some updates from the demo and the anti-racist assembly and part of a demo:
I have just come back home, the amount of chemicals they threw today seemed to me like tones, but I could be wrong although at the time I was passing Panepistimiou str the stench in the air was still very uncomfortable. They were not throwing anything at that time (about 6.45 pm) but had thrown previously at the surrounding streets from the Law uni and maybe also Akadimias street, so a good hour and a half afterwards the chemicals were still floating in the atmosphere, and like I said, it was not the best place to be, especially if someone has breathing problems and I think the clashes between the riot squads and protesters is still going on and might continue (Haven't seen the news yet). Dimitris has mentioned what happened at the main assembly of the students/workers and the demo afterwards.(this is an addition to his post)
It was mainly peaceful (most of the time and the part of the demo that I attended) although by the time we reached in front of the Parliament there were chemicals thrown against us, and paint was thrown against the riot squads that were lined up in front of two police vans(-buses) that were parked across Vasilisis Sofia's avenue at the side of the parliament. I wasn't at the front of the demo when they started throwing chemicals, but by the time I reached they had thrown already at least a couple and i did not see any of the protesters attacking the police just throwing ballons filled with red paint, so I can not verify that the protesters started the clashes, but anyway paint and molotov cocktails from one side and chemicals on the other ...not the same thing I think,but anyway after some lovely abuse was shouted against the police and one of the balloons with paint hit one police man and made a complete red mess of his uniform and clapping and cheering from the crowd I left, so no actual knowledge about the rest, I heard though that the clashes started less than an hour after the demo was over, around Solonos and the surrounding str of the Law uni
As far as the anti-racist assembly at Syntagma it was peaceful and by the time I left (about 6.45 pm ) no chenicals from them or paint from our side, but I have to admitt this was a different crowd than this morning (not the throwing paint kind, maybe or maybe not, but we were definitely not as big as the crowd earlier). It was a decent enough gathering considering the accumulated tiredness of all these days and the fact that there was the bigger demo earlier. There were a nice group of students with drums that kept the beat, there were plenty of banners saying how we are all united in our fight, there were a couple of speakers and plenty of slogans shouted towards the direction of the parliament. By the time we started for our demo towards the building of European Union (I think, we never made it there) it was about 6.30 pm, we turned right to Vasilisis Sofia's ave but the same two vans were parked across the street and 3 rows of riot squads were lined up in front of them. We reached as close as they let us, shouted our slogans and there was an attempt of a negotiation with the chief there to let us through, they didn't but suggested a team of about 15 people with our written requests to pass through, at that we shouted back our slogans, some of which I thoroughly enjoyed and after that some people started to leave. So that's it from me, only I have to add there was another demo that started earlier -about 12.30 pm(organized by PAME and/or KKE), just after the rain stopped, it was not announced as far as I know, but even so it was big and also without any incidents with the police.
I have just come back home, the amount of chemicals they threw today seemed to me like tones, but I could be wrong although at the time I was passing Panepistimiou str the stench in the air was still very uncomfortable. They were not throwing anything at that time (about 6.45 pm) but had thrown previously at the surrounding streets from the Law uni and maybe also Akadimias street, so a good hour and a half afterwards the chemicals were still floating in the atmosphere, and like I said, it was not the best place to be, especially if someone has breathing problems and I think the clashes between the riot squads and protesters is still going on and might continue (Haven't seen the news yet). Dimitris has mentioned what happened at the main assembly of the students/workers and the demo afterwards.(this is an addition to his post)
It was mainly peaceful (most of the time and the part of the demo that I attended) although by the time we reached in front of the Parliament there were chemicals thrown against us, and paint was thrown against the riot squads that were lined up in front of two police vans(-buses) that were parked across Vasilisis Sofia's avenue at the side of the parliament. I wasn't at the front of the demo when they started throwing chemicals, but by the time I reached they had thrown already at least a couple and i did not see any of the protesters attacking the police just throwing ballons filled with red paint, so I can not verify that the protesters started the clashes, but anyway paint and molotov cocktails from one side and chemicals on the other ...not the same thing I think,but anyway after some lovely abuse was shouted against the police and one of the balloons with paint hit one police man and made a complete red mess of his uniform and clapping and cheering from the crowd I left, so no actual knowledge about the rest, I heard though that the clashes started less than an hour after the demo was over, around Solonos and the surrounding str of the Law uni
As far as the anti-racist assembly at Syntagma it was peaceful and by the time I left (about 6.45 pm ) no chenicals from them or paint from our side, but I have to admitt this was a different crowd than this morning (not the throwing paint kind, maybe or maybe not, but we were definitely not as big as the crowd earlier). It was a decent enough gathering considering the accumulated tiredness of all these days and the fact that there was the bigger demo earlier. There were a nice group of students with drums that kept the beat, there were plenty of banners saying how we are all united in our fight, there were a couple of speakers and plenty of slogans shouted towards the direction of the parliament. By the time we started for our demo towards the building of European Union (I think, we never made it there) it was about 6.30 pm, we turned right to Vasilisis Sofia's ave but the same two vans were parked across the street and 3 rows of riot squads were lined up in front of them. We reached as close as they let us, shouted our slogans and there was an attempt of a negotiation with the chief there to let us through, they didn't but suggested a team of about 15 people with our written requests to pass through, at that we shouted back our slogans, some of which I thoroughly enjoyed and after that some people started to leave. So that's it from me, only I have to add there was another demo that started earlier -about 12.30 pm(organized by PAME and/or KKE), just after the rain stopped, it was not announced as far as I know, but even so it was big and also without any incidents with the police.
