Police clear 'indignants' from Athens square

Police and city employees Saturday cleared anti-government protestors known as "indignants" from the central Athens square they had occupied for more than two months, an AFP reporter witnessed. "Various objects that polluted and downgraded the environment were removed from the wider area of the square using more than 25 trucks" the police said in a press release. There was minor tension during the five-hour operation in Syntagma Square, the scene of sometimes violent demonstrations against Greece's parlous economic situation in recent weeks, that began at 4:00 a.m. (0100 GMT). Police said they had arrested eight individuals -- four Greeks, two French, one German and one Romanian -- who are "accused of violating laws regarding the protection of the environment." "There wasn't any pushing or shoving, but in their own way they made it clear we had to go," one of the protestors sitting in a sidestreet with all of his belongings told AFP. "I don't understand why we were told to leave, public squares are meant to be free for all citizens," the young man who wanted to remain anonymous added. "We unrolled a banner once the square was cleared. We were told to remove it or risk being arrested," another protestor told AFP. Many of the protestors intend to stay nearby despite the clearance of Syntagma Square, which is bordered by the Greek parliament, other public buildings and major hotels. "There are dozens of squares around Athens, hundreds of squares around Greece. We are in every neighborhood, together with every resident of this country," the protesters said in a press release. Tens of thousands of sympathisers of the so-called "indignant" movement, modeled on a similar anti-crisis protest in Spain, rallied at the start of their campaign on May 25. After an early success, drawing thousands of people to protest in front of Parliament against austerity measures, their numbers dropped off dramatically in recent days, partly with the arrival of the holiday period and the heat enveloping the capital. Some buildings in the square were badly damaged when violence broke out on the sidelines of a protest last month against tough new austerity measures being introduced to enable bankrupt Greece to qualify for a massive bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.