We arrived back to the hotel late last night, around 3:00 AM, after Michael spoke for 3-4 hours on parecon (more on this below). But it was somewhat disconcerting to see a row of 15-20 riot cops on the corner of our hotel facing the polytechnic school. The police presence in the area has seemed to grow each day so it was a little unsettling this early morning. We are staying in the area where the group calling itself Revolutionary Struggle shot and wounded a riot police officer last January in an attack on a police unite guarding the Culture Ministry. We are on the same street as the ministry but just a couple blocks away from the building. So far there have been police on both the corner of our hotel and the back of the polytechnic every day. The first couple days there were police in blue uniforms and yesterday they were in green, which I'm told means they have more power (I think like the U.S. national guard). Tonight there were many more on our street but and, again, on both the front and back of the polytechnic.
I don't want to spend anymore time on this, but simply wanted to note the oddity. Perhaps it is a show of force in the area, which, since this is historically an anarchist and anti-authoritarian stronghold, is a provocative measure by the police.
Two days ago we went to the Nosotros social space to conduct some TV interviews with some local media. Afterward we were introduced to Greek cheese pies as, apparently, the sandwich that I grabbed from the cafe around the corner that morning was "unacceptable" for my Greek friends. And the cheese pies (and cream pies, and sausage pies, etc.) were all very much appreciated by me as indicated that they have been breakfast for the last three days.
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