Greeks Try to Fell Truman Statue in Condemnation of US-Led Syria Strikes

Protesters used a metal grinder to try to cut off the statue’s feet and tug it down with ropes before riot police intervened and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd, Reuters reported.

The statue suffered minor damage. At least three protesters were injured, with blood trickling from their heads, according to the report.

Several hundred KKE supporters joined a march to the US Embassy, a couple of miles from the statue, in the third demonstration in Athens against Saturday’s airstrikes on what Western powers said were Syrian chemical weapons installations.

“What we did today is a symbolic move against the US and the war (in Syria),” said Yorgos Perros, a member of the communist-affiliated union PAME. “The statue is a symbol of imperialism and the United States in Greece.”

The 12-foot, bronze Truman statue, also not far from the prime minister’s office, has been a regular target of protesters who have vandalized or attacked it with paint against American “imperialism” in Greece.

Truman was US president from 1945 to 1953.

The US, Britain and France launched airstrikes against multiple places in Syria early Saturday following US President Donald Trump's order despite international warnings against further escalation of the situation in the Arab country and across the Middle East.

The US-led military coalition has accused the Syrian government of having attacked the militant-held town of Douma in the Eastern Ghouta region on April 7 and claimed that the Saturday air strikes had been aimed at deterring Syria's further use of chemical weapons.

Syria has categorically denied the allegations of chemical weapons use, stressing that the country turned over its entire chemical stockpile under a deal negotiated by Russia and the United States back in 2013.