Tear gas

Through travelling, I have experienced different feelings, met really special people and sometimes a few of those experiences made me change my whole mindset. For me, photography started as a way of keeping memories. I was never a professional photographer, and to be honest, I never intended to be one. Nevertheless, some of the pictures I have taken throughout these years ended up having more meaning than others. This might have to do with special memories or people. But these pictures I am going to present to you, have a special humanitarian meaning for me. I tried not to process them, by using any sort of filters, but as you will see, all of them are black-and-white. This started with me wanting to give a sense of film-noir to the pictures and the stories that represent or could represent.

Thessaloniki 17/11/2016

The first picture from my project brings us back to the 17th November of 2016. At the centre of my home city, Thessaloniki. It was one of those days I would wake up happy, such a weird feeling for such a sad anniversary. For those who might not be familiar with the struggle of the Greek people against the Military Junta of the 1960s and 1970s in Greece. On the 17th of November 1973, the University students went on various protests across Greece. The whole uprising got its name from the most significant one, which was the capturing of the Polytechnic Building at the University of Athens and making it a democratic space against the Dictatorship, that had been torturing and killing Greek people at its rein. From 1967 when through a coup they implemented the dictatorship, to 1974 with their fall and the start of the democratic period in the greek political status quo, that continues to this day. Many of those students at the Polytechnic Uprising, sacrificed their lives, for the freedom of the Greek people and many of them died when the military regime brought tanks inside the university to stop the Uprising and killed tens of students, who remain heroes to this day. Every 17th of November people are remembering the sacrifice of these students and it is also considered a public holiday for schools. Years after the Polytechnic Uprising people are still protesting on that day, for the austerity measures that Greece has been experiencing for many years now, police brutality and any other sort of violence and anti-democratic behaviour coming from the state or extreme right-wing and neonazi organisations.

The years before I migrated, away from my homeland, Greece. I was celebrating that day, going to the peaceful protest and marching in the streets of my city protesting against the undemocratic measures of each Greek government and protesting against the austerity measures that were crippling my society and bringing xenophobic and neonazi movements in my society and even in the Parliament. That day I went with my ex. She also wanted to protest against the government and in remembrance of the students that died on that day the 17th. The protest started from a square called "Camara" with its distinctive Arch, dating to Roman Times. and ended outside of the Polytechnic Department of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. At the end of the protest when the police forces started approaching us, coming closer and closer for no obvious reason. Since the protest was peaceful and there was no violence at that moment. Suddenly, one person from the protesting crowd threw a rock at the police anti-protesting forces who have been approaching us with their shields and protective gear. By seeing them you would think that they were waiting for a provocation. No-one knew who that person throwing the rock was, some say a provocateur. The only thing I remember was the police forces attacking us from both sides and throwing teargas to a peaceful crowd, with many elderly people and even children with their parents. One of the teargases fell next to me and before even reacting, someone from the crowd kicked it back to the police forces. I looked at him shocked from the moment. I cannot remember his face anymore, but I still remember that he smiled at me before going. It was the moment that I also realised that my ex was not standing next to me anymore. After looking around me in a scene of teargas smoke and people throwing rocks or anything they could find and police forces. I saw her trying to signal me from some distance. When I approached her, she just grabbed my hand and we left.

The teargases were making our eyes feel a pain that she had never experienced before and we were both crying. In order to protect ourselves, we went inside a small cafe and found there other people from the protest. We stayed there for almost an hour. For more than 30 minutes the whole city became a chemical zone with people crying and trying to wash their eyes. I was shocked from the indifference of the police administration. Teargases in an inhabited area and most importantly at the city-centre, of a city with more than 1 and a half million population. After an hour we left the cafe and started walking home, you could still smell and feel the teargas but this time not so much as an hour ago. That was the moment I took the picture. When we left the cafe we stopped and watched some people barricading themselves behind garbage bins, by putting them on fire and throwing rocks at the police while the police kept throwing teargases and sometimes even throwing rocks back at the protesters. It was a scene, quite usual to watch from the TV, but harsh and real from up close. On one of the most central roads of my city, that a day ago was full of life and people, now I could see a war-like scene

It was one more time that the police administration in my city, hit peaceful protesters and through teargases inside inhabited areas and next to houses and stores. It was one more time that they ignored the citizens and the people protesting peacefully, in order to do what they were probably instructed by their superiors in Athens.