Poster advertising May 1 protests
in Athens, a day of union solidarity
that could get ugly.  We were
warned to stay in our hotel.
This group was protesting the EU restrictions on
the size of farmers markets, which would increase
taxation on the larger groups.  Greece has had
a hard time converting its culturally cash based
society to one of taxes based on reported income.

Riot police ready for crowd control, on the street
right in front of our hotel, the Grand Bretagne.
Since our hotel was on the corner opposite the Parliament,
 we were at ground zero for the protest groups. Major
 thoroughfares were completely blocked for six hours.
It was well organized, with chanting and singing,
 nothing violent was reported.

Large groups command attention, but nothing
could compete with this dog holding his own
personal protest sign.
We started watching the protests
at street level, but once the riot
police arrived, we decided to
play it safe and watch from the
third floor balcony of our
 hotel.  Here’s Mike, looking like
 he’s about to address the people.