The militant anarchist group “Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire” yesterday claimed responsibility for a bomb attack last Saturday on the Athens home of a former deputy minister and warned the newly appointed National Intelligence Service (EYP) chief that he could be the next target.
In a proclamation posted on the Internet, the group – whose previous actions had been confined to gas canister attacks on police and government targets – described Saturday’s attack in great detail, including how the explosive device was planted in the backyard of the home of former Deputy Interior Minister Panayiotis Hinofotis in Palaio Faliro, and providing insights into how the 2-kilo bomb was made, including details about its wiring.
The statement added that the attack, which caused no injuries, was a follow-up to last December’s unrest triggered by the police killing of a teenager in the central Athens district of Exarchia. It noted that Hinofitis had been in office at the time and had targeted “revolutionary groups.” The group added that it would continue with its action and warned of an attack on Dimitris Papangelopoulos, recently appointed as head of EYP, whose home they had targeted in February when he had been a prosecutor.
Police expressed concern that the Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire had “graduated” to a full-blown terrorist group. “We had expected an escalation of the group’s actions following its gas canister bomb attacks on two buildings in Attica and Thessaloniki where new police divisions were to be set up,” a source at the police’s counterterrorism department said. He expressed fears that the group’s knowledge of bomb-making techniques suggested links with more established terrorist groups.
From eKathimerini.com
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Saturday, July 18, 2009
Farmers' Blockade, Municipal Car Bombed - Kathimerini News Briefs - July 18
Farmers close highway again
Hundreds of peach farmers used their tractors to block key junctions of the national road network in the prefectures of Imathia and Pella yesterday for a second day in a row, causing traffic disruptions for several hours. The producers are seeking state compensation for 200,000 tons of peaches from their surplus production this year.
Psychico explosion
A vehicle belonging to the Municipality of Psychico in northern Athens was destroyed yesterday after a bomb made from cooking gas canisters went off outside the town hall. Two other cars were also damaged in the attack, which occurred at about 2 a.m. There were no injuries.
Original Source
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Hundreds of peach farmers used their tractors to block key junctions of the national road network in the prefectures of Imathia and Pella yesterday for a second day in a row, causing traffic disruptions for several hours. The producers are seeking state compensation for 200,000 tons of peaches from their surplus production this year.
Psychico explosion
A vehicle belonging to the Municipality of Psychico in northern Athens was destroyed yesterday after a bomb made from cooking gas canisters went off outside the town hall. Two other cars were also damaged in the attack, which occurred at about 2 a.m. There were no injuries.
Original Source
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Thursday, July 16, 2009
Strikes, Hunger Strikes and Environmental Action
Strikes, hunger strikes and environmental action leading to clashes with riot police open week after weekend of state terror in Greece.
After the weekend of terror in Greece, the mid-summer week has started with a wave of strikes and environmental actions, underlining that the spine of the movement is too strong to break.
On Monday 13/7 trains across Greece came to a halt for 48h as a result of a rolling 3-hour stoopage industrial action by railway http://workers.At the same time workers at Wind, the mobile telecommunications giant, in Greece declared a 24h strike. Workers of Wind and solidarity workers of other industrial sectors gathered outside the company's HQ and blockaded its entrance on Tuesday 14/7 morning till the afternoon.
The same day the committee against harm, and the committee against exploitation in the village of Megali Panagia in Chalkidiki joined by scores of locals form the wider area built block houses along the forest roads leading to Scouries, the area that a big gold-mining company wants to transform into a wasteland with the support of the greek government which has recently passed a law that declares any opposition to the exploitation of minerals as treason. The area has a long history of struggle against gold mines which peaked in the late 1990s with the titanic struggle of Olympiada villagers against TVX-Gold.
