THOUSANDS OF citizens took the streets of cities around Greece last night as MPs debated a confidence motion in prime minister George Papandreou’s new cabinet.
For almost five weeks running, Athens’s central Syntagma Square served as the focal point for demonstrators styling themselves as the “Indignant” movement who began evening protests on May 25th.
Gathering at 7pm, protesters set up their own ballot box outside which they invited the public to express their own vote of no confidence in the new ministerial line-up announced by Mr Papandreou last Friday in an attempt to curb dissent within the ranks of his Socialist Pasok party.
At the same time inside the parliament, which overlooks Syntagma Square, ministerial heavyweights, most familiar political faces to a tired public, were lining up to praise themselves and attack the opposition from the parliamentary podium inside.
The multitudes that have been gathering at Athens’s central square have lost most, if not all, faith in Greece’s brand of parliamentary politics.
And not a few have abandoned all hope in representative democracy.
The ballot boxes erected outside were a strong indication of how irrelevant parliamentary proceedings have become for many ordinary Greeks.
“They vote in parliament, we vote in the squares,” said one of groups co-ordinating the protests in a statement.
“Those who created the problem cannot solve it, no matter how many government reshuffles they carry out.
“We’ll stay here until everybody is gone: the government, the troika and the debt,” it continued.
Echoing that sentiment as she cast her vote was one protester, Katerina, who requested that her surname not be published.
“I’ve voted against the government,” the 33-year-old teacher said.
“They should all resign because their disastrous policies are targeting the people and are leading us nowhere.”
Trade unions also called on their members to participate in the Syntagma protests.
To date, the protests have strongly eschewed any party political or trade union links, to the point of demanding those peddling political publications or flying party flags to leave the square.
As has been their habit since the protests started, demonstrators aimed powerful laser beams at the facade of the parliament, once the royal palace. They have also pointed them at television cameras covering the protests from the rooftops of buildings surrounding the square.
Given the crowds, it was impossible to say whether the Loukanikos, Athens’s long-famous stray “riot dog” and darling of the world’s press photographers, was present among the thousands of feet.
The season’s long and balmy nights make ideal conditions for protesting, and last evening was no different, with evening temperatures still over 30 degrees an hour into the protest.
Greek flags dominated the upper level of the square, where the more vocal of the protesters have tended to concentrate.
They shout an array of slogans, all the time thrusting their open palms – the Greek version of giving someone the finger – at the parliament building.
Among of the flurry of national flags borne by protesters were those belonging to Spain, Portugal and Egypt.
Some evenings on Syntagma have seen a few Irish Tricolours, too.
Central to the daily Indignants protests has been the popular assembly, which has convened at the centre of the square every night since the protests began.
Attended by hundreds of citizens at a time, it has debated and voted on a variety of issues ranging from the economy to the environment.
There was no assembly last night due to the mass protest.
Among the 14 or so motions passed at Monday’s session was one calling on “the people of the world to stop all payments to banks for 10-20 days”.
To date, the Syntagma protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful.
Once the result of the parliamentary vote was announced, most Indignants would rush to catch the last metro.
In austerity Greece, people have learned to think twice about whether they can afford to get a taxi home.