Residents of Athens’ lawless Exarchia Square resist metro station plan

Protesters say station is part of gentrification scheme aimed at altering historically leftwing area

The battle lines are drawn early in Exarchia Square - and in the depths of summer, they are rigorously defined. By 6.30am we're here," says Chrysoula Papageorgiou, a bespectacled schoolteacher now involved in the fight of her life to stop a metro station being built in the historic plaza. That's just before the first construction workers arrive. As for them, they're here 24/7."

The them" in this case is a shifting platoon of police, some equipped with shields and teargas, others in full battle dress and yet others in uniforms of simple blue. Papageorgiou is among the protesters who in energy-sapping temperatures have been meeting daily and chanting themselves hoarse at the lower end of the square.