Memories of December 2008…

Memories from December 2008 were awakened again in the center of Athens… The big strike march of GSEE and ADEDY was accompanied by extensive incidents with injured cops, adductions, arrests, damaged stores, burnt cars and destroyed police bikes. This menace even fell upon the ex-minister and ND MP, Kostis Hatzidakis, who was attacked and had to receive first aid in hospital.

According to the police, it all started 20min before 2pm on Wednesday, resulting in 20 adductions, of which 9 turned to arrests, 27 injured cops and many protesters, 3 burnt cars, 2 police bikes destroyed, 2 stores, 4 offices and many glass facades damaged.

Officially the police say that the rioters were 23,000 but the unions talk about a much bigger number since this was one of the largest rallies in the last years.

It started from Syntagma
20min before 2pm Molotov bombs started flying in front of the Athens Plaza and Grande Bretagne hotels.
Anti-authoritarians and hood wearers, who had infiltrated the groups of the thousands of protesters (against the change of the labor map and the new bill), started attacking the cops with Molotov bombs, stones and pieces of wood; the latter answered with extensive use of chemicals. Syntagma square resembled a battlefield for a while, then the incidents moved to Panepistimiou str, in front of the ministry of Finance and the Post Bank, and officers from DI.AS police team had to take over the square to calm things down.
So the protestors headed for the University of Athens which resulted in more incidents. It should be noted that the police force was very strong and used a lot of tear gas, which created a chemical cloud hovering over the center.
 
Attack against Kostis Hatzidakis

As ex-minister and ND MP Kostis Hatzidakis was exiting his office in Panepistimiou str, he was noticed by the angry croud.

Besides swearing at him, some protesters attacked him and started beating him up. He was injured and taken to hospital to receive first aid.

A massive march
This march in the context of the general strike was one of the biggest in the last years, starting from Pedion Areos and ending up in front of the parliament where protesters were shouting slogans against the shifts in labor relations, DEKO and the austerity budget.

The GSEE and ADEDY rally took place without the presence of their respective figureheads, as Panagopoulos has been ill for three weeks now and Papaspiros is out of the country…
The speakers expressed their opposition to the new contracts that lead to cuts in wages. And the DEKO workers who had the strongest presence stated that they won’t tolerate a further shrinking of their income.

“They legislated this conflict and they’re gonna have it” said the organizational secretary of GSEE, Vangelis Moutafis. “2011 will bring further and even more dynamic demonstrations” warned Ilias Iliopoulos, general secretary of ADEDY, while SYRIZA president Alexis Tsipras, who took part in the march, noted “The faster this government of Memorandum translators is gone, the faster we will avoid hitting the bottom”.

According to the unions, the strike had 100% participation in refineries, ports and shipbuilding, while it reached over 90% in DEKO and banks.