The 46th anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic Uprising against the Greek military dictatorship was commemorated on Sunday.
Former Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras took part, and was front and centre in the Polytechnic uprising march.
The SYRIZA leader took to Facebook ahead of the event, declaring the many reasons that he would be participating, and also called on members of the public to join.
“Not only because the old fans of the junta are not in the margin but in governmental positions. Not only because the violent repression is upgraded to government’s necessity strategy. We will be there mostly to send a message of resistance against the wave of conservatism and setback but also to those that have already assumed that we have reached the end of the story,” Tsipras declared.
Despite his enthusiasm online, Tsipras reportedly started the SYRIZA march, but left before reaching the halfway point.
READ MORE: The spirit of the Athens Polytechnic lives on in Australia: 17 November 1973-2019
Also joining him were the former parliament president, Nikos Voutsis; SYRIZA’s general secretary, Panos Skourletis; and former Attica regional governor, Rena Dourou.
According to police, approximately 1,000 people joined Tsipras and the left-wing party, and 10,000 took part in the Community Party rally – both of which were separate to the main march, which saw over 20,000 people come together, marching arm in arm from the National Technical University of Athens to the United States Embassy.
There was a strong police presence at the gathering in the capital.
After the march, there were reportedly 28 arrests made and 13 detained near the university.
Six were arrested on a rooftop near Exarchia Square, where they were found to have firebombs, rocks, gas masks and gloves in their procession.
Further afield in Thessaloniki, clashes took place between police and groups of young people, who threw firebombs, setting a few cars on fire.