Greeks march to commemorate anti-junta uprising

Thousands of Greeks marched amid tight security on Thursday to commemorate a student uprising that helped bring down a US-backed junta in 1974.

Around 15 000 people, according to a police source, took part in the annual march to the US Embassy in Athens to mark a key moment in the restoration of democracy in the country.

At least 44 people were killed in the 1973 military crackdown on the student uprising at the Athens Polytechnic university, an event generally considered to have broken the junta's grip on power.

The bloodstained Greek flag that flew over the Polytechnic that night, when a tank crashed into the university's iron gate, is traditionally carried at the head of the demonstration in the capital.