In daylight, a fragile normality began to return to the city center, with shops again opening and people returning to work. On Saturday, the one-week anniversary of the shooting, the protests were largely peaceful, though still angry. The explosion of rioting and looting that took place in the aftermath of Alexandros's death has faded in recent days, but there are still daily protests, many of which end in hails of rocks and flaming Molotov cocktails. "It's much more harmful for the state to control " she says.
BASTION ALEXANDROS FOR FREE
Sarantopoulou says, but in the long run society is better off by having a law that forever ensures a safe place for free speech. The university safe-haven policy might at times be abused, Ms. It's the students home it's the teachers home." "There are historical, political, ideological reasons for the immunity to exist," she says. Like many students, she passionately defends the asylum law. But Stergia Sarantopoulou, an architecture student there who has been participating in protests, says the mood is angry but collegial. There's an air of menace outside the Polytechnic. Inside, protesters regroup and rearm around bonfires that burn through the night. The area just outside its gates has been the site of some of the most intense clashes with police. There, anarchists – many of whom call Exarchia their home – are helping to organize students and other young people.
The Polytechnic, which lies on the border of the edgy neighborhood of Exarchia, where the 15-year-old was killed, is serving as the heart and brain center of the revolt. The latest poll numbers show a 20 percent approval rating. So far, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has rejected calls by opposition leaders to hold early elections, but his center-right party holds only a one-seat majority in parliament, and public support for his government was weak even before the riots. 6 killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos and also at a political system they see as corrupt and incompetent. Across Athens, high schools and universities are under occupation by students and other youth angry at the Dec. Today, the Poly-technic and other institutions of learning are once again brimming with revolutionary zeal. Greece's new Constitution gave special status to universities and other schools, forever barring the police from entering their grounds. 17 the national police moved in with tanks, killing a still-disputed number of protesters. Fearful that the revolt would spread, on Nov. In November 1973, students barricaded themselves inside in rebellion against the country's military junta, which had been in power since 1967.
The Polytechnic holds historic importance for Greeks. "The law about university asylum I believe is a fantastic achievement of the university movement, but we should protect it by not allowing criminal offenses to happen inside." "The university asylum is for the freedom of movement of ideas, but not of commitment of criminal actions," says George Bergeles, a professor at the Polytechnic who is sympathetic to the students' complaints, but not their harsh tactics. Protected by Greece's Constitution from police interference, the Polytechnic has become the headquarters of the protest movement – and a haven for those wreaking havoc on the city's streets.Īs Greeks try to make sense of the chaos – and prepare for another week of protests, ranging from sit-ins to nationwide roadblocks – many here are beginning to ask whether the asylum law is protecting free speech or simply harboring criminals. Inside, piles of empty gas canisters testify to the scores of Molotov cocktails assembled there recently For more than a week, Athenian streets have been a battleground between police and protesters, whose anger was sparked by the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy by a policeman. Nearby streets are barricaded with the carcasses of burnt cars, and a huge black banner proclaims "MURDERERS" – the rallying cry that has brought Greece's youths to the streets. Masked men wielding clubs guard the entrance to the Athens Polytechnic University, keeping watch over the graffiti-covered walls on campus.
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