Thursday 14 July 2011

Syntagma Square Athens 30th June





Just got back from a couple of weeks in Greece and I dedicate
this post to a local follower whom I met this morning. He said
'I knew you were away, I've been logging on and if I see that
bl---y bicycle one more time...'
Anyway, we arrived in Athens on Wednesday the 29th of
June and the apartment we were staying in was on Asklipiou
which is not at all far from Syntagma Square. The street was
full of riot police waiting for whatever and fires were burning
in nearby streets with smoke drifting around but everything
was, at that time, reasonably calm. We found a small
restaurant a couple of streets away and settled down to
our evening repast only to find that things were kicking
off and the sounds of nearby rioting accompanied our
Greek salad. By the time we reached our main course
things were definitely getting out of hand and the noise
levels rose dramatically then suddenly there was the sound
of gunfire...rather, the sound of tear gas being fired.
In minutes the rioting ceased and people scattered.
The next day we went down to see what was going on
and found ourselves caught in patches of tear gas that
had hung around. Did you know it hangs around?
Stings like hell..noses, throat and eyes. What it must have
been like to face it as soon as it's fired goodness knows.
Must say we enjoyed all the anarchist graphics.
We are told by Greek friends that on that night the police
used chemicals other than just tear gas...sounds ominous.
The Greeks are quite shocked at that. Interesting times.

1 comment:

  1. Wow! I can just imagine you two calmly eating your Greek salads in the middle of a riot - can't wait for Sally's slide show to the accompaniment
    of gunshot sound effects! :-)

    ReplyDelete