This article originally appeared on VICE Greece.In the morning of June 27, 2015—after a long, exhausting period of negotiations with the European Union, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund—Greek prime minister Alex Tsipras announced that he was going to let the Greek people decide whether the country should accept the lenders' latest proposed bailout conditions. The Greek bailout referendum was set to be held only a week later—on July 5, 2015.
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Chaos, naturally, ensued. As soon as news of the referendum broke, hordes of Greeks ran to cash machines to withdraw as much cash as possible. In the following days, the Greek government decided not to pay back the latest installment of the loan—which meant that the country essentially declared bankruptcy. That led to capital controls that installed a withdrawal limit of about $65 and continuous demonstrations by supporters of both the "Yes" and "No" camps—all taking place in a backdrop of extremely high temperatures and strange, almost tropical, summer thunderstorms. Greek voters overwhelmingly rejected the bailout conditions, yet with imports dropping by 11.7 percent, consumption by 4.3 percent, and 3,000 fewer businesses created in the last twelve months, I think it's safe to say that life in my country has only gotten worse.In light of this one-year anniversary, here are some photos from the week Greece will never forget.