Monument to the fallen of the Polytechnic University

The memorial on the campus of the Athens Polytechnic honours the victims of the student uprising of 14 to 17 November 1973. For three days students occupied the campus and broadcast anti-junta messages on a homemade radio against the military dictatorship that had ruled Greece since 1967. In the early hours of 17 November a tank smashed through the main gate; at least 24 people died in the violent eviction and hundreds were wounded. International outrage accelerated the fall of the junta in summer 1974. Memos Makris's bronze relief of a fallen student was unveiled in 1996, and every 17 November the Polytechnic March sets out from here to the US Embassy - students hold America responsible for years of tolerating the junta. The crumpled gate itself stands in the courtyard as a silent, unmistakable memorial.