7,000 police guarding Athens and record number of metro stations closed as November 17 polytechnic uprising anniversary demonstration set to start

Update, 22.25 GMT+2. At least 95 detentions in total, in Athens alone.

Update, 21.35 GMT+2. At least 47 people were detained in Exarcheia in the past two hours, after a full-scale police raid upon the neighbourhood. Earlier in Thessaloniki, riot police entered the university campus with at least five riot police units and two cars. At least five protester detentions reported there so far.

Photo via christos_sb

As the 39th anniversary demonstration of the 1973 Athens polytechnic student uprising is set to start soon, police have ordered 11 metro stations to close: Panepistimio, Syntagma, Eyagelismos, Megaro Mousikis, Abelokipi, Acropolis, Monastiraki (from noon) and Panormou, Katehaki, Ethniki Amyna (from 2pm) and the tram stops at Syntagma and Zappeio (from 2pm).

More than 7,000 police of all types are already in place. It appears that some of the blocks traditionally marching toward the American embassy are now planning to go on and march up to the Israeli embassy today, to protest again the ongoing onslaught of the Israeli state on the people of Gaza. The embassy of Israel is located just off Kifisias Ave, approx. 3km north of the US embassy.

More info as it comes.

…The liberation slogans of the Polytechnic uprising in Athens in 1973 they are not only well-timed, but also accurate, giving meaning and value to present-day struggles. ‘’Bread – Education – Freedom’’! …In the years that follow, capitalism is reborn and transformed into the voracious monster and the “development” that espoused “produces” only unemployment, impoverishing societies and ultimately the value of life itself. …‘’AGAINST FASCISM – AGAINST AUTHORITY’’ preceded the revolted in November of ’73. These same imperatives are the focus of current social-class struggles of all societies across the world which experiencing the results of the existing political and economic dictatorship that nourish Nazism! The dead and tortured people of ’73 encounter on the streets our dead and tortured from the cops, comrades and fighters, confirming that the struggle for freedom is perpetual! …The social war takes place in every corner and the resistance to lethal hordes of the servants of wealth honour the spirit of those who sacrificed their lives for us all. …We respond to the war that they have declared to us and we overturn those who oppress us, while organizing a world of equality, justice and freedom. The struggle continues until victory and vindication.