The government is anxiously awaiting what is expected to be a massive Athens rally on Sunday to protest the government’s willingness to accept the use of the name Macedonia by FYROM.

This time around the prime minister’s office has kept a low profile and has avoided branding the protestors as ultra-rightists, as it had before the huge Thessaloniki rally.

According to a survey conducted by the Pulse polling company for Action 24 television, 65 percent of respondents said they are in favour of the demonstrations, and 60 percent support the position of the leader of the junior partner in the coalition government, Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, that Greece should not acquiesce to any use of the name Macedonia by Skopje.

The decision of the hierarchy of the Orthodox Church of Greece to allow clergy to participate in the rallies, in accordance with their conscience, has also shaken the government, as it has lost a key pillar of support.

Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece had previously expressed his opposition to the clergy and faithful attending the rally, but was forced to back down by the Holy Synod. The archbishop has no jurisdiction in the dioceses of local bishops.

The government faces an extremely intricate balancing act, as it doesn’t want to clash with a current of hundreds of thousands of citizens, and on the other it wants to keep the rallies from become a huge anti-government protest,

in.gr

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