Polytechnic anniversary ends in clashes with police

The 43^rd anniversary of the 1973 Athens Polytechnic uprising was marred by violence and clashes with police outside the U.S. Embassy.

The annual march ended at the U.S. Embassy late on Thursday evening, where protesters held banners and shouted anti-American and anti-Fascist slogans.

Elsewhere, violent clashes continued outside the Polytechnic and in Exarchia, where about 100 masked individuals who came out of the university’s Gini building, where a sit-in is being held, set up roadblocks on Patision Avenue, Stournari and George Street and threw stones, smoke grenades and other objects against police forces who responded with tear gas. Other masked protesters are on the roofs of neighbouring buildings throwing objects against riot police.

Earlier, a smaller group of protesters carrying the original flag of the Athens Polytechnic concluded a separate march in front of the embassy, where they sang the Greek national anthem, then folded the flag and left.  The main body of the march was headed by the “Association of Prisoners and Exiled Resistance Fighters 1967-1974”.

Numerous people laid flowers at the Polytechnic throughout Thursday, in memory of the students and other victims of the uprising who were killed by the junta.