Photos and report by Jed Brandt.
The Thessaloniki Expo is Greece's equivalent of the US State of the Union speech. The Prime Minister retreated behind barricades for the first time, as he is universally despised for selling the country to European bankers and the International Monetary Fund, and imposing austerity. The current ruling party, PASOK, is nominally social-democratic, but just as Obama is imposing austerity in the US — the "left" face of the ruling class always knows who butters its bread.
These are the first significant protests since the Squares movement of the early summer. The traditional left parties, some unions, the Squares movement, and thousands of indignant Greeks showed up to convergence points around the city to challenge the Prime Minister. They were met with walls of police. Half the cops in Athens were trucked up to Thessaloniki, and the week leading up to the Expo saw the mainstream media hype fear of "violence." A 2.5 kilometer zone was put around the Expo, banning vehicle traffic. At least 5,000 riot police were deployed.
