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Anastasia Balezdrova

Twenty-four hours after the heavy clashes between demonstrators and hooded rioters on the square in front of the Greek Parliament in Athens, the battle over who caused them and who is under the hoods continues in the plenary hall.

The Communist Party, whose union PAME had made a human chain to protect the peaceful nature of the protest rally, accused the left and in some cases the far left SYRIZA coalition of supporting the actions of the young people, who during every protest go between the protesters and cause destruction and violence.

This dispute is not new. It is the hot topic after each massive strike or protest procession, which always ends with such destructive actions. The reason SYRIZA is subject to sharp attacks for supporting the acts of hooded youths is its refusal to condemn their acts. According to some commentators, not all of them are anarchists. Some are probably from the far right wing. There are also comments that they are actually from the police and in disguise with the sole purpose of disrupting the protests and making the participants withdraw.

Despite all this, however, yesterday Greece was amazed by the cruelty of the confrontation between the protesting supporters of the Greek Communist Party and about 400 hooded youths. GRReporter turned to two reporters in Greek media, who have extensive experience in the coverage of social protests. Here is what they said about yesterday's clashes, recalling similar confrontations of a few decades ago.

"Shortly before 3 p.m., our team was at the monument of the Unknown Soldier. In front of us was the chain of the PAME union members that surrounded all the protesters to protect them from provocations, as it always does during protests. At one point, we heard the crack of small bombs in the area in front of the Grande Bretagne Hotel and there was smoke all around. I moved to the crossroads of Vassiliss Sofias Avenue, Panepistimiou and George 1^st streets and I suddenly saw before me two large groups of about 400-500 young men with hoods, helmets and covered faces who were throwing stones and Molotov bombs, firecrackers and smoke bombs against the demonstrators and the PAME security.

The trade unionists immediately formed 2-3 protective rows, as they always do at such events, and their opponents put on their helmets. Then one last attempt was made to end the episode. But the attack by the anarchists who were down in Syntagma Square was so strong that the events could not be checked. In the next 40 minutes after 3 p.m., we saw extremely violent clashes between the two groups; the like of which we had not seen for many years. There was such strong hatred that I could not explain it at that moment. In fact, at first I could not even understand what was happening.

The hooded youths were shouting at the protesters from PAME, "You are guarding the Parliament," the other side was shouting slogans like, "You are hooded informers." From that moment on, broken marble slabs and close combat battles began. It was only good luck that we had no more casualties other than the one man who died of a heart attack. Around me, I saw how people's heads were being wounded from the marble pieces that hooded youths were throwing against them. The battles were fierce, I saw people thrown from the sidewalk to the square from a height of 4-5 metres. Others were pressed on all sides, unable to escape and they were beaten without mercy. Groups of 5-6 young men were beating 1-2 demonstrators.

Only half an hour later, a detachment of the riot forces came from the Parliament. PAME demonstrators had already isolated and sent away the hooded youths to Stadiou Street and to the middle of Syntagma Square. The police officers stood between the PAME guards and the rioters and sprayed tear gas against them.

What we went through was scary. I have been a journalist since 1993 and I have never seen these two groups face each other with such hatred. Yesterday's events took us to past decades, long, long ago. My belief is that some people wanted casualties. At least that was what was shown by the fury with which the two groups were beating each other up.

What was the conduct of the police? Many reporters claim that they were watching the clashes without interference.

PAME guards said that they had asked the police not to intervene, because if the riot forces had intervened at that time, the battle would turn into a slaughter. They wanted to protect the participants in the protest themselves. I can say that they did so because at 3.30 p.m. they had pushed the group of hooded youths down the square, but there were many people injured.

Where did the rioters come from initially?

I did not see them, but I heard that one of the groups had come from the side of the Athens University and the other – from the area of ​​Monastiraki. The two groups had become one in front of the Hotel Grande Bretagne and attacked the PAME guards, stating that they wanted to go inside the protest and attack the police forces that guarded the Parliament. Thus began the conflict that ended with many injured. They were of different ages, because the rioters were throwing pieces of marble in the middle of the protest procession, not only to the outer row, which protected them."

You are an experienced journalist and have covered such protests for years. Do you think the period of "innocence" is past for the protest marches?

These two groups are in constant conflict. But in recent decades, they had never come to direct confrontation and conflict. I do not know what will happen, but I hope composure will prevail and yesterday's events will not be repeated. They claim from PAME that the group that attacked them involved not only anarchists but also parastatal elements, people from different backgrounds, whose purpose was to disperse the procession and expel the members and supporters of PAME and the Communist Party from Syntagma Square. Rioters accused them of protecting the Parliament. In any case, my experience shows that these groups of hooded youths never move alone. They always appear at the end or in the middle of the protest processions and use demonstrations to attach themselves to the destruction we see after every big protest."

According to a colleague of his from one of the other media, the police, however, could have intervened and restricted the actions of the attackers at the outset.

"What I saw was that even at 09:00 am, and perhaps even earlier, thousands of citizens had gathered on Syntagma Square and were peacefully protesting outside the Parliament. The trade union organization of the Communist Party was the one responsible for the protection of the protest. Its members formed particularly strong chains in front of the Parliament. Suddenly, a group of hooded men –I do not know whether they were provocateurs, civilian police, far-right, far-left, or any other group, attacked the chain of PAME supporters. They tried to break it saying that it was not possible for PAME to "occupy" the upper side of Syntagma Square, and that they wanted to go there to protest and confront the police, throw Molotov bombs, get into the Parliament, etc.

What happened next was unprecedented. I have been doing reports on the street for years, but until yesterday, I had not seen such battles, which reminded me of medieval battles. Rioters were throwing pieces of marble and Molotov bombs among the people. Some had burns, 40 were injured and they were people of different ages. The police did not intervene and the Communist Party confirmed that they had asked them to stay away. I think that they could have intervened to repel the hooded youths and preserve the integrity of the procession. I think squads could have come in the area around the Grande Bretagne Hotel to isolate them, using small amounts of tear gas at the bottom of the square. Thus, the protest up the square would not have been broken. But this did not happen, and when the police finally arrived it was too late. It had been almost 40 minutes, during which the region had become the stage of violent clashes, merciless beatings by both parties."

I think that after so many years the police have information about who gives instructions to the rioters, who at some point must be isolated."