The pandemic has changed a lot of our habits. It has upset our daily life, it has canceled events, it has postponed performances, it has canceled the parades, it made us not understand how Easter passed and now it threatens with cancellation the course of the Polytechnic established from 1974 until today, which under normal circumstances would take place at noon on Tuesday 17 November.
The Minister of Citizen Protection Mr. Michalis Chrysochoidis was clear: "In 2020 we did not celebrate March 25, October 28, we did not celebrate anything that unites us, the same will happen with the Polytechnic. "When the country opens, we will all be together to celebrate the big holidays." The 46th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising will definitely be different from the ones we were used to. The mass and dynamic manifestation of popular opposition to the regime of the Colonel Junta that took place in the second ten days of November 1973 with the occupation of the National Technical University of Athens and culminated with the invasion of the academy by the tank, will be honored differently, coronavirus.
In the course of all these years, however, there were marches on the day of November 17 that remained forever etched in our minds, for many different reasons. Either because they were characterized by passion and pulse or because they resulted in relentless clashes and incidents in the Straits of Exarcheia between police forces and anti-authoritarians, whom we used to call "known - unknown".
Let us remember the marches all these years.
1974: The first anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising coincides with the first post-government elections that show the winner the New Democracy of Konstantinos Karamanlis, with a not inconsiderable percentage of 54,37%. Due to the electoral contest on the day of November 17, there is a march by leftist organizations on Friday, November 15, starting from the entrance of the Polytechnic on Patision Street and ending at the Shooting Range of Kaisariani. The organizers themselves speak of a participation of 50.000 people. The official memorial services, however, will take place a week later, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets - some at the time talking about 900.000. It was the bulkiest course for the Polytechnic with people laying wreaths, shouting slogans and singing the national anthem. From the balcony of the building of the School of Architecture, Maria Farantouri, Nikos Xylouris and other great artists sing "When will you shave" with the crowd repeating the lyrics.
1975; The course is not only anti-fascist and anti-imperialist, but also partisan. At the head of the march that ends at the American embassy, which is blocked by the police forces, is the blood-stained flag of the uprising held by the members of the Central Council of the National Student Union of Greece (EFEE). The prevailing slogan is "NATO - CIA (betrayal)".
1976: The Karamanlis government is blocking the march due to information about the impending "action of members of the extra-parliamentary Left", while it was considered by many as a sign of good will towards the newly elected US President Jimmy Carter.
Eventually the march begins but stops at the height of Parliament by strong police forces. The approximately 200.000 participants do not attempt to break the cordon, with the exception of about 200 young people who try to attack in uniform but are forcibly repulsed.
1977: The second post-government elections were scheduled for November 20 (where the New Democracy of Konstantinos Karamanlis will win again, but this time with a percentage of 41,84%) when the commemorative events for the Polytechnic took place a week later, on the 27th of the month. This is the first time that serious episodes have broken out.
The government has banned the march and the police have been ordered to divert the protesters to Pedion tou Areos. About 2.000 leftists try to break the siege and wood falls on time. 22 young people and four police officers are injured, while 44 people are arrested.
1978: For the first time, the Parliament honors the uprising, while in the course that takes place on November 19 with the participation of 150.000 people, there are officially members of ONNED, the youth organization of New Democracy. A few hours later, episodes will break out in Exarchia and in the areas around the Polytechnic.
1979: Once again the course has been banned but nevertheless attempts are being made to make it happen once again. ONED is prevented from laying a wreath at the Polytechnic, while the youth bloc of the Communist Party of Greece (KNE) surrounds and forcibly dissolves the leftist "anarchists" in Chafteia.
1980: This is the fatal course of the anniversary since during it there are very serious incidents between protesters and restoration units (MAT) that result in the fatal injury of two young people.
The government of Georgios Rallis in consultation with EL.AS. has announced from the beginning that it will not allow the demonstration to pass in front of the American embassy on November 16 and so its modification is requested, in order to go to Syntagma Square. Indeed, most of the student groups of EFEE followed this modified path. However, about 2.000 members of leftist student groups did not obey and headed to Vasilissis Sofias Avenue, in order to reach the embassy. At the height of the Parliament, however, police officers were waiting for them and from there began the extensive episodes with injuries and destruction of shops and buildings.
20-year-old worker Stamatina Kanellopoulou and 26-year-old Cypriot student Iakovos Koumis will lose their lives as a result of beatings by MAT men who were never identified. The government limited itself to expressing its anger at the "organized groups of anarchists and extremists" who "tarnished the great popular anniversary and brutally provoked the democratic and peaceful feelings of the entire Greek people", while equally discriminating against police violence were those days and the president of PASOK Andreas Papandreou who a year later would take power.
