Greek leftist icon Manolis Glezos generated a firestorm of controversy in Greece and beyond over the weekend by sharply lashing out at his own party, ruling SYRIZA, over its 11th-hour agreement with eurozone creditors on Friday.

“I owe an apology to the Greek people for being an accomplice to this (political) illusion,” was the quote attributed to the nonagenarian SYRIZA MEP, carried, amongst others, by FT.

Glezos is no ordinary veteran leftist, but is indelibly associated with the taking down of the Swastika — with fellow teenager Apostolos Santas — from atop the Acropolis in central Athens in the first days of the Nazi occupation during WWII.

Hours later, another leftist icon, renowned composer Mikis Theodorakis, called on SYRIZA PM Alexis Tsipras “to abolish all memoranda-related measures and to restore our national independence,” referring to previous bailout agreements known as the memorandum.

In a text uploaded to his personal website, Theodorakis portrays the Greek left as “an unfortunate insect caught in a spider web and rendered helpless”.

He urges Tsipras and all of SYRIZA’s leadership to oppose the EU and respond with a resounding “no” to German FinMin Wolfgang Schauble’s earlier “nein” last week.

Moreover, Theodorakis called on the radical leftist Greek government to fortify itself with the mandate recently gained through a parliamentary majority and to rely on the country’s own human and national resources, and to seek out beneficial international cooperation to “relieve us of our creditors’ deadly grasp”.