March 10, 2010 by hellaswebnews

" Meanwhile, the plan to destroy all Greek property in the city was now fully under way. A hundred gangs of rioters were busy carrying out their terrible task, covering a vast area that stretched from the Bosphorus to the Sea of Marmara. Each gang had a leader who was armed with a list of the houses and shops in his area owned by Greeks. It was an organised tornado of violence which swept away everything in its path. Dozens of Greek citizens and clergymen were beaten up. Altogether 73 Greek churches were plundered or burned. Icons, murals and holy chalices of inestimable historic and archaeological value were destroyed. All the city's 26 Greek schools were completely demolished. The Patriarchal School at Fanari, established in 1453, and the Theological School on Halki were subjected to the fury of the rabble in an act of extreme barbarism. The Zappeion High School was attacked and the statue of its benefactor, Constantinos Zappas, sent tumbling down the great marble staircase. The mob did not stop at ruining desks, a piano and the school hall but also did immense damage to the murals that decorated the interior walls of the school.

In all, 4,340 Greek shops and stores were looted and destroyed that night; 2,600 Greek homes were caught in the eye of the storm and submitted to the mob's unprecedented wrath. The offices and printing presses of the city's three big Greek newspapers were literally smashed to pieces. The offices of Olympic Airways, then known as T.A.E., on Cumhuriyet Street in Elmadag were visited twice by the rabble. " Eyewitness testimony by Leonidas Koumakis survivor of the Constantinople Pogrom of September 6, 1955 as documented in his testimonial book