Several dozen Greek protesters gathered outside the entrance of the Greek Consulate in New York on Friday in the framework of supporting the protests going on in Greece, as well as at the same time to express their frustration and concerns over the current situation in motherland.
Holding the Greek and American flags, as well as a flag depicting the sun Vergina, and holding posters and signs saying “Greek Politicians and their bosses having a party with our money, or “This is Sparta”, “Molon Lave”,“Error 404 Democracy not found”, the “Indignant Greeks” of New York, distributed information leaflets to onlookers about the Greek crises, while chanting anti-government slogans such as “traitors, thieves, politicians in jail,” against the Greek leadership.
Speaking to a journalist from the Voice of America, one of the organizers Nikos Notaridis said that "symbolically I feel that I am do something for my country, because it is in danger of being enslaved and annihilated." He also noted that if the Omogenia in New York had more time to organize the protest, then there would have been a larger turnout.
On her part, Sociologist Helen Gkiokas described the protest as a “a spontaneous call” by Greek-Americans, which was not based on political preferences, but was in the framework of allowing the Omogenia to express its strong resentment to everything that is occurring in Greece at the moment, and also because they did not see anything happening outside of Greece from the Greeks abroad. “We are a committee of totally independent citizens and stand by our brothers in Greece", said Gkiokas. She underlined that Greek Americans, much like Greek citizens all over the world, are against “the sell-out” of the country and that is one of the reasons the committee decided to intensify its protest outside of the Greek Consulate. “We will continue (to protest) until our country is once again free and a proud home for all Greeks."
"I am here to reach out to our brothers in Greece, to protest against the Greek government for the allocation of our national rights as well as its obligation to protect our sovereign rights', said Evangelos Stamatopoulos, another member of the organizing committee.
The support of expatriate Greeks is very important, said Professor at the University of Maryland Theodore Kariotes, especially now that our country is experiencing one of the most critical moments in its history. Kariotes said he believed that that the present government in Greece is not in a position to solve the problems that the country is presently faced with, and noted that Greek citizens all over the world are very concerned about everything that is occurring in the motherland. The nation has literally been “brought to its knees”, said Kariotes.
The organisational committee, which was supported by Helen Gkiokas, Chris Tzelios, Evangelos Stamatopoulos and Nicholas Notaridis, drafted a resolution that was signed by all participants and then given to the General Consular of Greece in New York, Agis Baltas.
The resolution was addressed to the President of Greek Republic Karolos Papoulias, the Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou, to the President of Parliament and to the leaders of all other parliamentary and independent groups.
Calling on the fourth paragraph of the 120th article of the Greek Constitution, the “Indignant Greeks” of New York invited Karolos Papoulias to immediately dissolve the Greek Parliament and announce elections.
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