Students Help Topple a Dictatorship: Remembering the Athens Polytechnic Uprising
It had all the trappings of a revolutionary moment: a brutal regime, agitated students and workers, tanks, seized radio stations...
November 14th marks the 35th Anniversary of the 1973 Athens Polytechnic Uprising - a courageous act on the part of Greek students, resisting the military dictatorship of Georgios Papadopoulos. November 17th marks the bloody crushing of the uprising, when the military swarmed the Polytechnic's campus in a night raid, killing dozens and injuring hundreds more as the junta tried to regain control of the situation.
We've often posted on the Greek student movement here, and almost always mention what a storied past it has. The history of the uprising is a complicated and intriguing one, and the Wikipedia page for it is your best starting point.
Though the uprising and university occupation lasted but a few days, the political effects were monumental, and set off a chain of events that led to the downfall of the junta -- and the restoration of electoral democracy to the country.
Thirty-five years later, students have taken to the streets: not only in remembrance of their forbears' struggle, but in continuance of the fight before them. The AP reports:
Greek riot police fired tear gas to disperse protesters throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails outside the U.S. Embassy on Monday during an annual march to mark the anniversary of a student uprising.
[...]
About 10,000 people braved a thunderstorm to mark the 35th anniversary of the student uprising against the military dictatorship that ruled Greece from 1967-74. They marched to the U.S. Embassy to protest Washington's support for the junta at the time.
Students again took to the streets yesterday morning and made their way outside the US embassy in Nicosia to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Athens student uprising against the military dictatorship ruling Greece in 1973.
The students were chanting slogans that "the people won’t forget the fascists and the tanks" and held banners with slogans "Cyprus-Polytechnic: never again fascism". The students encountered barbed wire and a strong police force.
Athens Indymedia has much more coverage, but of course, it's in Greek. (Google can help!)