Police face-off with people gathered at square in Athens despite instructions to the contrary (videos)

A face-off with police finally ended peacefully after midnight

For the second night in a row, and despite a strong police force present, people defied instructions by Greek authorities and gathered in numbers at the Agios Ioannis Square in the area of Agia Paraskevi, while the same phenomenon also happened at Varnavas Square in Pangrati and the Lycabettus Hill.

Undersecretary of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias, expressed his dissatisfaction with the behaviour and announced that the square in Agia Paraskevi would be closed by from 9 pm to 6 am. He warned that such behaviour would jeopardise public health.

With loudspeakers, initially, the Police tried to dispel those gathered at Agios Ioannis Square but the crowd reacted with slogans, “police out of the square”, with a physical confrontation seemingly imminent. According to sources, the leader of the extreme left political faction ANTARSYA Melina Alefanti, played a pivotal role in the gathering.

A little after 2am in the morning police forces left the square after a tense face-off as the last people gathered at finally left.