November 17th is commemorated annually as the day of the student uprising against Greece's military junta in 1973. In the weeks leading to this year's demonstration mass media had been creating a culture of fear, in a concious attempt to limit participation to this year's demonstration. Contrary to their efforts and predictions, the demonstrations in Athens and Thessaloniki were amongst the largest of their kind in recent years.
In Athens, even before the demonstration had started, tens of people were detained (80-100 are reported) in a fine example of the police's "pre-emptive detentions" tactic. However, the people at the head of the demo refused to start marching unless all the detainees were freed. Eventually, at about 5pm, the demonstration kicked-off.
The government's repression units launched an unprovoked attack against the block of Athens AntiAuthoritarian Movement. They surrounded both the anarchist and the Anti-authtoritarian Movement blocks and attacked viciously. It is speculated that 46 people were detained at that point. Two hours after the end of the demonstration uniformed and undercover cops are scattered around the Athens city centre; helicopters are hovering in the sky.
3 students are in the hospital, one of them having a fractured scull. More than 100 people have been detained, at least 2 of them are officially arrested.
In Thessaloniki, after the peaceful demosnstration the students returned to the Engineering Faculty, where they held discussions and music events. Meanwhile, few people clashed with the police, provoked by a grouped of fascists. After the university authorities intervened, things got calm. Though, the police threw a lot of tear-gas which was spread all over the city centre, while undercovered policemen were everywhere.
Photos from arrests in Athens | Photos of members of the PASOK party youth (PASOK is the ex-governmental party) attack other demo participants.
