Greece last week commemmorated the 36th anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising of 1974 with a series of events in Athens.
President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias and Parliament President Filippos Petsalnikos on Tuesday laid wreaths at the Polytechnic monument commemorating the uprising and those who died, while Prime Minister George Papandreou and main opposition New Democracy former education deputy minister Spyros Taliadouros laid wreaths at the monument on Monday, and Communist Party of Greece (KKE) leader Aleka Papariga laid a wreath on Sunday.
In a message marking the 36th anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising, Papoulias stressed that it was for all Greeks “a reference point, a reason for collective self-respect and conviction that light can emerge from darkness.”
“Those who had stood up against the junta of 1967-1974 constituted models for behaviour, life stance, and a code of values,” Papoulias said.
“In reality, they do not belong to those that cause them but to those in whose name they take place.
“And they are almost always expressions of revolt and demands by a younger generation that always leads the way in major reversals,” the president stated.
Prime Minister George Papandreou stressed that fighting for a cause is “always relevant.” whilst placeing flowers at the memorial to the students killed in the November 17, 1973 uprising against the military junta.
The November 17, 1973 students’ uprising at the Athens Polytechnic contributed to the collapse of the seven-year military dictatorship in Greece (1967-74).
A three-day commemoration is held each year in tribute to the uprising against the military dictatorship ruling Greece at that time, which was violently put down in the early hours of November 17, 1973 when the army and tanks were brought in to disperse students that had taken over the Athens Polytechnic building.