UPDATED: A crowd that swelled into the hundreds took to the streets of Thessaloniki Sunday night time, at some point after a stunning assault on a transgender couple rocked Greece’s second metropolis and rattled filmmakers and friends at this 12 months’s Thessaloniki Documentary Competition.
Waving rainbow flags, carrying banners denouncing homophobia and transphobia and chanting protest slogans, the principally peaceable demonstration wound by way of the streets of this seaside metropolis simply hours after costume-clad revelers thronged the roads forward of Thessaloniki’s Carnival celebration subsequent weekend.
The group started to collect earlier than 7 p.m. in Aristotelous Sq., which was the positioning of the terrifying episode on Saturday night time, when a mob of near 200 black-clad youths cursed, spat and threw bottles as they pursued the younger couple. The duo finally took refuge in a close-by restaurant till the police arrived on the scene. Not less than 21 suspects have been arrested thus far.
On Sunday night time, a stirring coalition of LGBTQ activists, ladies’s teams, pupil organizations and others confirmed their defiance, their chants echoing by way of the streets in a protest that solely appeared to achieve momentum because the night time went on.
Regardless of a heavy police presence, the demonstration largely proceeded with out incident. Tensions briefly flared exterior the historic Olympion theater, which hosts purple carpet premieres throughout the Thessaloniki doc fest and its sister occasion in November, and the place moviegoers filed previous riot police to attend the world premiere of “Unclickable,” by veteran Greek filmmaker Babis Makridis.
The director and several other members of the filmmaking group have been escorted by way of a aspect door as a confrontation escalated between police and protesters, with one officer taking a blow to the face earlier than order was restored. Elsewhere, not less than two seaside eating places have been vandalized throughout the march.
Riot police have been readily available as moviegoers arrived on the Olympion theater.
Courtesy of Christopher Vourlias
Saturday’s assault — which occurred in entrance of packed eating places and cafés in a sq. that’s the coronary heart of public life in Thessaloniki — has shocked and outraged attendees of the competition, which has a highlight on queer cinema as one of many focal factors of its twenty sixth version.
“I assumed some issues would have modified, however now I ponder, have issues modified?” says lesbian activist and filmmaker Maria Katsikadakou, also called Maria Cyber, including that she was “offended and terrified” concerning the brazen assault.
“Greek society is abusive. It’s a society that feeds on hate, and this isn’t going to alter any time quickly,” provides conceptual artist and filmmaker Fil Ieropoulos, whose documentary “Avant-Drag!,” concerning the Athens drag scene, performs this week in Thessaloniki following its Rotterdam premiere.
This 12 months’s version of the Thessaloniki Documentary Competition features a wide-ranging tribute to queer cinema, “Citizen Queer,” whereas an honorary Golden Alexander award is being bestowed upon Greek filmmaker Panayotis Evangelidis, whose work has lengthy centered on the visibility of the LGBTQ group.
In an announcement offered to Selection, the competition mentioned it was stuffed with “anger and repugnance” over the assault.
“The competition unreservedly and explicitly condemns any act of homophobic and racist violence, sending out a loud and clear message of tolerance, inclusivity, acceptance and visibility by way of the complete scope of its actions,” the assertion learn. “As now we have repeatedly acknowledged, the competition discards any acts of hatred and violence and the extremist voices of intolerance and racism, serving as an open platform of artwork, inclusivity and dialogue.”
1000’s of protesters took to the streets of Thessaloniki on Sunday night time.
Courtesy of Christopher Vourlias
The incident occurred simply weeks after the historic passage of a invoice legalizing same-sex marriage in Greece, a primary for an Orthodox Christian nation. Whereas that laws has been extensively praised as progress within the battle for equal rights for Greece’s LGBTQ group, activists and filmmakers who spoke to Selection expressed their skepticism about such “top-down” laws, which offers essential and crucial authorized protections for queer Greeks however doesn’t tackle the underlying threats they face in every day life.
Saturday’s episode, notes Ieropoulos, displays “what Greek actuality is for queers.”
“With these new legal guidelines, we’re at a crossroads and we’re going to see what all this actually means for Greek society within the subsequent few years,” he says. “I don’t personally assume these legal guidelines mirror the place Greece is as a society. And if something, this occasion reveals that the truth that some individuals could profit from the brand new legal guidelines doesn’t change Greek actuality generally and particularly for trans individuals.”
“Issues have modified. However the adjustments, you see in Athens,” says Katsikadakou, recalling the virulent homophobia she confronted on her final go to to Thessaloniki 5 years in the past. “The remainder of Greece is filled with Orthodox, right-wing, patriarchal individuals. The macho tradition is of their DNA.”
Not less than two seaside eating places have been vandalized throughout the largely peaceable protest.
Courtesy of Christopher Vourlias
On Sunday, the mayor of Thessaloniki, Stelios Angeloudis, condemned Saturday’s assault, insisting that it went towards the pluralism on which Greece’s second metropolis — a historic crossroads of East and West — was constructed.
“We condemn in probably the most unequivocal means the vulgar, homophobic assault within the coronary heart of the town,” he mentioned. “Acceptance is an indication of tradition and democracy. Within the colourful, inclusive Thessaloniki of respect for variety there isn’t any place for racist attitudes.”
Native activists at the moment are looking forward to June, when the town is slated to host EuroPride, a pan-European LGBTQ occasion held in a distinct European metropolis every year, that’s anticipated to attract a number of hundred thousand guests to the town for live shows, events, occasions and a parade.
Katsikadakou, who helped curate the competition’s “Citizen Queer” tribute, expressed her hope that “we flood the town with offended queers [who] may have no fucking tolerance for fascist, homophobic, racist acts…[and will] include pressure and put these silly individuals again of their caves the place they belong.”
In the meantime, organizers of the annual Thessaloniki Pleasure occasion insisted they might not be cowed, posting on the group’s Fb web page: “It’s as much as all of us to mobilize and present solidarity, in order to not let concern return to Thessaloniki! We’re not ashamed, we’re not hiding, we’re not afraid!”
The Thessaloniki Documentary Competition runs March 7 – 17.
