Greece row over plan to ban protest at memorial next to parliament

The Greek blimpish authorities has provoked a enactment by readying to prohibition protests astatine Greece’s top subject memorial adjacent to parliament, pursuing a caller hunger strike there linked to a tragic obstruction disaster.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis connected Sunday said connected Facebook that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier successful Athens should not go “a venue for events unrelated to its purpose”.

“My reply is no… citizens tin freely explicit themselves successful thousands of different spaces with gatherings oregon demonstrations,” Mitsotakis said.

Legislation will beryllium introduced to delegate the memorial’s “proper operation” to the defence ministry, the premier said.

The plaza that hosts the memorial, which was unveiled successful 1932, has often seen protesters clash with riot police.

On galore occasions, the site’s defender of honour has withdrawn for its ain safety.

This month, the plaza was the focal constituent of a 23-day hunger strike by Panos Ruci, whose son Denis was among the 57 victims of the fatal 2023 train clang that sparked a furious protestation question calling for a much thorough probe into the tragedy.

Ruci ended his protestation past week aft judicial authorities belatedly agreed to clasp toxicology and DNA tests connected his son’s remains.

Since the train tragedy, the plaza has been marked with the names of the 57 victims successful reddish overgarment and decorated with candles, flowerpots and planters.

Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis connected Monday told reporters the memorial “should not beryllium there for immoderate demonstration, immoderate protestation of immoderate cause”.

He added that the ιστοσελίδα should beryllium “cleaned, maintained and showcased”.

There was swift condemnation of the plan, with leftist regular Efsyn accusing the authorities of seeking to “militarise” the site.

The plaza’s preservation arsenic a ιστοσελίδα of nationalist protestation is “imperative”, the regular said.

Greece’s main left-wing enactment Syriza said the determination was “a nonstop onslaught connected ideology by a authorities that has mislaid each fashionable support, each legitimacy”.

Source: AFP