Hello all.
The system believes that they won the battle yesterday. They voted the new austerity measures, with 155 members of parliament voting yes, and started cheering, smiling, clapping and kissing each other. All these while just outside, the people were suffocating because of the chemical war that the police had started from early in the morning.
99 people got hospitalized yesterday. This is a minority of the people who got injured though, as a lot were receiving treatment at an "emergency area" that was created inside the metro station, where volunteer doctors paramedics and Red Cross members helped MORE THAN 500 PEOPLE. I was one of them as well as I have some burn scars at my left hand because of a police stud grenade that exploded only centimeters far from me. The police did not even respect that area though. They started throwing chemicals at the stairs that were leading inside the metro station, so all the smoke was going inside where hundreds were trapped. Not only that but when people were trying to flee and were moving upwards on the stairs, more chemicals were thrown and the people were pushed back inside the metro. IT IS A MIRACLE THAT NOONE DIED IN THERE. I also have to say, that we are all thankful to the metro workers who did not close down the station (as a minority of them wanted) and were trying to help the people trapped in there in any way possible. We are also thankful to the pharmacists who nearly emptied their pharmacies from medicine and brought them to the metro station, so the doctors and the other paramedics were able to work and treat the people. For some people even oxygen was essential as they were experiencing very big breathing problems and it would be very difficult for them to breathe if oxygen was not available.
For a lot of us, it was pretty obvious what we would experience, since the day before yesterday. If you read my post then I was writing that it was a police plan to completely empty the square. That was their plan also yesterday, but not just to empty the square. They wanted first to be sure that the majority of the people would have a good taste of the chemicals and that they would leave because they would not stand this any more. They know that in the square for the last 36 days there are a lot of people that have no experience of demos before and do not know the police tactics, so they believe that they will scare them away from the streets and any demos for ever.
There were so many things going on and so many clashes against the police in different corners of the square that it will be very difficult for me to actually give u a detailed account of what happened. You would be lost anyway with all the street names that u would have to read, you need a map in order to see and understand that riots were taking place around the square but also on roads that start from the square and lead to different directions. The police throughout the day were throwing chemicals and grenades inside the square and were pushing the people to the nearby roads where more police were waiting and were throwing more chemicals so the people were trying to return to the square. This "game" was going on all day, basically all the gathered people were trapped in the square and at the near by roads and were moving back and forth in order to avoid the chemicals as much as possible. Also a lot were outside this police "circle" and were trying to return to the square but were continuously pushed back by the police. If any of you are interested to read the details of what happened in correct order you can read here :
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1314021
Apart from the square there was a number of blockades at streets around the parliament. The idea was to cut all entrances of the parliament so the politicians would have no way to enter. These blockades were all attacked by the police very quickly though. The blockade outside the Evangelismos hospital was attacked since 9:00 in the morning when police started spraying with chemicals the 500 people who were blocking the street. Also the others received similar treatment.
Finally at about 21:00 the police decided to do their last operation and completely empty the square. They managed to close all the ways out of the square but leaved only one open towards Panepistimiou street so they pushed the people there and out of the square. Tension was then transferred towards Exarchia at the center of Athens were rioters attacked the police forces. A small number of people remained at the square though, did not flee either to Panepistimiou street or to the tube station and just remained. Since 2:30 in the morning they were there outnumbered by the police who were surrounding them but this is when a demo arrived from the Gazi area. People who had fled after the police attack had gathered at Monastiraki square and there after an assembly they decided to start a demo that would pass from the near by streets and from Gazi and would lead to Syntagma square. So about 500 people started this demo that finished on 2:30 in the morning in Syntagma square where they joined the few remaining people.
On this link you will see photos and videos of the police returning back the stones that they were thrown to the demonstrators. A number of people got injured because of this police behavior, this is not the fist time that it is happening, but it is good to show you and some evidence of that :
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1313763
A video that shows one of the attacks in the square. The person who is hit by the baton was just shouting at them "get out of the square".
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1313973
Also please watch this video :
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xj...yyyyyy-yyy-yyyyyyyy_news#from=embed&start=146
You see here the police who have detained an elderly man and are dragging him towards a place that more police is gathered. During the end of the video you will see that the police are joined by some plain clothed men with masks. These people are identified as former syndicalists members of far right political parties who "help" the police in demos and riots.
Finally, more videos here :
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1313754
On the beginning of my post I wrote that the system believes that they won the battle. They are wrong
WE HAVE JUST NOW BEGUN.