(a personal account of what happened on June 15th at Syntagma sq in Athens)

Today, in Syntagma Square, the people have exceeded themselves. Facing the violence of the MAT [=riot police force], of tear gas and molotov cocktails, they responded with drums, dancing and singing.

The police attacked pushing the people back one hundred times, and another hundred times  the people returned at the square, dancing and singing, clapping and cheering. The beat of the drums and the pots was as if it gave us supernatural powers... We were all moving forwards, facing
the “hooded – provocateurs” and the MAT, lifting our hands in the air, clapping, shouting with determination.

And when the cretan lyra started playing, we all knew that no one could drive us away from the Square. In delirium, everyone was dancing ecstatically while only a few feet away there was clangour and bangs. Fear had been eliminated. Terror and panic didn't touch us any more. We danced and danced and kept on dancing – wearing masks or not – and singing in festive atmosphere, not minding the asphyxiating gazes. “Throw as much as you like, we're not leaving!!!” somebody screamed. We knew that no matter how many times they would come, no matter how many times they'd push us away, we wouldn't get tired, we would return, we would not leave the square.

The people were in tears because of the gasses, but were also crying from emotional charge. When things were getting tougher and your eyes were killing you or you felt asphyxiated and couldn't breathe anything but chemical gasses, there was always a strong arm to brace you, a warm embrace to give you courage, a hand to hold your own. Solidarity was what was giving us the courage to continue. The fact that we were all united enabled us, exceeding ourselves, to remain in the square until the end.

We may have achieved nothing conspicuous. We may have a long road ahead. But this day was a Big victory. We came out of it stronger and more united than before. Now we know that we have the strength, we know we can make it!