With approximately 1500 direct and indirect exhibitors, with 18 state participations and with Bulgaria as the honored country, the 87th Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) opens its gates today, but without the official opening ceremony, with the Prime Minister as a speaker, which was scheduled for 8 in the evening, which was canceled – like the usual Sunday press conference – due to the dramatic effects of the bad weather “Daniel”.

The Greek Police is deploying a strong police force today, Saturday September 9, 2023, in the streets of the center of Thessaloniki, due to the planned demonstrations for the premiere of the 87th International Exhibition of Thessaloniki.

Despite the postponement of the visit of the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to Thessaloniki, labor unions, members of the extra-parliamentary Left, students and anti-authoritarians, will hold marches in the main streets of the city.

The Thessaloniki Municipality crews are already removing the waste bins, for fear of incidents in the center of the city.
The above has caused the intense mobilization of the Police.

So far no announcements have been made about the event’s concert program, “Music Events Live”, which was to be launched on Sunday at 21.30, with Stelios Rocco and Onirama.

The visitors of TIF-Helexpo SA will have the opportunity to attend a concert in the Arch of HANTH for free every night, only with the entrance ticket of the 87th TIF, as part of the largest concert program in Greece.

Those interested can be informed about TIF’s parallel events and any postponements at the link https:// thessalonikifair.gr/el/parallel-events-program

Drones from the air, “Avra” on the lookout – A helicopter will not help
Strong MAT, OPKE, DIAS and Security police force

In more detail, for the order measures of Saturday’s demonstrations, 25 MAT squads from neighboring prefectures, 25 support squads outside Thessaloniki, 17 squads from Athens and 17 from Thessaloniki will be on the streets of Thessaloniki.

For the order measures, 80 policemen of the DIAS group, 25 policemen of the “G” group, 15 policemen of the “DRASI” group, 50 OPKE policemen, as well as 70 Security policemen are also being recruited.

In the event of an incident, two armored police water cannons, known as “Aiantas”, will be on hand.

Furthermore, 120 police officers of the Thessaloniki Police Department will staff the TIF department, which is created on an emergency basis every year during the Exhibition period, while 100 police officers of the same service will take on the role of guarding vulnerable targets (e.g. Embassies) in the city center.

Although the EL.AS helicopter was to be deployed. in the measures of order, it was decided instead, according to information from thestival.gr, to assist in the rescue operations of people in the areas of Thessaly affected by the deadly flood.

From the air, the Police will have “eyes” through specialist drones that transmit a real-time image to the operations center.

Which roads will be closed?

It is noted that due to the traffic regulations that will come into force on Saturday, 150 traffic police officers will be on the city streets to regulate traffic, to maintain spaces and remove vehicles from places where parking is prohibited.

It is emphasized that 20 policemen of “Z” will strengthen the work of the Traffic policemen.

Also, from 3:00 in the afternoon and until the end of the relevant events, the traffic of vehicles will be carried out gradually, from East to West of the city through the streets Katsimidis – Peripheral Street – Ag. Dimitriou (as far as the conditions allow) – Olympiados and from West to East of the city through 26th of October – Lagada and Peripheral Street, as well as from Agios Dimitriou, as far as the conditions allow.

TEF: “The exhibition will open normally on Saturday and will keep up with the developments”

TIF/HELEXPO has issued an announcement on how the 87th TIF will operate, while the country is being tested by the biblical storm Daniel and the Prime Minister has announced that he is postponing his visit to next week.

As he informs, “the exhibition will open its gates on Saturday, September 9, at 10:00 and will keep up with the developments”.

At the same time, the EBEA announced that its events that were planned in the context of the TIF, due to the serious effects of the bad weather, are being cancelled.

The TIF announcement in detail

“TEF-HELEXPO, sharing the agony experienced by the country in recent days due to the catastrophic floods, shares the difficulty of the moments and the pain of the people who have been affected.

The national exhibition body, taking into account this dramatic circumstance, but also the fact that the 87th TIF is a leading exhibition, business and commercial event, with hundreds of participants from Greece and abroad and with a previous preparation of months, adjusts the operation of the Exposure to the new data, which affect the first weekend.

The 87th TIF will open its gates on Saturday, September 9, at 10:00 and will keep up with the developments.

The hours of the Exhibition are 10:00 to 22:00 on weekends and 16:00 to 22:00 on weekdays.