With slogans like "neither soil nor water to the murderers of the people" and "Close down the bases, no participation in NATO's wars", the demonstrators gathered at Syntagma Square in Athens. The protest was attended by the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) Dimitris Koutsoumbas who, talking to reporters, pointed out the following:
“The signing of the new agreement between Greece and the US, and in particular the maintenance and expansion of the US military bases in Greece, will only lead to even greater insecurity for the Greek people, it will further destabilize the region, to an even greater involvement in interventions, on missions overseas and in imperialist wars.That is why we have a stentorian “no” to all of them today. We continue the struggle, we continue the resistance".
Speeches against the Greece-USA military agreement on bases were delivered by Nikos Papageorgiou, member of the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) and Stavros Tassos, former KKE MP and President of the Greek Committee for International Detente and Peace (EEDYE).
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| In Thessaloniki. |
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| Riot police... guarding the statue of Truman in Athens. |
Marching towards the U.S. Embassy, the demonstrators threw red paint at the statue of war criminal Harry Truman. Tension rose when riot police forces responded with tear gas and flash grenades thus enraging the protesters. When the rally reached the U.S. Embassy, the protesters set U.S. and NATO flags on fire.
A large demonstration took place also in Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki. The protesters burned the american flag outside the U.S. Consulate and shouted anti-imperialist, anti-NATO slogans.
Similar protests, against the Greece-USA military agreement on bases and the visit of Mike Pompeo, have been scheduled to take place in other cities as well, including Katerini, Patras and Chios.