Name talks rally being moved from Syntagma to Piraeus

A rally to protest the use of the word “Macedonia” in any solution put forward in talks between Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia that had been planned in the Greek capital on February 4 is being moved to the port of Piraeus.

According to an official announcement, the organizers who were also behind a large rally last Sunday in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, did not want to cause traffic chaos in downtown Athens by staging the protest at Syntagma Square.

However, sources told Kathimerini that the venue change was dictated by security concerns, as organizers worry of clashes between protesters, many of whom tend to the belong to the nationalist camp, and self-styled anarchists.

Police have estimated that 90,000 people attended last Sunday’s event in the capital of the Macedonia region, though others have put the number as high as 500,000.