ATHENS (Reuters) - Greeks were expected to march through central Athens on Sunday evening to mark the anniversary of a violently quashed student uprising in 1973 that helped topple the military junta then ruling the country.
The annual march often becomes a focal point for protests against government policies and in recent years against austerity, after a decade-long debt crisis.
Police deployed more than 5,000 officers on the streets of central Athens on Sunday. A helicopter hovered over the central Syntagma Square and neighboring districts through the day.
The procession will end at the U.S. Embassy. Protesters resent Washington for its support of the 1967-1974 military dictatorship.
Last week, police clashed with students protesting against the shutdown of a prominent Athens university, the University of Economics and Business. Authorities had raided the university to confiscate materials they said were typically used in violent demonstrations. [L8N27R3ZM]
It was the first time police and protesters had clashed inside university premises since the conservative government's abolition of academic sanctuary in August.
(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Frances Kerry)