?Indignants? protest for sixth day
Thousands of demonstrators of all ages and social backgrounds converged in central Athens, Thessaloniki and other cities on Monday for the sixth day in a row to peacefully protest the government?s ongoing austerity drive.
The turnout was smaller than Sunday?s rally, when some 50,000 people answered the rallying call of their Spanish counterparts, who have been demonstrating in city squares for weeks over rising unemployment, and crammed into and around Syntagma Square.
But those in attendance were as passionate as on previous days, chanting anti-government slogans and waving placards with anti-austerity slogans.
One of the most dramatic protests involved demonstrators erecting three fake gallows in front of Parliament and calling on those responsible for the economic crisis to be punished.
In Syntagma Square, the more active members of the movement – which has been organized via social networking sites and without the involvement of labor unions – manned stands dispensing information and food to visitors.
In Thessaloniki, a crowd gathered around the White Tower, the city?s seafront landmark which protesters have marked with a banner reading ?Not for sale? – a reference to the government?s plan to sell off state assets.
In a proclamation uploaded onto the Internet, the ?Indignant? movement – which takes its name from the original Spanish campaign ?Los Indignados? – said that it would keep going until the politicians and technocrats it blames for the current situation ?go away.?
In a related development, a 31-year-old man seriously injured after being beaten by police officers during an anti-austerity rally on May 11 was discharged from hospital. Yiannis Kafkas had been in intensive care after suffering severe head injuries.