1981: Andreas Papandreou lays a wreath as the country's prime minister. Since then, the government presence and participation in the demonstrations has been established. The Left speaks of the establishment's attempt to de-ideologize the anniversary. The march on November 15 is peaceful and is occasionally broadcast on state television.
1982: The march is peaceful and involves about 200.000 people. A small group tries to enter the main body of the demonstration but is repulsed by the rest. For the first time, committees of sailors, soldiers and sailors are participating, but they are arrested after the end of the march.
1983: The slogans that prevail in 1983 on the anniversary of the Polytechnic concern Cyprus as a few twenty-four hours earlier, on November 15, the Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has declared the pseudo-state of the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus". At the same time, the Polytechnic is now treated as a national holiday and on the initiative of the Ministry of Youth, the celebration is… 17 days.
1984: By decision of the EFEE, there are no party banners along the way. The Communist Party disagrees and forms its own bloc in the queue, but it is bigger than the main demonstration.
1985: Another "black" anniversary. About 150.000 people are participating in the established march and after its end serious incidents break out between police and anarchists in Exarchia. A group of protesters set fire to a MAT cage with Molotov cocktails. The 27-year-old policeman Athanasios Melistas, who is inside it, runs out and shoots the 15-year-old student Michalis Kaltezas in the back of the head from a distance of only 20 meters, while he was running with other protesters towards Exarcheion Square.
Immediately after Kaltezas's death, the old Chemist in Solonos and the Polytechnic were occupied by anarchists as a sign of protest. On the morning of November 18, the University Asylum Committee, chaired by Rector Michalis Stathopoulos, gave permission for the Police to enter the Chemistry to end the occupation. The invasion was carried out with the use of tear gas and the police arrested 37 people who were beaten, while a few managed to escape and reach the occupation of the Polytechnic through the… sewers. This was the first abolition of asylum since its official establishment in 1982. The episodes in Athens continued in the following days, while the Minister of Interior and Public Order Menios Koutsogiorgas and the Deputy Minister of Interior and Public Affairs submitted their resignations for reasons of integrity. Tsouras, which Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou did not accept.
1986: Several days before the anniversary, anarchists are calling on the people with posters to "avenge the death of Calteza" that took place last year. The march is guarded by 17.000 police officers who are ordered to take a passive stance. Of the approximately 120.000 people heading to the US embassy, there are four police officers with policies who are located and beaten.
1987: Episodes and a water war are recorded while the Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou and the leader of the official opposition Konstantinos Mitsotakis go to the NTUA to lay a wreath. Shortly afterwards, clashes broke out outside the US embassy between police and anarchists. The Associations of Editors and Photojournalists complain that they were unnecessarily attacked by MAT.
1988: About 60.000 people take part in the march and after the end of the march there are incidents, but not of a large extent. 17 protesters are being arrested.
1989: Even fewer protesters are present in 1989 as they barely reach 30.000. Once again, clashes are recorded around the Polytechnic and the conflict between the Greek Police and the EFEE begins over the responsibility of the incidents that will last for decades.
1990: After many years, no episodes are recorded, which is due to the rain that falls on the day of the march. The protesters do not exceed 40.000.
1991: Groups of "outraged citizens" who clash with anarchists come to the fore, thus contributing to the work of EL.AS. The Rector's Office of the Polytechnic University has been destroyed since October, when the university asylum was lifted for the second time. Instead of wreaths, money is collected for its restoration.
1992: The number of participants in the march drops below 20.000 and the usual episodes after the end of the demonstration at the American embassy are not missing. In order to prevent the occupation of the Polytechnic, for the first time it is guarded from within.
1993: The course is declining even more since about 10.000 people participate in it. It is the first time that the Ministry of National Defense gives permission for the participation of soldiers in the march. As a precaution, the Police apprehend 28 people.
1994: The people participating in the march do not exceed 7.000. The Polytechnic and ASSOE are guarded under the fear of incidents so that they are not occupied. However, a group of 100 young people was transferred to Panteion University and occupied there. They burn cars, set up roadblocks and throw stones at police and journalists. Authorities are making about 40 arrests.
1995: The episodes start on November 14 and everyone predicts that they will be extended on the day of the celebration. Indeed, on the night of the 17th of the month, the television receivers broadcast live clashes between anti-authoritarians and police, arson of banks, shops, and cars, while hundreds of young people have gathered at the Polytechnic, throwing rain of Molotov cocktails. The senator, realizing that the educational institution is in danger of being destroyed once again, removes the university asylum and the police invade the NTUA. Early the next morning, 472 squatters were transferred to the offices of the General Police Directorate of Attica. 15 buses of EL.AS were needed for their transportation. They were the most mass arrests in police history.
