FOTOGRAFIA: Dilemma in Thessaloniki

These are busy days in Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki. Here, Greek Orthodox priests attend a mass on Oct. 26 at the Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Dimitrios', during celebrations for the 101 years since the city's liberation of the Ottoman empire. That came two days before the city would also mark Oxi Day to remember Greece's refusal to surrender without a shot to Italy at the beginning of WWII. Sadly, even that has divided Greeks as Mayor Yiannis Boutaris has threatened not to attend the military parade after the head of the regional authority invited Golden Dawn MPs to join other dignitaries. ?The stance taken by the Central Macedonia Regional Authority is unacceptable,? said Boutaris after Apostolos Tzitzicostas invited the extremist lawmakers to attend other officials. Its leaders are under arrest on charges of running a criminal gang. ?I don?t know if this can be rectified. I will think about it long and hard if I will go to the same podium as these gentlemen,? added Boutaris. Tzitzicostas said he would not ?take lessons? from Boutaris, whose Arctouros bear sanctuary accepted a donation from Golden Dawn but later returned the money. Tzitzicostas said Boutaris was more interested in supporting the Gay Pride parade than the military parade. This year will be the first time for three years that armored vehicles and airplanes will take part in the event. Previously, they had not been present in order to keep costs down during a crushing economic crisis.

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