The great march for the 50th anniversary of the uprising of the Polytechnic University is underway in the centre of Athens.
The Police have already made six arrests during checks carried out to prevent incidents on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising.
In the meantime, the centre of Athens is inaccessible as central Metro stations have been closed, while there are modifications to bus and trolley routes due to the long march.
Patision and other central streets of Athens have been closed to traffic. The starting point of the march is the Polytechnic and by order of the police the Monastiraki, Concert Hall, Syntagma and University Metro stations were closed at 14:00.
Trains pass through these stations without stopping. Any additional changes will be carried out in accordance with the instructions and measures of the police.
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Students on the march with Palestinian flags
With Palestinian flags, raised fists and banners, the students participate in the march-gathering of the long march for the 50th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising.
Protestos also threw paint at the entrance of a hotel in Stadiou
A group of people broke away from the main march on Stadiou Street and threw paint at the entrance of a hotel, causing damage to the glass.
Mitsotakis on 50th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising: A beacon that lights the way to a more open and democratic society
The uprising of the Polytechnic University remains “a beacon that lights the way to a more open and democratic society,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Friday in his message for the 50th anniversary of the November 17 student uprising.
Mitsotakis noted that “we welcome the 50th anniversary without any party hijackings that insult it, diminishing its stature. And we keep its regenerative spirit active in the new conditions.”
He added that November 1973 continues to inspire through the constant renewal of its demands.
President Sakellaropoulou: Polytechnic uprising retains its high symbolism, half a century later
The 1973 student uprising at the Athens Polytechnic, against the military junta then ruling Greece, was a “supreme act of resistance against the dictatorship and the trampling of freedoms,” which retains the same high symbolism half a century later, President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou said on Friday, in a message marking the 50th anniversary of the Polytechnic Uprising of November 17, 1973.
“An act that was neither self-evident nor without cost. It entailed danger, required sacrifices, carried the weight of a responsibility, both personal and collective, that few had the courage to take on. Thanks to their selflessness and abnegation, our country could move on from the black page of the [seven-year junta]. We owe them honour and gratitude,” the president said, after laying a wreath at the Polytechnic monument.
The Polytechnic uprising marked Greece’s modern history and laid the foundations for the democratic consciousness of the post-junta period, the most peaceful and progressive period in the country, the president noted, instilling the conviction that there can be no compromises “both as regards our self-determination and our free way of life”.
The memory of the uprising is alive and continues to teach us, she added, and now that democracy is strong and established, “it is still our duty to defend it with the same passion and unswerving will as those besieged young people 50 years ago.”
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