1996: Due to the lack of microphone facilities, for the first time the established ceremony for the Polytechnic in the field of Architecture is not held. Rectorate and EFEE attribute the responsibility to each other. When the march to the US embassy does not begin with the participation of about 14.000 protesters, the rector's authorities declare that they will not follow, which also happened for the first time, choosing to stay in the area to guard it from any vandalism.
1997: It is the first time that the list of the dead of the Polytechnic uprising is not read since the EFEE is absent from the official ceremony that lasts only a quarter. The climate is charged. Ten days earlier, there have been incidents and arsons of two stores and in order to prevent the worst, ELAS has taken thousands of police officers to the streets. The Polytechnic itself is guarded by students, members of party organizations and trade unions to prevent its occupation. Shortly before the march of about 7.000 people began, unknown individuals set fire to the political office of the Minister of National Economy and Finance, Giannos Papantoniou, located at the junction of Patision and Stournari streets. As the firefighters go to put out the fire, they receive Molotov cocktails, injuring two people. 16 young people are arrested and 17 are brought.
1998: Groups of so-called "acquaintances - strangers" attempt to infiltrate the course of the Polytechnic but are repulsed by the student guard groups. Episodes are recorded at the beginning of Stadiou Street and a total of 149 people are brought.
1999: The march takes place two days before the official visit to Athens of US President Bill Clinton. There are no incidents on the day of November 17 as the security measures are draconian. When the approximately 15.000 protesters leave in the direction of the American embassy, the NTUA is blocked by the authorities within a radius of two building blocks around it.
2000: It is the quietest and quietest course of all years, in which about 8.000 people participate. For the first time, the names of 88 fallen people are read during the seven-year dictatorship by Pipina Elli, sister of the National Resistance fighter Panagiotis Elli who was killed at the Faliro Hippodrome by Lieutenant Colonel Konstantinos Kotsaris, on April 25, 1967.
2001: Once again, the people who participate in the course of the Polytechnic are few, around 5.000 people, about the same number as the police officers who supervise them. Taking advantage of the fact that the blocks are sparse, a group of about 200 young people enters in the middle of the march and starts throwing stones at the police, who respond with tear gas.
2002: After several years, the march to the American embassy on the day of the anniversary of the Polytechnic has a pulse. Slogans vary as others oppose a possible war in Iraq, others shout in favor of the Palestinians, others against globalization and the new order, and some call for the immediate release of Yannis Serifis, whose wife is present at the rally. Marie-Thérèse Peino, a partner of Alexandros Giotopoulos, who is said to be a founding member of the terrorist organization "November 17", and Alithia Romero Cortez, a companion of Savvas Xiros. At the height of the War Museum, the first episodes break out with the protesters' blocks falling apart.
2003: The images are surreal. Members of PASOK youth wearing helmets and holding sticks run in front of the American embassy shouting the slogan "Andrea, you live, you lead us".
2004: The 31st anniversary passed without anything remarkable. About 7.000 people took part in the march, as well as the police officers who supervised them, while when about 50 anti-authoritarians started causing incidents, they were immediately confronted by the authorities, who proceeded with 5 arrests and 35 extraditions.
2005: Although it was raining on the day of the anniversary, about 9.000 protesters started from the NTUA in the direction of the American embassy. If one excludes the fact that some eggs and paints were fired at the French embassy located in Queen Sofia, at the height of the Parliament, no other diversions took place.
2006: The episodes return. The Ministry of Public Order has ordered precautionary arrests and checks on bags and bags of passers-by heading to Patission. Nevertheless, the first clashes are recorded when the procession passes through the height of Rigillis Street, just before the War Museum. Authorities opposed the protest with all available police forces, special services and the army. They fired stones at the MAT men and hurled stones at them. EL.AS. responds with tear gas and flash grenades.
When the top of the march reaches the US embassy, its tail made up of anarchists is at the height of the Hilton.
Their Police cuts from other demonstrators and arrested more than twenty people. Episodes are recorded a few minutes later in Mavili Square. The Minister of Public Order of Byron, Polydoras, congratulates the Police for the way it moved.
2007: The celebration of 2007 passes without anything remarkable if you exclude the throwing of stones and bottles at the police forces and the throwing of a few tear gas canisters when the march for the Polytechnic is completed, at the height of the American embassy.
2008: The skies have opened early and it is raining in the capital, with the result that the course has no pulse and people. But the episodes are still not missing. A group of anti-authoritarians attacks a MAT squad in Mavili Square and the latter respond by throwing tear gas. Three police officers are slightly injured and 11 young people are brought to GADA.
2009: The episodes are of limited extent, at the junction of Alexandra Avenue and Kifissias, but the arrests are large since they reach 292 while the 10 are turned into arrests. Among those arrested is 21-year-old musician Stefanos Papagelidis, grandson of composer Mikis Theodorakis. His lawyer will claim that the young man was preparing to go to Kantza in order to be on the live show of Lakis Lazopoulos, at 21.00, as a member of the orchestra of Mikis Theodorakis. However, he had the misfortune to stay in the center of Exarcheia while the MAT men were "sweeping" the area from Alexandras Avenue to Charilaou Trikoupi, after the end of the march of the anti-authoritarians. At the same time, he had the unfortunate inspiration, being a driver motorcycle, to have in his hand the helmet he would wear on the route.
