June 28, 2011. What a Tuesday morning. The events that took place in Athens Greece that day were the beginnings of a nation fighting for their future. George Papandreou, the Greek Prime Minister who was essentially bought by the central banks, was trying to pass austerity measures. It should come as no surprise that these measures would serve the needs of the central banks and not those of the citizens of Greece. The people were fed up and they weren't going to stay silent.
I was in Dahab Egypt getting my advanced diving license when I read a few articles from the respected geopolitical expert, Max Keiser. The information he shared peaked my interest in the escalating situation in Greece. After doing my own research I came to the conclusion that something was going to go down in Athens. Since I was in Egypt, just a short flight away from the action, I bought a ticket, packed my camera and was on my way. The first purchase I made in Greece was my own attempt at making a gas mask. It was a sad excuse for a gas mask, really it was a pair of safety goggles with an air-purifying mask.
I woke up that morning with an intense adrenaline rush. I was incredibly excited to witness whatever was about to take place. I headed down to Syntagma Square and began photographing the police in riot gear while waiting for something to happen.
The action started with a man throwing a huge iron bar at the line of police followed by another man hurling a dry-ice bomb at the heavily armored men. Luckily for them it didn't explode, otherwise it would've had a blast with such force that the police would've been thrown five feet across the air into the wall behind them.
After that, it was on. Crowds of enraged Greeks continued to challenge the line of police by throwing molotov cocktails, dry ice bombs, they would even chip off parts of the buildings to use as ammo against the police.
It didn't take long for the tear gas to start raining down on the rioters. I found myself climbing on top of a bus stop shelter in order to get a better view of the hoards of people occupying the streets. But the height didn't do me any good against the tear gas. My eyes and nostrils were in searing pain, my lungs felt like they were on fire which only intensified with my constant coughing. Luckily there were people going around with a special spray that helped remedy the effects of the tear gas. It left a white residue, which is still on my camera today.
At one point I found myself behind the line of police, I was unarmed and in danger of getting hit by the amount of debris being rained down. I remember hearing two elderly women screaming for their lives.
The riots ended up lasting several days and only concluded when there seemed to be nothing left to destroy. The rioters were unable to get beyond the line of police, ultimately causing their efforts to be a failure. They needed to break into the Parliament building and stage a coup if they wanted to make a true difference.
