StopCartel TV broadcasts live from Athens, Greece weeknights @ 6 pm Athens time. The following post is a loose transcript of the August 7, 2012 broadcast.
By greydogg and snake arbusto, 99GetSmart
- In the second week of August, things are quiet in Athens. The Athenians who can manage it financially are leaving the city for the villages, to visit relatives and to forget, if only for a few days.
The situation in Athens remains the same, in the government offices in and in the city's flats where life continues. Many people live in flats without electricity, some without water. In a major European capital, people are starving and in despair. The daily suicides continue -- yesterday another two. For every two official suicides reported, another ten go unreported.
There is a common feeling of deep disappointment and heightened expectations. Many people are expecting an explosive situation in the next few weeks. Conditions in Greece are visibly deteriorating daily and no one knows how long the Greek people will remain tolerant.
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- Clashes between local citizens and the rioting police persist in the town of Ierissos, located in northern Greece. On Tuesday morning, local citizens gathered in the town square for an organized march down the road to the gold mine to defend the region from the personal gold mining interests of Greek industrialist George Bobolas.
Protesters were met by a barricade of riot police who blocked the public road and refused to allow them access. A Member of Parliament who was among the group of demonstrators tried to negotiate with the police, asserting the peoples' right to protest peacefully against the establishment of a gold mine in the nearby forest.
The police officer responded that he has orders to prohibit passage on the public road leading to the mountain where the mine will be established. The reason given was "to preserve public order." He said this decision was taken for the security of the citizens.
The people responded by saying that they don't need to be protected by the police and they don't like the "security' provided by the police.
The officer said that he was following the orders of the regional public prosecutor.
The people requested a written copy of the orders and told the police that they do not want them there and do not want police "protection.'
One woman challenged the police directly, stating that the police are not there to protect the local people, but are there to protect the personal financial interests of Bobolas, the owner of the mining company. She went on to explain that Bobolas is operating the mine illegally and in the process, is destroying the forest that belongs to the Greek citizens as well as destroying the lives and property values of the local citizens.
The rioting police responded by unleashing massive amounts of tear gas against the group of demonstrators.
A local SYRIZA party member explained that multinational companies create a division in society between those who want the mine to be created because they need the jobs and others who realize the enormous environmental damage it will cause the region. There is a court case underway in Greece to prevent this gold mine from being established.
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