Thousands of Greek protesters sent message: “I can’t breathe. Break the chains of exploitation!”

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following account by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) of the June 11 protests.

Thousands of workers protested in Athens and other Greek cities, on June 11, against the system that creates poverty and unemployment, war and refugees, racism and all forms of discrimination.

In Athens, starting with the rally in Syntagma, outside the Greek parliament and marching to the U.S. embassy, workers from all the sectors, from different workplaces, along with the self-employed, students and other young people, took part in the first rally organized after the end of the restrictive measures, continuing the multifaceted action that took place all the time before, in unprecedented conditions.

The rally of the Federations, Labor Centers and Trade Unions in Syntagma was attended by a multi-member delegation of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), headed by its General Secretary, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, who made the following statement: “We unite our voice with all the workers, the popular families, who cannot breathe in a system for which they have paid too much and continue to pay even with their lives, due to the huge shortages in the health sector. They can’t breathe because of the lack of work, insecurity, poverty, low wages, unemployment. They can’t breathe from the state repression, the violence, the debts to the banks, to other services.”

Regarding solidarity with the American people, D. Koutsoumbas noted: “Our march to the U.S. Embassy wants to express our solidarity with the American people, who are currently on the streets fighting against a government, the Trump government, which expresses all capitalist barbarism, racism, terrorism and repression.”

During the march, the GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, met with Palestinian Ambassador Marwan Toubassi. They exchanged views on developments on the Palestinian issue and the aggression of the state of Israel. He reaffirmed the KKE’s solidarity with the Palestinian people and the actions of the Party, inside and outside Parliament, in order to recognize the Palestinian state.

Earlier, in a statement, D. Koutsoumbas stressed: “We want to express our solidarity with the suffering Palestinian people, because of the Israeli occupation and the U.S. stance, with the growing settlements, the annexations, the imprisonments, the persecutions and murders. The Greek government has an immediate duty to implement the unanimous decision of the Greek Parliament to recognize here and now the Palestinian state. “