President Sakellaropoulou: Polytechnic uprising retains its high symbolism, half a century later
The 1973 student uprising at the Athens Polytechnic, against the military junta then ruling Greece, was a "supreme act of resistance against the dictatorship and the trampling of freedoms," which retains the same high symbolism half a century later, President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou said on Friday, in a message marking the 50th anniversary of the Polytechnic Uprising of November 17, 1973.
"An act that was neither self-evident nor without cost. It entailed danger, required sacrifices, carried the weight of a responsibility, both ersonal and collective, that few had the courage to take on. Thanks to their selflessness and abnegation, our country could move on from the black page of the [seven-year junta]. We owe them honour and gratitude," the president said, after laying a wreath at the Polytechnic monument.
The Polytechnic uprising marked Greece's modern history and laid the foundations for the democratic consciousness of the post-junta period, the most peaceful and progressive period in the country, the president noted, instilling the conviction that there can be no compromises "both as regards our self-determination and our free way of life". The memory of the uprising is alive and continues to teach us, she added, and now that democracy is strong and established, "it is still our duty to defend it with the same passion and unswerving will as those beseiged young people 50 years ago."
AMNA
