The annual ‘Ohi Day’ celebrations in Greece are held each year on October 28 with parades and festivities in most towns and villages, the largest being in the capital, Athens.

‘Ohi Day’ (also Ochi/Oxi) commemorates the rejection by Greek Prime Minister Ioannis Metaxas of the ultimatum made by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini on October 28, 1940.

The ultimatum, which was presented at dawn to Metaxas by the Italian Ambassador in Athens, demanded that Greece allow Axis forces to enter Greek territory and occupy certain unspecified “strategic locations” or otherwise face war. It was allegedly answered with a single laconic word “Ohi” (No!). However, Metaxas’ actual reply was delivered curtly in French, “Alors, c’est la guerre” (Then it is war).

In response to Metaxas’s refusal, Italian troops stationed in Albania, then an Italian protectorate, attacked the Greek border at 05:30, the beginning of Greece’s participation in World War II.

On the morning of October 28, the Greek population took to the streets, irrespective of political affiliation, shouting ‘Ohi’. From 1942, it was celebrated as ‘Ohi Day’.

October 28 is a national holiday and therefore shops and offices will be closed.