousands of police officers filled the capital to protect the parade from disgruntled workers.
    Greece's Independence Day is on March 25, celebrated by a students parade the day before and a military parade on the day.
    Fears of protests by unemployed workers sparked draconian security measures - the one hour parade in central Athens was enforced by 3,000 police officers on the streets, and the bandstand where political officials stand to watch the parade was sealed off for a perimeter of more than a kilometre by police vans and metal barricades.
    Police lined the parade route, surrounding streets, and only those with passes were allowed to watch the parade, resulting in a low turnout of only hundreds for the event.
    A small group of laid-off housekeepers staged a protest and were quickly surrounded by twice as many police officers, some 600 metres from the parade. Police will be out again in force on March 25 for the military parade.
    The government has laid-off several thousand workers in the public service this year as part of the reforms to clean up its economy. By 2015 it will have sacked 150,000 workers, who protest daily on the streets. Previous parades have been marred by protesters, and in some parades politicians stayed away for fear of being attacked by people angry over austerity.
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