STUDENTS and pupils yesterday marked the 37th anniversary of the Athens Polytechnic uprising against the Greek junta with a march to the American Embassy.
A delegation from students’ union POFEN and pupils’ union PSEM presented a resolution addressed to US Ambassador Frank Urbancic, which was picked up by an embassy official.
The students had gathered at the old Nicosia General Hospital in Nicosia to start their march holding banners saying: “The people never forget the fascists and the tanks.”
Along the way, they shouted slogans, such as: ‘Bread – education – freedom’ and ‘NATO –CIA treachery’, and sang patriotic songs.
The demonstration was peaceful and monitored by police. After handing over the resolution, the young people held a musical event with Cypriot singer Demetris Makris and school band Oculus.
POFEN general secretary Chrysostomos Pashiardis said that despite the years that had passed, the “Polytechnic lives on” and the strong messages sent out by the Greek students and people against the junta dictatorship still remained topical.
The Polytechnic uprising began on November 14, 1973, and escalated to an open anti-junta, anti-American and anti-imperialist revolt that ended in bloodshed in the early morning of November 17 after a tank crashing through the gates of the Polytechnic sparked a series of bloody events that left 24 people dead outside of the campus. None of the students inside the Polytechnic was killed.
Pashiardis said the events inevitably brought back memories of the 1974 Turkish invasion in Cyprus. “There is a common conspiracy, a common plan that was prepared in the dark alleyways of the CIA and NATO,” said Pashiardis.
Pashiardis said the junta had been hit hard by the uprising, but its final collapse came after its betrayal against Cyprus.
He said the best way to honour the Polytechnic heroes would be to intensify efforts for Cyprus’ reunification.
In their resolution to the US Embassy, students and pupils condemn “the policy of the USA, which guided the national independence and attempted to overpower popular sovereignty in Greece”.
POFEN and PSEM are calling on the US to “stop playing the role of the unappointed international policeman”.
