GREECE: AN ANNIVERSARY MARCH IN ATHENS ATTENDED BY THOUSANDS OF DEMONSTRATORS TURN INTO AN ANTI-WAR PROTEST

Record ID: 646552

  • Title: GREECE: AN ANNIVERSARY MARCH IN ATHENS ATTENDED BY THOUSANDS OF DEMONSTRATORS TURN INTO AN ANTI-WAR PROTEST
  • Date: 17th November 2004
  • Summary: (W7) ATHENS, GREECE (NOVEMBER 17 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SV/CU/SLV STUDENTS AT FRONT OF PROTEST WITH GREEK FLAG WITH FLOWERS ON TOP TO COMMEMORATE FALLEN STUDENTS DURING 1973 UPRISING; FLOWERS ON FLAG; STUDENTS WALKING WITH FLAG SHOUTING 'AMERICANS-KILLER OF THE PEOPLE' (3 SHOTS) 0.18 2. TV OF PROTESTERS MARCHING THROUGH STREETS; SWARMS OF PEOPLE MARCHING IN PROTEST; ANTI-WAR BANNERS BEING HELD DURING PROTEST; MV FRONT BANNER READING 'HANDS OFF FALLUJAH', BANNER BEHIND READING 'STOP THE WAR' AND BANNER BEHIND THAT READING 'FREEDOM FOR PALESTINE' (6 SHOTS) 0.50 3. TV RIOT POLICE MONITORING PROTEST FROMSIDELINES/LV HELICOPTER CIRCILING OVERHEAD (2 SHOTS( 1.02 4. LV/SV UNITED STATES EMBASSY, POLICE LINED UP OUTSIDE IN FRONT OF POLICE VANS; EMBASSY PLAQUE; SLV POLICE CORDON; PROTESTERS REACHING EMBASSY (4 SHOTS) 1.22 5. SLV PROTESTERS IN FRONT OF EMBASSY CHANTING AND MARCHING; SV PROTESTER HOLDING SIGN WITH U.S.A. CROSSED OUT; SLV PROTESTERS CHANTING ANTI AMERICAN SLOGANS OUTSIDE EMBASSY (4 SHOTS) 1.48 6. SV/LV/SLV PROTESTERS CHAINING ARMS TOGETHER; RIOT POLICE FOLLOWING PROTESTERS; PROTESTERS THROWING STONES AT POLICE; PROTESTERS SCUFFLING AMONGST EACH OTHER (4 SHOTS) 2.28 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 2nd December 2004 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: ATHENS, GREECE
  • Country: Greece
  • Reuters ID: LVA87K3RY503UO6UV6PENRVATIXB
  • Story Text: An anniversary march in Athens attended by thousands
    of demonstrators turned into an anti-war protest and
    opposition to American foreign policy.


    Draconian security measures were in force in Athens
    on Wednesday (November 17, 2004) for the demonstration which
    police said attracted more than ten thousand people.

    Some seven thousand police were monitoring the march,
    which is held annually to commemorate a 1973 student
    uprising against the military junta that had ruled Greece.

    The annual march ends at the U.S. embassy, as Greeks
    blame the United States for supporting the junta which
    ruled between 1967-1974.

    The main theme of the demonstration on Wednesday was
    opposition to U.S. foreign policy, with many protest groups
    shouting for an end to the war in Iraq and the recent
    offensive in Falluja.

    Protesters also demonstrated against the lack of
    progress towards peace in the Middle East and an
    independent state for the Palestinians.

    Large banners read 'Stop the War' and 'Hands off
    Fallujah' and 'Freedom for Palestine' as protesters
    chanted, 'Americans-killers of the people'.

    The demonstration was led by students holding a Greek
    flag draped with flowers in commemoration of the students
    that died during the 1973 uprising.

    No serious violence was reported during the march,
    although scuffles broke out among the protesters and
    towards police, with police dispersing the crowd to keep
    them at a distance from the American embassy.

    Hundreds of officers stood shoulder to shoulder in
    front of the embassy with police vans blocking the entrance.

    In the 1999 march violent demonstrations broke out to
    coincide with the visit to Athens of US president Bill
    Clinton.

    Protesters set the city on fire, angry at the United States
    for leading the bombing of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo
    crisis.

    Greece did not send troops to Iraq after polls showed
    the majority of Greeks were against military action in the
    country.

    In 1973 scores of students that had taken over the
    Athens Polytechnic were killed when, in demonstrating
    against the ruling military junta, generals sent in tanks
    to crush the protest. The students death was one of the
    influencing factors that eventually led to the fall of the
    junta.
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