With truncheons and pepper spray, the Greek police prevented a group of right-wing extremists from reaching the court of the parliament in Athens.
AP
Protesters chant sayings
The demonstrators wore Greek flags and chanted slogans like "Politicians - Traitors". They hurled stones and other items and firecrackers at the officials, reporters reported on-site. The police got the situation under control quickly, they said.
Rights and nationalist organizations have protested with a mass rally of tens of thousands against the name change of Macedonia in northern Macedonia.
A similar agreement had met the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in 2018 with his counterpart from Skopje. The agreement is to be approved next week in the Greek parliament. The Greek government coalition was shattered: the Minister of Defense and head of the right-wing populist party "Independent Greeks", Panagiotis Kammenos, had resigned. Afterwards, Tsipras barely survived a vote of no confidence.
MIRROR ONLINE
Because even a northern Greek province is called Macedonia (ancient Greek: Makedonia), more than 70 percent of Greeks polls are against it. They fear that the neighboring country could make territorial claims to the northern Greek region of Macedonia. They also believe that the neighboring state, if it keeps the word Macedonia in its name, seizes Hellenic cultural heritage.
The Parliament in Macedonia has already ratified the agreement despite similar reactions by nationalist circles. Upon successful completion in Athens, North Macedonia will become a member of NATO and later join the EU.