2010: The country has been in the memoranda since April and despite the rain, more than 30.000 people are participating in the march for the Polytechnic who want to express their opposition to the troika's parliaments. At the height of the Evangelism, anti-authoritarians attack the MATs which respond with the use of chemicals. Similar images are played in Michalakopoulou and Mesogeion. 69 extraditions are carried out, of which 23 are converted into arrests.
2011: The participation of the people in the march for the Polytechnic on November 17, 2011 is not large, nor the extent of the episodes recorded at the height of Mavili Square between MAT men and anti-authoritarians. However, 14 police officers were injured, 90 were brought in and 13 young people were arrested.
2012: Everything went smoothly in general. Unique noteworthy is the fact that part of the protesters belonging to the Communist Party of Greece, continued the march to the Israeli embassy in order to protest the attacks in Gaza.
2013: The 40th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising took place peacefully and was one of the largest in recent years. The gates of the foundation closed shortly after one o'clock in the afternoon and a few minutes after three o'clock, the procession started to reach an hour later outside the American embassy where the participants sang the national anthem. The prevailing slogans concerned the memoranda, while they also turned against the Golden Dawn.
After 6 pm, the main volume of the march began to arrive at the embassy, where slogans against austerity prevailed, but also against Golden Dawn and fascism in general, as two months earlier Pavlos Fyssas had been assassinated in Keratsini.
Earlier in the Constitution, the assembled saw surprised two protesters cut off from the course and to take off their clothes in front of the police cordon.
2014: Tension and incidents occur in Exarchia after the end of the march in which about 25.000 people participate. Anti-government groups are hurling stones, Molotov cocktails and sticks at police, not only from the street but also from rooftops. Five police officers were injured in the clashes, while three arrests were made.
A video is circulating on the Internet showing MAT men looting a kiosk in the Exarcheia area. According to the kiosk in the TV crews, they opened his refrigerator and started taking bottles of water, without paying for them.
2015: In the same work spectators. Around 20.000 citizens are peacefully participating in the march of the Polytechnic, even stopping for a few minutes in front of the French embassy, paying tribute to the people who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Then, shortly after eight o'clock at night, groups of anti-authoritarians engage in stone warfare with MAT forces who in turn throw tear gas and flash grenades. Police forces are making 8 arrests, two of which are related to a robbery in a supermarket on Spyrou Mercouri Street.
2016: Two days before the anniversary of the Polytechnic, the President of the United States of America Barack Obama has visited our country. Some 15.000 protesters chanted anti-American and anti-imperialist slogans. Outside the US embassy, a portion of the participants disapproved and protested the SYRIZA bloc, which has been in government since January 2015. Due to the tension, the ruling party bloc was forced to leave the area.
Earlier, there was little tension at the junction of Stournari and Zaimi streets, near the Polytechnic, when a group of young people trapped a police van. The vehicle was carrying helmets and shields for police forces in the area. The young people who trapped it realized this, without causing any damage or injuring anyone, as a MAT squad immediately went and managed to repel them. However, the riots caught up and took with them two police shields and two helmets.
2017: If there is anything left as a picture of what happened during the 44th anniversary, it is that of lawyer Anastasia Tsoukalas screaming in pain when a naval flare fired by an anarchist man was nailed to her left knee and the police could not extinguish. Sixteen people were arrested and six police officers were injured during the incidents. Earlier, the march to the US embassy had gone smoothly with the participation of 16 protesters.
2018: Tensions and incidents are taking place in the center of Athens after the end of the march for the 45th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising in which about 10.000 people participated. The well-known chase between hooded men and MAT men takes place in the alleys around Alexandras Avenue, at the height of the building of the General Police Directorate of Attica, with the atmosphere becoming suffocating due to the use of chemicals. 16 arrests are made while 6 police officers are injured.
2019: The march to the US embassy, which is attended by about 12.000 people, is dominated by slogans in favor of maintaining university asylum and against policing. Men from the DELTA group that has been re-established by the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis are in Exarchia from an early age.
Early in the afternoon, EL.AS. arrests six people who had climbed on the roof of a building on Spyrou Trikoupi Street in Exarchia. Molotov cocktails, asphyxiating masks, gloves, stones and other items were found at the scene. Police intervened in at least three apartment buildings in the area to prevent anarchists who would "swarm" on the rooftops. Shortly before nine o'clock in the evening, low-intensity episodes break out that do not last more than an hour.
