Protests planned all over Greek province of Macedonia over name issue

Plans are underway for 13 separate demonstrations in as many cities of the Greek province of Macedonia on 6 June, to protest any Greek acquiescence to FYROM using any form of the name Macedonia.

The protests were announced at a news conference held today by the Committee of the Fight for the Greekness of Macedonia Committee.

“They [the government] will find us confronting them, and this time we will be three million,” one of the organizers, Michalis Patsikas, told journalists.

The demonstrations are expected to be much smaller in size than those held in Thessaloniki and Athens in January, but the committee reportedly plans to organise new protests in the capital and the northern port city, which is the capital of Macedonia.

The cities where the demonstrations will be held are Pella, Kavala, Drama, Serres, Kilkis, Polykastro, Lagadas, Nea Moudania, Edessa, Florina, Kastoria, Ptolemaida, and Katerini.

Yorgos Patoulis, the president of the Central Union of Municipalities of Greece, told the news conference that local government will support the protests “on such a paramount issue on which there is no place for compromises”.