Athens: police shot on activist; anarchists occupie university, hold ministers

by - Thu May 12, 2005 14:52

Messrs Verelis & Venizelos are ex ministers of the Greek socialist party and they were invited to the Athens Polytechnic for a book launch.

This is an emotive location ( it was the scene of protracted protests, occupation and radio broadcasts in November 1973 which led to a change in the military junta, and a law in 1974 prohibiting the entry of greek police into the polytechnic.) and the book launch was planned for an emotive day, Greece celebrates its Workers day on May 10 and not May 1 like the rest of us, because Greek Orthodoxy is out of synch with the german speaking church of Rome.

Accordingly young polytechnic students protested and asked the ex-ministers to leave the emotive and symbolic location on such an emotive and symbolic day.

Some moments before, a group of between 100 and 150 very emotive and symbolic anarchist protesters returned to the emotive and symbolic site of their tradition from the emotive and symbolic Mayday (may 10 in greece) celebrations.

They added to the emotive and symbolic clash with authority by burning bins and the ex-ministers symbolic cars. At which point one of the emotive and symbolic policeman who had been at the door of the emotive and symbolic polytechnic bropke the emotive and symbolic law of that emotie and symbolic year 1974 by entering the polytechnic building, which was being for the umpteenth time in its history occupied in an emotive and symbolic way and fired shots in to the air, one of these shots (traditionally known as warning shots) hit a young emotive protester in the foot.
This was not symbolic, but very concrete, and suggests that either the young emotive protester was in the air, or the warning shots of the policeman were not properly fired into the air.

At this point, the Greek anti-riot plice arrived to the polytechnic and surrounded it in an emotive and symbolic way.

The occupiers refused to leave until the name of the policeman who had emotively fired th ewarning shot into the air hitting an emotive protester in the foot was named.

Finally at 04h30 local time, (a few hours in the difference for Ireland) after much high level and emotive chatting and phone calls and deft use of fax lines, the occupation ended, and everyone went home, no-one got arrested, and the policeman is named and to be punished.

Cristoforos Pachias is this man's name.

I do not have the name of the shot in the foot protester.
Here is the Athens report with photos of the emotive and symbolic day-
http://athens.indymedia.org/display.php?articleId=605