ATHENS (Reuters) -Thousands of Greeks marched through Athens on Monday to mark the anniversary of a violently quashed student uprising in 1973 that helped topple the military junta that then ruled the country.
The annual march to the embassy of the United States, which many Greeks accuse of supporting the 1967-1974 military dictatorship, often becomes a focal point for protests against government policies.
At the front of the procession on Monday, youths held a blood-stained flag that belonged to the students engaged in the 1973 revolt. They chanted the national anthem when they reached the heavily-guarded embassy, blocked off with rows of police buses.
Some demonstrators held carnations and others chanted slogans in solidarity with Palestinians.
Police had deployed more than 5,000 officers in Athens. Dozens of people were detained before the march and 11 people were arrested.
Earlier, people laid wreaths and carnations at the Athens Polytechnic, site of the bloody clamp-down on November 17, 1973, when army tanks smashed through the gates of the building to crush the students’ protest against the colonels ruling Greece at the time. Dozens were killed.
The revolt heralded the end of the junta.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Michele Kambas, Rod Nickel)
