Panhellenic day of action for Palestine

This blog is not about politics, not my views, and not my activism - it's about art, travel, and the things I generally do and see. I did, however,  write extensively about the Greek economic crisis which was triggered in 2009 and which led to a decade of recession, austerity and social upheaval, but this was inevitable, as the signs of this crisis were everywhere we went in Greece. 

What is happening in Palestine and Gaza are extremely important to me, but I have not written about it. I will do so today however, as the 9th of August was quite an amazing day in Greece and this is where I am at the moment, after all.

For the last two years, on the last Sunday before August the 15th,  Greek people have been demonstrating against the ethnic cleansing and genocide that Israel, with the help of the US (and other Western countries), is perpetrating on the people of Gaza.

Panhellenic day of action on islands, mountains and towns against the continuing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine.

On this map of Greece are marked the 106 locations where on the 9th of August people demonstrated, marched, held vigils or picketed, in solidarity with the people of Palestine. 106 locations is quite amazing for a country the size of Greece. There were for instance, 11 locations in the Cyclades, 7 in Crete, 12 in the Peloponese, 3 in Athens.

looking closer at a small section of the map.

We joined the demonstration in one of the Athens locations, Monastiraki Square, which is in Plaka, at the foot of the Acropolis.

We arrived at 7:00, the starting time, even though we knew that we would not start marching for at least 45 minutes. Greeks hold the rally at the beginning of demonstrations, rather than at the end, which is what we're used to in the UK. There were a few short speeches, but mainly a lot of chanting, which was spot on, given that there are a lot of tourists around this area.

When we were about to start marching, the Palestinian flag was unfurled

So many people, they must have been waiting all around the side streets around the square. This was going to be a big demonstration, which surprised me in a way, because Athens empties out in August, everyone goes away on holiday or to their villages - I really did not think there were that many people still here.

And we were off. I knew where the march was heading,  so I could not understand why we went up Athinas Avenue

We then saw the first police - we had noted the fact that around Monastiraki there had been no police, but here they were

We arrived in Omonia Square, and then the route became clear to me: we were marching through all of central Athens. First Athinas Avenue, then Omonia Square, then Stadiou Street, finishing at Syntagma Square. It could not have been better.

We could not understand why the police were guarding this hotel, and why they thought we might attack it? Is it popular with Israeli tourists? Is that what they thought we were about?

More police stopping entry into this street. Again, why?

We eventually arrived at Syntagma Square and standing at this corner it became clear how large this demonstration was

We arrived at the top of the square, where the Parliament building is situated, and then, people started dispersing.

The police forming a line in the middle of the road to prevent the marchers from going to the Parliament building.

A bit further down the square we could see the tram that would take us home, ready to depart, so we boarded it. We had to change at Pikrodafni, and when we got on to the tram there, with our keffiyeh, our watermelon bracelets, our flags, two young blokes excitedly greeted us, telling us they are from Gaza. We had a lovely chat with them and it was such a great end to the day.

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I have since, seen photographs or videos of most of the 106 demonstrations/vigils around the country.  All looked impressive. A very successful day of action.

I also saw reports and videos of Israeli tourists, who were apparently IDF soldiers, who were aggressive and abusive towards the demonstrators on the island of Agistri. One eye-witness said: 'wherever they go, they take their settler colonial mentality with them'.  This does not surprise me. I was aggressively verbally abused in Thessaloniki because I was wearing a keffiyeh. But we saw my attacker off very successfully, as I don't think he thought I would stand up to him.