On November 3, 1968, the funeral of former Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou turned into the largest and most consequen...

On November 3, 1968, the funeral of former Prime Minister Georgios Papandreou turned into the largest and most consequential act of public defiance against Greece's military junta. Foreign reporters estimated the crowd at 300,000 people, a human river stretching from the First Cemetery all the way back to Filellinon Street and Syntagma Square. Papandreou, known to Greeks as the "Old Man of Democracy," had died two days earlier on November 1, 1968, at Evangelismos hospital in Athens. He was 80 years old and had spent the final months of his life under house arrest, placed there by the colonels after their coup of April 21, 1967. The official announcement attributed his death to cerebral thrombosis following hours of surgery. The junta had moved quickly to suppress coverage after his death, banning Greek newspapers from publishing his biography. Foreign news agencies and radio stations bypassed the blackout entirely, broadcasting extensively about his life and legacy. On November 2, Athens police issued a public warning that "elements of the extreme Left" would attempt to cause provocations at the funeral. Nobody listened. When the procession moved toward the First Cemetery on November 3, mourners who had stayed silent for over a year found their voice, shouting "Democracy, Democracy," "Freedom, Freedom," and "Down with the Junta!" The sheer size of the crowd kept police largely restrained. Still, 40 people were arrested near the cemetery for shouting slogans. Thirty-six of them were later sentenced by the Emergency Military Court to prison terms ranging from 18 months to 4 years and 8 months. Papandreou had served three terms as prime minister, in 1944 to 1945, 1963, and 1964 to 1965. His death gave a grieving nation a legal reason to gather, and they used it. #Greece #History #Junta