Large police deployment ahead of annual protest

More than 5,000 police officers were being deployed in Athens on Wednesday ahead of a rally to mark the anniversary of a bloody anti-dictatorship uprising.

The annual march to the US Embassy has often in previous years been marred by violence. It was due to go ahead despite restrictions related to the pandemic.

The large student-led demonstrations in 1973 at the Athens Polytechnic in the center of the capital were held a year before a military dictatorship, in power since 1967, collapsed. Police opened fire on unarmed demonstrators at the time but the death toll remains unknown.

In a tweet Wednesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the uprising reinforced the country’s “daily commitment to a secure democracy.” [AP]