Political Unrest in Athens

A few people have asked me so far what's been going on in Greece with the protests and the violence.  We left the day before the deaths occurred, but Mayday occurred the day before, a national holiday in many parts of Europe.  Skipped the protest, but did go out and snap some of the aftermath.

A car set on fire, a few Molotov cocktails made and thrown, a man with a sledge hammer knocking out windows, marble staircases, bus stops, etc. Nothing really unusual apparently.  A conversation I had with some locals said that was fairly normal and weren't alarmed.

 By mid-afternoon, it was back to business as usual.  Kiosks reopened their windows.  Shopkeepers cleaned up the damage, rather unfazed and continued to function where possible.

Within three hours, government workers were painting over graffiti.  

The extensive violence occurring after we left was unusual however, in terms of the extent of violence, the length of the riots, damage to property, and of course the deaths occurring as a result of attempts to burn down banks.  These events were not occurring in some remote parts of Athens, but rather in the heart of the city, very, very close to where I had been living.  Carter, one of our classmates who stayed behind in Athens after we left related his experience to me.
"Remember where we saw you, on your first day?" he recalled [this was one block from my hostel on Dionysiou Areopagitou road], "I walked out the main road from there only to find a charred new van, two flaming vehicles on the road being put out, several buildings smashed up and an office completely burnt...yeah I saw some dramz."