Police deployed in Athens for uprising anniversary marches

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Thousands of police have been deployed in Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki for commemorative marches to mark the anniversary of a 1973 student uprising that was brutally crushed by the military dictatorship then ruling Greece. The anniversary is marked each year by marches to the U.S. Embassy in Athens, and the demonstrations have often, but not always, turned violent. Around 5,000 police were deployed in the Greek capital, where major streets were blocked to traffic and three subway stations along the march route shut down Thursday afternoon. In 1973, the military regime that had been in power since 1967 sent police and troops to crush student-led pro-democracy protests centered in the Athens Polytechnic.