Meanwhile OTE, the National Telecomunication Company has sued the historical Athens Polytechnic for hosting athens indymedia in its server, alleging that this violates the conditions of its contract with OTE. The Polytechnic has condemned the legal action as censorship in line with LAOS (fascist party) demands of gagging radical dissent to the regime. The legal action was also condemned by the Coalition of Radical Left. On Tuesday 14/7 protesters attacked the central OTE tower in Athens with black paint symbolising the information black out planned by its managers. Many workers in the tower expressed their support to the action.
The same day locals of Grammaticos who are resisting the construction of an open refuse damp in their area, and clashed with riot police last week erecting barricades and torching company bulldozers organised a protest march towards the riot police blockade of the construction site. The locals clashed with the police throwing stones and other projectiles, including a few molotov cocktails. The battle lasted for about an hour and the locals suffered the extended use of tear gas and 'blast flash' grenades.
In the prison front, Thodoris Iliopoulos started a hunger strike on the 10th of July 2009. Iliopoulos was arrested on the 18th of December 2008 in Akadimias street during a riot police sweeping operation in the context of the December Uprising. He is held since the 22nd of December in the Court Prisons of Koridallos accused for 3 crimes with no witnesses other than policement. Iliopoulos denies all charges against him, and has launched a long campaign to prove his innocence. On the 8th of July his petition for release until his trial was waived by judges, being the only arrested from the December Uprising to be still held hostage. On beginning his hunger strike Iliopoulos declared: "In go on hunger strike. It is the only means remaining to me as a hostage on order to cry out the truth and denounce the terrible injustice. To denounce the hatred and the empathy of 'justice' mechanisms. To denounce the arbitrariness and the violence of a 'justice' which is blind indeed, the its even more 'blind' functionaries". In solidarity the convict Nicos Tsouvalakis has also started a hunger strike demanding the release of Iliopoulos and in protest to the dehumanising prison conditions. As of Monday 13 of July the inmates of the First Wing of Koridallos Prison, the central prison of the country in Athens, declared that they abstain from the prison kitchen ration.
Meanwhile 19 Pakistani asylum seekers held in the police station of Glyfada, south Athens, are in their fourth day of hunger strike in protest to the agreement of the ministry of Public Order and the Pakistani Embassy to repatriate them. The asylum seekers claim that their life is in danger if they return to Pakistan.
Original Source
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After the weekend of terror in Greece, the mid-summer week has started with a wave of strikes and environmental actions, underlining that the spine of the movement is too strong to break.
On Monday 13/7 trains across Greece came to a halt for 48h as a result of a rolling 3-hour stoopage industrial action by railway http://workers.At the same time workers at Wind, the mobile telecommunications giant, in Greece declared a 24h strike. Workers of Wind and solidarity workers of other industrial sectors gathered outside the company's HQ and blockaded its entrance on Tuesday 14/7 morning till the afternoon.
The same day the committee against harm, and the committee against exploitation in the village of Megali Panagia in Chalkidiki joined by scores of locals form the wider area built block houses along the forest roads leading to Scouries, the area that a big gold-mining company wants to transform into a wasteland with the support of the greek government which has recently passed a law that declares any opposition to the exploitation of minerals as treason. The area has a long history of struggle against gold mines which peaked in the late 1990s with the titanic struggle of Olympiada villagers against TVX-Gold.
Meanwhile OTE, the National Telecomunication Company has sued the historical Athens Polytechnic for hosting athens indymedia in its server, alleging that this violates the conditions of its contract with OTE. The Polytechnic has condemned the legal action as censorship in line with LAOS (fascist party) demands of gagging radical dissent to the regime. The legal action was also condemned by the Coalition of Radical Left. On Tuesday 14/7 protesters attacked the central OTE tower in Athens with black paint symbolising the information black out planned by its managers. Many workers in the tower expressed their support to the action.
The same day locals of Grammaticos who are resisting the construction of an open refuse damp in their area, and clashed with riot police last week erecting barricades and torching company bulldozers organised a protest march towards the riot police blockade of the construction site. The locals clashed with the police throwing stones and other projectiles, including a few molotov cocktails. The battle lasted for about an hour and the locals suffered the extended use of tear gas and 'blast flash' grenades.
