In what is being described as "the first Greek pro-government rally", thousands of people have gathered outside Greek Parliament in the infamous Syntagma Square to protest against a decision by the European Central Bank to restrict the eligibility of Greek bonds used as collateral from Feb. 11, rather than at the end of February. “ECB Chief Draghi chose to play Merkel’s game again and to blackmail the Greek people and the new Greek government,” is one of the charges being aired on the pro-SYRIZA quarters of cyberspace.
Live Feed:
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As 1000s gather...
Syntagma square anti-austerity pro-government protest now. Thousands here and more still coming.Greeks have no fear pic.twitter.com/STA73ScMDx [6]
— george mastropavlos (@g_mastropavlos) February 5, 2015 [7]
Thousands gather in #Syntagma [8] square in #Athens [9]. First time that we see a PRO gov rally. #Greece [10] #Tsipras [11] #syriza [12] pic.twitter.com/blwu6mNjm4 [13]
— Azza (@Azzaalhassan) February 5, 2015 [14]
Thousands at #Syntagma [8] Square in #endausterity [15] demonstration. #rbnews [16] #ECB [17] #Greece [10] #greekparliament [18] #Athens [9] pic.twitter.com/QXGHNzLIK1 [19]
— athkork (@athkork) February 5, 2015 [20]
#Athens [9] #Greece [10] Syntagma square now pic.twitter.com/YorNTbLpxL [21]
— Yannis Lianos (@ylianos) February 5, 2015 [22]
#syntagma [23] #greece [24] #TodosSomosGriegos [25] pic.twitter.com/pErTJhXouZ [26]
— manos gvl (@ManosGvl) February 5, 2015 [27]
Rally in #Syntagma [8] against decision #ECB [17] to not loan liquidity to banks #Greece [10]. Anti-troika demo without violence! pic.twitter.com/MeDM7fqP23 [28]
— Aitor Sáez (@AitorSaez10) February 5, 2015 [29]
And finally, we thought this summed it up very nicely...
#Syntagma [8] live Square pic.twitter.com/AALvJBdmXr [30]
— Andrea Cappelli (@condorbox) February 5, 2015 [31]
It would seem Draghi's blackmail scheme is failing and forcing Tsipras' hands as any withdrawal from his demands now will result in mass social unrest... maybe this is not a protest after all, but one long line to the nearest Greek Bank ATMs?