The parades of March 25th celebrating the Independence of Greece from Turkish slavery will take place as usual, according to the interministerial decision taken on Monday at noon.
In a meeting headed by Greek PM Lucas Papademos and joined by the Ministers of Interior, Education, Justice Defense and Citizens’ Protection in order to decide on what actions should be taken with regard to the fear of mass protests during the parades, the committee decided that all members of the government must attend the festivities so as to emphasize the message of national unity of the celebration.
Although the committee did not discuss the issue of security, local media reported that the deployed police forces will be operationally ready to avert any case of violent incidents.
According to ANA-MPA information, the committee also decided to ask all political parties, media and social organizations to formally condemn the violent incidents and clashes since such phenomena are undermining the country’s democracy.
A new meeting will be held on Tuesday in order to determine the final details of the plan of action. Given last week’s incident in Rhodes, when the angered crowd hurled yogurts and bottles of water at three politicians during the Dodecanese Unification Parade, most politicians are skeptical about turning up at the parades.
The big National Parade of October 28th in Thessaloniki was also cancelled amidst protests and angry people shouting slogans against the President of the Hellenic Republic.
Politicians, mostly coming from the parties of ND and PASOK, are being intimidated and warned not to attend the parades. Most of them fear they will be booed and criticized from the people for the terrible financial crisis plaguing Greece for the fifth year in a row and the imposition of harsh austerity measures, severe cuts in pensions and wages, unpopular taxation and rising unemployment.
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