The Greek Committee for International Détente and Peace (EEDYE) has organized marches in Thessaloniki and Tripoli for today, in memory of the 50 years since the assassination of Greek politician and peace activist Grigoris Lamprakis .
The Thessaloniki march will begin at the AHEPA hospital at noon and end at the corner of Ermou and Venizelou, where Lamprakis was murdered. A rally outside SYRIZA’s offices at 11:30 will head to his memorial. Similar events will also be taking place in other places in Greece, such as the 30th Panpeloponnesian peace march, which begins at Lamprakis’ birthplace of Kerasitsa in Tegea and ends in Tripoli.
The statue of Lamprakis on the Tripoli-Sparta national highway will be unveiled at 17:00 and the celebrations will culminate in Tripoli, where EEDYE vice president Giorgos Lamprakis will give a speech.
Assassination of Grigoris Lamprakis
On the eve of 22nd May 1963, EDA MPs Grigoris Lamprakis and Giorgos Tsarouchas addressed the “Friends of Peace” in Thessaloniki, under siege by a far-right mob. Despite the heavy police presence Tsarouchas was assaulted when he asked the police to remove the far-right protesters.
Lamprakis was seriously injured when a tricycle of parastatal protesters crashed into him. The politician succumbed to his injuries four days later. The tricycle was being driven by Spyros Gotzamanis and Manolis Emmanouilidis was in the passenger. Gotzamanis was a member of the parastatal “Union of Fighters and Victims of National Resistance of Northern Greece” that was set up by collaborationist Xenofon “von” Giosmas.
