Democracy that owes it all to unrest

The power of street protests to bring about political change is a revered part of Greece’s national mythology, perhaps more so than in any other country in Europe. Younger generations of Greeks lionise their parents, who took to the barricades in the 1970s to help bring down a military junta.

Violence by militant left-wing groups and urban guerrillas – deplored by most Greeks – has also been a feature of the political landscape for decades.

Every day, protesters of one kind or another move through Syntagma Square in the centre of Athens. Sometimes it’s blackshirted anarchists shaking fists in unison, sometimes military reservists.

On Monday, it was the turn of 300 pupils, who took a break from occupying their high school to come to the square. They shouted “Cops, pigs, murderers!” and scuffled with a cordon of riot police.

Alex Stathopoulos, 16, said he did not know enough about economics to say whether Greece should stay in the euro and keep trying to pay down its debt, or declare itself bankrupt and set up its own currency. But he knew that crooked politicians had squandered his future. He said: “We need education. If they cut our parents’ pay, how can they pay for university? Even if I go to university, I can’t find a job.”