Portraits from the last day of the Thessaloniki Film Festival

Portraits from the last day of the Thessaloniki Film Festival, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

50th Thessaloniki Film Festival 2009

Greek police accused of beating 35 year old mother in front of her two year old child

I just came across a story that once gain confirms my belief that the police here in Greece are out of control subject to little or no oversight. In an appalling case reported in the Eleutherotypia newspaper's site (see here in Greek) a 35 year old Armenian woman was beaten, handcuffed and detained in front of her two year old child home on the home from a supermarket in Athens last Thursday.

According to the interview she gave to the newspaper the incident was triggered when the woman, who is married to a well - known Greek musician, was accused by plain clothes police in an unmarked car of insulting them. They then asked if she was from Romania and when she said that she was, in fact from Armenia demanded to know why she was in Greece. They then produced police ID and demanded she come with them to the local police station.

When she went to get the pushchair carrying her child they grabbed her, pushed her to the ground, kicking and punching her in the belief she was resisting arrest. The hapless mother was handcuffed and taken with her child to the Aghios Pantelimenos police department where she was kept for four hours.

The Aghios Pantelimenos district of Athens has been in the news on several occasions over the last year following clashes with the far right group, Chrysi Aygi and immigrants living in the area. Many foreign born shop owners have also accused the police of turning a blind eye to racist intimidation in the area.

Lydia

Lydia, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

War is peace - new strategic approach to the Afghan conflict

War is peace - new strategic approach to Afghan conflict, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

George Orwell - 1984

Werner Herzog - Wild Blue Yonder

Werner Herzog - Wild Blue Yonder, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

German director, Werner Herzog at the 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

Werner Herzog at the 50th Thessaloniki Film Festival

Werner Herzog, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Veteren German film maker, Werner Herzog was in Greece today to accept a Golden Alexander award at the 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

Herzog, director of 53 movies and documentaries such as Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre, The Wrath of God and Wild Blue Yonder will also be holding a masterclass tomorrow as part of the Greece's most prestigious film event.

More photos on Demotix.com

Shadow of Ourselves

Shadows, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Polytechniou Day - Greece

Polytechniou Day - Greece, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

On 17th November 1973 the army sent in tanks to crush a student revolt in the Polytechnic university, Athens. The subsequent loss of life eventually led to the fall of the regime in 1974.

The truth is out there but not if you read the Greek press

Right wing students attempting to disrupt a wreath laying ceremony - Thessaloniki, Greece, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

The Greek blogosphere has been full of complaints over the way the mainstream media covered yesterday's Polytechniou Day. It seems there has been a concerted effort to either play down or ignore much of what happened. For example much of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city was covered in a blanket of tear gas for hours on end as riot police fired round after round of the stuff into the university grounds to supposedly disperse a few dozen protesters.

In addition the clashes between right and left wing student groups in the morning has been less than honest. For example today's Eletherotypia newspaper reported that;

"Επεισόδια σημειώθηκαν και νωρίς το πρωί, την ώρα που άρχιζε η κατάθεση στεφάνων στο μνημείο των πεσόντων, στο προαύλιο της Πολυτεχνικής Σχολής του ΑΠΘ. Ομάδα φοιτητών του Πανεπιστημίου Μακεδονίας που πρόσκεινται στη ΔΑΠ προσπάθησαν να πλησιάσουν για να καταθέσουν στεφάνι, αλλά μέλη νεολαιών της εξωκοινοβουλευτικής Αριστεράς τούς υποδέχτηκαν με πέτρες. Ακολούθησε συμπλοκή στο οδόστρωμα της Εγνατίας οδού που κράτησε περίπου 15-20 λεπτά."

They were incidents early this morning when members of DAP (the student wing of the conservative New Democracy party) attempting to lay a wreath during a ceremony for the victims of the 1973 Polytechnic uprising at the Aristotelion university of Thessaloniki were stoned by members of the student supporters of the extra parliamentary left. The clashes that followed lasted approximately 15 -20 minutes."

www.enet.gr

Well, I happened to be there at the times and as you can see from the picture above the hundred or so DAP members who gathered opposite the university were hardly dressed for a such a solemn ceremony. Nor do those who wish to pay their respects hurl paving stones, bottles and insults at people attending,

There were clashes but from what I saw many of those inside were preparing to defend the shrine set up inside the campus from attack by these hooligans.

So why the discrepancy in the accounts? I'm not sure if it is just indifference, ignorance or a worry that the newspaper's political line must be preserved irrespective of the truth.

"Limited use of tear gas"

"Limited use of tear gas" or "περιορισμένη χρήση χημικών" as they say in Greek is such a benign phrase suggesting that the police sent a few squirts in the general direction of those protesting, a little snifter, just to add to the atmosphere. In reality there is no such thing, at least here in Greece.

The police and especially the riot squad (MAT) don't do half measures as the residents of downtown Thessaloniki found out again last night. With a clouds of tear gas covering half the centre and forcing tens of thousands to lock themselves inside or rush indoors coughing and crying. Even as far away as the port which is over a kilometres away some film festival goers were complaining of sore eyes and difficulty breathing.

