Greeks take to streets over ‘Macedonia deal’

Bloomberg

Thousands of Greeks marched through the streets of Athens on Sunday to protest a name deal with the neighbouring Republic of Macedonia, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras steels himself for another showdown in parliament over the accord.
People gathered in the main Syntagma square opposite parliament, a site familiar to global television viewers for scenes of violent clashes in the first years of Greece’s debt crisis. Police estimated about 60,000 people had turned out by early afternoon. Protesters, some wearing traditional army suits, chanted slogans like “Macedonia is Greek,” and asking the government to hold a referendum for the issue, while police used tear gas to keep demonstrators away from parliament.
Under the so-called Prespes agreement, Greece’s neighbour will change its name to Republic of North Macedonia in exchange for the Greeks ending opposition to its bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the EU.
Many Greeks say Macedonia should only be used to refer to their country’s northern region of that name and see any use as an attempt to steal their cultural heritage. The country has been referred to Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, abbreviated as FYROM, due to objections from Athens to its shorter name. The government submitted the agreement to parliament and Tsipras now needs to muster a majority to ratify the deal after barely surviving a confidence vote.