In Greece, incidents punctuated the annual commemoration of the 1973 student uprising against the ruling junta, during left-wing protests, held on Tuesday, November 17 despite the ban on gatherings as part of the anti-coronavirus containment .
Defying the ban decreed by the right-wing government, hundreds of supporters of the Greek communist party KKE and the small left-wing party Antarsya demonstrated in central Athens.
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Police briefly used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse them, according to an AFP photographer.
The leader of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoubas, was present at this demonstration held in the early afternoon, during which a dozen arrests took place while a Communist deputy was injured, according to public television Ert.
The anniversary of November 17, 1973, which for the Greeks symbolizes the fall of the military dictatorship (1967-1974) and the return to democracy, is marked each year by major demonstrations by left-wing parties and movements which had played a major role. major role in the end of the colonels' regime.
A walk, traditionally 3 km long, usually crosses central Athens and ends in front of the embassy of the United States, the country that supported the Greek dictatorship in the midst of the Cold War.
But Katerina Sakellaropoulou, President of the Hellenic Republic, had stressed that "
the commemoration this year of the uprising of the Polytechnic School would be held in unprecedented conditions due to the pandemic
".
The right-wing government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis decided on Saturday to ban all demonstrations, from November 15 to 18, to protect “
public health
” in full confinement in Greece.
This announcement angered many left-wing opposition parties, in particular the KKE communists but also the radical left of Alexis Tsipras and the MeRa25 of Yanis Varoufakis.
These three parties rejected the government's call on Monday to simply gather in front of the monument of the Ecole Polytechnique where the student uprising had been bloodily suppressed by the police and the army, killing dozens and injuring dozens.
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Tuesday morning, some 200 people, according to a police source, held "
a symbolic rally
" near the United States Embassy, at the call of the Front of the Workers' Struggle (PAME), communist union.
The police warned the demonstrators of the ban on assembling and "
they immediately dispersed,
" a police source told AFP.
Police vans blocked the streets near the embassy, and numerous police forces were deployed in front of public buildings, banks or universities in central Athens, according to an AFP photographer.
In an attempt to calm the protests, the President of the Republic underlined on Tuesday the “
universal
” nature of this commemoration.
“
Democracy is not just a regime of freedom but of responsibility.
Overcoming our individuality for the common good, public health and solidarity is the struggle of all of us
, ”she said after laying a wreath in front of the monument of the Ecole Polytechnique.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for his part declared, in front of the monument, that "
each important commemoration takes on a new meaning depending on the situation: today the priority is the protection of public health and solidarity with our fellow citizens, especially young people. tested by the economic crisis
”.
