Saturday's demo in colour

I thought I'd post some more photos from Saturday's anti-government rally that marked the Greek prime minister's visit to the 73rd International Trade Fair here in Thessaloniki. For more details on that check out the story I wrote for NowPublic.com.

Actually, these events are full of striking images and often remind me of Kurosawa's Ran in that each group is colour coded. The trade unionists wear something orange or yellow, the anarchists with their red and black, the anarcho-ecologist, green and black, the communists decked out with their traditional red flags.

In addition to the more traditional groups the Greens were there to raise public awareness about the problems of carbon footprint created by the use of lignite by the Greece's publicly owned power company, DEH.

Employees from Olympic Airways were protesting against government attempts to sell off Greece's national airline.

The riot police were employed not just to keep protester from approaching the Trade Fair, but also to separate various groups within the march who spent as much time battling each other as they did the authorities.

"Dear Mom,

Just arrived in the city and it's very hot, Still, the people are very friendly and the police have been very helpful. I think they are all here to watch a soccer match. Hope everyone back there in Arkansas is doing well.

Yours

Bob
Alexis Tsipras, the chairman of the Synaspismos party.