There is widespread satisfaction at the Maximos Mansion — the official seat of the Greek Prime Minister — over the fact that the protests announced and held yesterday at multiple locations across the country took place largely in a peaceful atmosphere, with only limited incidents. “The doomsayers who wanted Athens to become the next Paris have been proven wrong,” a government official told parapolitika.gr, noting that the marches were properly supervised and that the Hellenic Police performed its duties effectively. “We are not letting our guard down,” the same official added, as further protest events are being planned in the coming weeks.
Nevertheless, the government’s central objective — to prevent the kind of violent street clashes, property damage, and looting seen in other countries from taking root in Greece — was achieved. The scenes that dominated media coverage in recent days from France, Milan, and Tirana were not replicated in Greece, while turnout at yesterday’s mobilizations was also lower than expected.
For example, according to data gathered by the competent services of the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, teacher participation in yesterday’s strike action reached 20.61% in primary education and just 11.16% in secondary education. In other words, only one in ten secondary school teachers responded to the call for a work stoppage, while two in ten primary school teachers joined the full strike.
According to the same informal briefing, and based on available data for secondary education units (middle schools and high schools), 317 out of a total of 3,566 schools (8.78%) were recorded as either occupied or participating in a boycott.
The picture that emerges from the data, as Ministry of Education sources indicate, shows that the vast majority of teachers did not participate in the strike, and that the educational process continued in most schools across the country.
“We must distinguish between a peaceful protest, a demonstration — as provided for and protected by the Constitution — and everything else. I don’t know who is investing in something beyond that, but whoever is banking on actions that go beyond peaceful demonstration should bear in mind that such things will not be tolerated, and secondly, that Greece has left all of that behind,” Government Spokesman Pavlos Marinakis had emphasized shortly before the demonstrations began. At the Maximos Mansion, there is now a firm belief that those who had been counting on violence and unrest — which they intended to capitalize on politically — have, at least for now, failed in their objective.
