Athens Polytechnic Uprising

From 14 to 17 November 1973, students at the Athens Polytechnic, the National Technical University of Athens, rose up against the military junta. On 14 November, students occupied the school and set up a radio station, broadcasting calls for resistance, including the slogans Bread, Education, Freedom. Thousands of people, including workers and ordinary citizens, gathered outside to support them, and the protest grew into a mass demonstration against the dictatorship. In the early hours of 17 November, the junta sent in the army. A tank smashed through the main gate of the Polytechnic, where students were clinging to the railings, and troops and police cleared the building. The number of people killed during the uprising and the crackdown remains disputed, with official investigations later identifying at least 24 civilian deaths. Hundreds were injured and many were arrested. The crackdown shook the regime. Days later, on 25 November, the hardline Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis overthrew Papadopoulos. The uprising is commemorated every year on 17 November, a school holiday in Greece, with a march to the US Embassy.