Resistance hero Manolis Glezos dies aged 97
Veteran leftist and World War II resistance fighter Manolis Glezos died Monday at the age of 97. He died of heart failure at a central Athens hospital after being admitted on March 18. Respected across the Greek political spectrum, he was most famous for climbing the walls of the Acropolis in 1941 to take down the Nazi flag. He was sentenced to death in absentia. Politically active until the end, he strongly campaigned against austerity during the debt crisis. In 2012, he was elected MP with leftist SYRIZA and gained a seat in the European Parliament two years later. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis paid tributes to Glezos, calling him “a genuine patriot and true fighter.” He will be given a state funeral. [Orestis Panagiotou/EPA]
