The Shock Wave in Greece
Louisa Gouliamaki, Angelos Tzortzinis, Aris Messinis
AFP
Greece, on the verge of bankruptcy, has had three bailouts from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, but the drastic austerity measures demanded of the government have made it even more difficult for the people of the country to cope as jobs are lost and wages, salaries and pensions slashed.
Over weeks and months, the Greeks have taken to the streets in protest, expressing their outrage, anger and complete opposition to budget cuts; some have called for the country to leave the eurozone, or pull out of the European Union.
The atmosphere has been tense, reaching crisis levels, and protests have spread. Police and demonstrators have clashed, even in the heart of Athens, in Syntagma Square, with battles waged using stones, Molotov cocktails and teargas as weapons.
Louisa Gouliamaki, **Angelos Tzortzinis ** and Aris Messinis have covered the events, every day, in the thick of the action, sometimes trapped between police and demonstrators.
Preview
The photos show scenes of violence, surreal visions of police and protesters engulfed in plumes of smoke, plus pictures of needy migrants waiting at a soup kitchen, and ordinary people rushing for food being given away by farmers.
“It’s tough on both sides, for protestors and police,” says Louisa (43), who believes that no one in Greece knows how far things will go.
“If you want to see everything, you have to be in the middle of it, between police and protestors, but there is the risk of being hit and from either side,” notes Angelos (28) who was only ten meters away from the action when he took the shot of the policeman being struck by a Molotov cocktail.
Aris (35) chief photographer with AFP’s Athens bureau, and who covered the Arab Spring in Libya, fears that protests may get worse: “Now everyone is becoming violent. You even see older people throwing stones.”
All three photographers have won international awards for their coverage of Greece (POYi 2012, CHIPP 2011 & 2012, and Fotoweek).
