Heavy security for Greek Independence Day celebrations
- 12 years ago
Protesters in Greece scuffle with police during independence day celebrations in the debt-ridden country.
Shoving matches errupted in central Athens as demonstrators railed against budget cuts and what they called draconian security measures.
Officials cordoned off the centre of Athens and called in 4,000 police officers to guard the route of a military parade.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) PROTESTER PETROS CONSTANTINOU SAYING:
"The police actions are part and parcel of the austerity measures, because with all these measures democracy dies. And all we can do to make democracy alive is to fight back with all this."
The government was fearful of a repeat of the violent protests that have wracked Greece over the last year.
The celebrations on Sunday marked Greece's 1821 independence from the the Ottoman empire.
But spectators were only allowed to watch from a special grandstand - the first time the country has taken such extreme security measures.
Andrew Raven, Reuters
Shoving matches errupted in central Athens as demonstrators railed against budget cuts and what they called draconian security measures.
Officials cordoned off the centre of Athens and called in 4,000 police officers to guard the route of a military parade.
(SOUNDBITE)(English) PROTESTER PETROS CONSTANTINOU SAYING:
"The police actions are part and parcel of the austerity measures, because with all these measures democracy dies. And all we can do to make democracy alive is to fight back with all this."
The government was fearful of a repeat of the violent protests that have wracked Greece over the last year.
The celebrations on Sunday marked Greece's 1821 independence from the the Ottoman empire.
But spectators were only allowed to watch from a special grandstand - the first time the country has taken such extreme security measures.
Andrew Raven, Reuters