NARRATOR: On the 19th of October, Greece's 48-hour
general strike began.
Someone said about a million people were turning up.
Further emboldening the strikers was the presence of a
lot of stray dogs marching in support.
MALE SPEAKER: [SPEAKING GREEK]
NARRATOR: They started early, with crowds meeting around the
city at 10:30 and slowly converging on Syntagma Square.
The vibes were good, unified and peaceful.
MALE SPEAKER: [SPEAKING GREEK]
NARRATOR: Thanks to the guys protecting Parliament, there
was nothing for the crowd to do but pick a fight with a
cageful of riot police.
[SHOUTING]
That was the first and mildest tear-gassing of the day.
By the way, that stuff they're dousing themselves in is
called Maalox.
It's supposed to counteract the gas.
MALE SPEAKER: [SPEAKING GREEK]
[CHANTING IN GREEK]
NARRATOR: Back outside Parliament, it
was all kicking off.
We kept venturing into the Square, only to get gassed
with the rest of the crowd.
[EXPLOSIONS]
[COUGHING]
NARRATOR: That's the sound of our camera guy coughing blood.
[COUGHING]
[EXPLOSION]
[SCREAMS]
MALE SPEAKER: [SPEAKING GREEK]
[EXPLOSION]
NARRATOR: By 5 o'clock, after more than four hours of
running battles around Parliament, the people started
to disperse.
We might have felt like the world was ending, but
according to the conversations around us, the
day had been tame.
Everyone was saving themselves for day two.