The Truth about protests in Athens

international | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday January 15, 2009 22:09 by caitlin caitlin.marie.ryan at gmail dot com

I'm just back from a trip to Athens, where I was visiting a friend. Whilst there, I had the privilege to march with our Greek brothers and sisters in a demonstration.
(In case you've been living under a rock, Greek police shot and killed a 15 year old boy on the 6th of December) I think its important that I share my experiences with as many people as possible because in general the media outside of Greece tends to show the police in a far more favorable light than they deserve. Before I write about what I saw yesterday, I must say the Greek student movement is incredible. I have never seen a student movement as informed, passionate, driven and well executed as I did in Greece. We should all be taking a lesson from them.

Yesterday, the 9th of January we convened near parliament, in front of Athens University. The plan was to start at the university, walk down one street, back up another, past the far corner of the parliament square and back to the university. I cannot stress enough that the march was PEACEFUL. people were chanting, holding banners, spray painting (a national pass time in Greece) etc. The vast majority of shops were still open, illustrating that shop keepers did not feel threatened by the march. As the march came around the final corner, passing the corner of the parliament square and heading back to the university it became clear just how many riot police were present. The march paused as we came around the corner, I was near the back, opposite the corner of the square, standing near the sidewalk and less than 50 feet from a batch of riot police. the street we were turning onto was on a slight rise, so from my position i had a good view of the marchers who had already gone around the corner. The march was at a standstill, with people standing side by side across a street 3-4 lanes wide. As people stood, the batch of police on the same corner as myself moved slightly further up the street and without warning, and without ANY provocation, fired 3 canisters of tear gas straight into the standing crowd. People scattered, and as we walked back in the direction we'd come from I couldn't even count the number of people who were on the street and sidewalk, doubled over from the tear gas. in particular what struck me, was the number of elderly Athenians who had been walking peacefully, moments before alongside the students. After several minutes we walked back towards the university and re-joined a group. riot police walked alongside us the entire way, and this time we were within a block or so of the university before they fired between 4 and 5 more canisters of tear gas into the crowd. we stood in the middle of the street for as long as we possibly could, observing the police. as it became unbearable to stay put (the wind was blowing straight towards us) we walked back up the street. we were forced to walk on the sidewalk alongside a row of police because another group of police had come into the street and were doing their best to push us on the sidewalk and away from the university. as i walked up the sidewalk, i watched as one policeman pushed the boy ahead of me with his shield. the boy walked past two or three more policeman before he was kicked in the thigh by another policeman as he walked away from the protest. we regrouped again, as the wind blew the tear gas straight into our faces. we waited perhaps 5 more minutes before walking back down the street towards the university. at this point i was with 4 other girls, we tried to as inconspicuous as possible as we walked past policemen who were taunting us. at this point our goal was to get as close to the university as possible to observe. it was on this THIRD attempt to walk to the university that i saw the first signs of protesters throwing anything at the cops. there were several rocks on the road, but no evidence of molotov cocktails, or any other material. the cops had thrown no less than 7 canisters of tear gas before i saw any sign of protesters exhibiting any kind of defense. i watched as cops tackled two young boys from behind. neither boy could have been more than 17. both were running up the street towards the university, each boy was tackled by at least three cops, and thrown to the ground. they pushed one boy back up the street and drug the second boy away. i couldn't see where they had taken him because it was at this point they launched 3 -4 more canisters of gas. we were much closer this time than we had been before. again, we stayed for as long as we physically could before retreating. at this point i could hardly open my eyes, and though i had my nose and mouth covered, i was having trouble breathing. we went back up the street, and stood perhaps 2 blocks from the university as re tried to re-group. after they fired three more canisters we were made the decision to leave. there were fewer and fewer protesters trying to move towards the university and it became clear that without a gas mask we wouldn't make it. i feel as though i need to share this experience with people because overwhelmingly the reports that are given in the rest of Europe and America focus on protesters burning buildings, while ignoring the brutal tactics of the Greek police. i think that it is important for people outside of Greece to understand what is going on. this march was peaceful. violence on the part of the protesters broke out only after the police fired tear gas into a standing crown of peaceful marchers. i stood on a corner and watched as this happened. the associated press report this morning in the international herald of the new york times claimed that protesters started the violence, but this was not the case. this is not what i saw!! in addition, on a different street, riot police knocked down an elderly woman (at least 65 years of age). a group of lawyers tried to protect her as police were trying to drag her up the sidewalk and the lawyers were arrested. additionally, journalists documenting this occurrence were arrested. of the 60 people arrested as of 8 pm Athens time on the 9th, at least 17 were lawyers. i have never seen anything like what i saw yesterday. i did my best to watch as much as i could. anyone who has been tear gassed knows there comes a point where you simply cannot stand in the street anymore.

this is my plea:
PLEASE!!!!! tell people everyone you know about what i saw yesterday in Greece. it is crucial that the world understands what is going on! PLEASE! show your solidarity with the Greek people!!! pass the word along, or even better, organise a demonstration at your nearest Greek consulate!!!