Poll: Go away, November 17
While nearly one in every four Greeks agrees with the ideology of November 17, only 1.7 percent of respondents in a new poll back the left-wing terrorist group’s attacks, and most people believe Nov. 17 should stop its operations. The survey, conducted in March by Alco pollsters on behalf of Press magazine and printed in yesterday’s Eleftherotypia daily, found that 67 percent of respondents disagreed both with the group’s positions and its activities. Some 22 percent said they agreed with Nov. 17’s positions but disagreed with its activities, and 1.7 percent voiced support for the group’s positions and its activities. The rest said they didn’t know or wouldn’t say. Since its foundation in 1975, the organization – named after the November 17, 1973 Athens Polytechnic student uprising against the military dictatorship – has killed 23 people, while none of its members have been arrested. The group’s last victim was Britain’s military attache, Brigadier Stephen Saunders, whom it assassinated in June 2000. The Press poll established that 64.5 percent of respondents consider Nov. 17’s members to be terrorists, 11.6 percent regard them as social revolutionaries. Invited to give their views on what the group should do next, 89.1 percent called for it to disband – with nearly a third of the above adding that group members should give themselves up. Some 6.6 percent said November 17 should continue its activities, just over a third of whom suggested that the organization should not target Greeks. About 60.5 percent were of the opinion that «somebody [else] is behind Nov. 17.» Asked to specify whom they meant, 12.5 percent named ruling PASOK, and 9.1 percent the CIA. The Greek intelligence service (EYP) came third at 4.5 percent, followed by the far left (3.4 percent) and the far right (2.9 percent). The Panhellenic Liberation Movement (PAK), a forerunner of PASOK which many analysts believe could be closely connected with Nov. 17’s activities, was rated last with 2.1 percent.