All this to deal with a few dozen stone throwing youths who'd decided to use the university campus as a base to harass riot squad units opposite. As a result police shot round after round of tear gas into the grounds for over six hours. At one point firing canisters into the Polytechnic building, smashing windows and forcing students peacefully commemorating 17th November to flee.

That's how I found myself trying to climb eight stories with the lungs of an 80 year old manic smoker. That's the one thing they don't tell you about tear gas is that tears are the least of your worries. It's what is does to your respiratory system that really scares, suddenly you cannot breathe, you feel like you're drowning. You draw a breath but nothing happens, no oxygen makes it inside, instead more of the vile stuff penetrates your lungs. Around you you can hear young kids hacking and coughing like patients on an emphysema ward, some desperately sticking their heads out of the window in order to take in something other than this poison.

After what seems like hours I make up onto the roof and out of the building, even on the eighth floor below you cannot stay inside for more than a few minutes. From up here the city looks peaceful, beautiful even, despite the layer of who knows what that blankets this part of the city.

Later on when people have regained some measure of composure and made phone calls we then realise that we're trapped, all around the campus are riot police units, plain clothes cops and god knows who else ready to arrest anyone they consider suspicious. Just being here is cause enough and once in the their hands anything is possible.

Unwanted flashbacks of the scenes of the savage beating of a Cypriot student captured by TV crews this night two years ago pop into my head. Having just arrived in the country he was naive enough to believe that being innocent he'd have nothing to fear from the police. Instead he was kicked and punched by half a dozen cops so badly that he spent weeks in hospital, his face an unrecognisable pulp. His crime stopping to answer their questions instead of running the hell away from there.

More phone calls and eventually those on the roof descend and meet up with others who were still in the area, all in all a few hundred who make their way to the university's admin building where students negotiate with the dean over how to guarantee our safe passage off campus.

It's nearly three, cold and the adventure and adrenaline have long since worn off, thoughts of sleep and home take the place of indignation and protest, it seems to last for hours but in the end we all move as a group towards Kamara and the relative safety of the centre. Here we can mingle in with night owls who even at this time fill the streets, cafes and bars.

Right wing students try to disrupt 17th November commemoration in Thessaloniki

Right wing students try to disrupt 17th November commemoration in Thessaloniki, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

At first glance it looks remarkably like some kind of college graduation photo shoot, the students stand lined up on the steps outside the admin building all waiting for what's about to come.

However, some details do not gel, many are wearing motorcycle helmets and those in the front two rows are carrying flag poles as thick as a man's fist.The paving stones in front of them as slick with a slimy substance which makes them treacherously slippery, a trap designed to fool anyone unwise enough to rush the central entrance of the Polytechnic block.

A few hundred metres away right wing student groups have gathered on the corner, they too wear helmets and carry clubs.The sound of their taunts and insults cross the central highway that divides the two groups rousing the anarchists who quickly assume battle formation, using upturned desks and sheets of plywood as makeshift shield against the hail of stones and bottles that have started to land inside the university grounds

Cautiously, the student supporters of the youth wing of the conservative New Democracy party or Dapites as they are known in Greek edge forward, hurling invective along with hunks of paving stone,empty beer bottles and even oranges.

They dare those inside the university grounds to come out and fight them, and as if in a gladiator movie a lone anarchist casually strolls out to meet them, arms outstretched, palms up, the classic Greek gesture meaning, "come and get some." In response a hail of missile are hurled in his direction but he continues, oblivious to it all, taunting them with insults about their manhood.

As he walks back to his comrades, the braver Dapites advance, urging on the more reticent among their ranks and suddenly they rush forward, seizing the initiative and charge those nearest the campus entrance. Their advance however, is quickly halted as communist and anarchist students counter attack, forcing the invaders to retreat to the relative safety of the opposite side of the boulevard.

Today Greece commemorates 17th November 1973 when the then ruling military junta sent army tanks into the country's top technical university in order to crush a student revolt. The ensuing bloodshed and loss of civilian life set in chain a series of events that would eventually led to the downfall of the Regime of the Colonels in 1974.

Every year the day is remembered with a series of wreath laying ceremonies, marches, concerts and violent confrontations between police and left wing student groups.

This morning's clashes between different student factions is simply a skirmish in what will later on today be the front line in the constant battle between the authorities and Thessaloniki's powerful anarchist movements. As the police are forbidden from entering universities the area around the Aristotelian campus is often the site of clashes between the riot police and protesters.

Although in previous years this conflict had become almost ritualistic in its adherence to tactics and targets, the massive wave of protests which hit Greece last December following the death at the hands of the police of a 15 year old in Athens means that the rule book has been ripped up and nobody can be sure that neither side will be content to settle for the symbolic victories of past encounters and not hunger for something more substantial.

Urban Screen project at the 50th Thessaloniki Film Festival

Urban Screen project at the 50th Thessaloniki Film Festival, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

The Urban Screen project outside the Olympion cinema in Thessaloniki. Part of the 50th Thessaloniki Film Festival.