In the prison front, Thodoris Iliopoulos started a hunger strike on the 10th of July 2009. Iliopoulos was arrested on the 18th of December 2008 in Akadimias street during a riot police sweeping operation in the context of the December Uprising. He is held since the 22nd of December in the Court Prisons of Koridallos accused for 3 crimes with no witnesses other than policement. Iliopoulos denies all charges against him, and has launched a long campaign to prove his innocence. On the 8th of July his petition for release until his trial was waived by judges, being the only arrested from the December Uprising to be still held hostage. On beginning his hunger strike Iliopoulos declared: "In go on hunger strike. It is the only means remaining to me as a hostage on order to cry out the truth and denounce the terrible injustice. To denounce the hatred and the empathy of 'justice' mechanisms. To denounce the arbitrariness and the violence of a 'justice' which is blind indeed, the its even more 'blind' functionaries". In solidarity the convict Nicos Tsouvalakis has also started a hunger strike demanding the release of Iliopoulos and in protest to the dehumanising prison conditions. As of Monday 13 of July the inmates of the First Wing of Koridallos Prison, the central prison of the country in Athens, declared that they abstain from the prison kitchen ration.
Meanwhile 19 Pakistani asylum seekers held in the police station of Glyfada, south Athens, are in their fourth day of hunger strike in protest to the agreement of the ministry of Public Order and the Pakistani Embassy to repatriate them. The asylum seekers claim that their life is in danger if they return to Pakistan.
Original Source
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Monday, July 13, 2009
Patras’ Crystal Night (refugee camp set on fire, flattened, evicted) Update #61
(to be updated)
In the early hours of Sunday, July 12 the refugee settlement adjacent to the port of Patras was “mysteriously” set on fire during a police operation. According to eye-witness reports, the police cordoned off the area surrounding the settlement at about 5 a.m. Four greek citizens in solidarity who were near the settlement were immediately detained. Moments later the cops started ID’ing and arresting the refugees inside the camp. At the same time, a fire “mysteriously” started from one end of the settlement - while the police were present in the settlement. The fire burnt for a few hours, destroying a large part of the settlement. The houses not burnt were demolished later.
The smoke of the fire makes it evidently clear: The greek state is resorting to totalitarian, fascist practices as a last resort to cover up the lack of whatever legitimacy it previously enjoyed - and to desperately grip control of the situation. Through the flames, we can see: The state’s “social peace” is war; the tranquility and quiet safeguarded by the ”ordinary people just doing their job”, is death.
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In the early hours of Sunday, July 12 the refugee settlement adjacent to the port of Patras was “mysteriously” set on fire during a police operation. According to eye-witness reports, the police cordoned off the area surrounding the settlement at about 5 a.m. Four greek citizens in solidarity who were near the settlement were immediately detained. Moments later the cops started ID’ing and arresting the refugees inside the camp. At the same time, a fire “mysteriously” started from one end of the settlement - while the police were present in the settlement. The fire burnt for a few hours, destroying a large part of the settlement. The houses not burnt were demolished later.
The smoke of the fire makes it evidently clear: The greek state is resorting to totalitarian, fascist practices as a last resort to cover up the lack of whatever legitimacy it previously enjoyed - and to desperately grip control of the situation. Through the flames, we can see: The state’s “social peace” is war; the tranquility and quiet safeguarded by the ”ordinary people just doing their job”, is death.
Read more!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Bomb attack and drive-by shooting spark crime wave fear in Athens
Athens - A bomb exploded outside the home of the former Greek minister of the interior early Saturday, sparking fears of a renewed crime wave in the capital. Nobody was hurt in that attack, which followed an earlier drive-by shooting in which three migrant workers were slightly injured.
On Friday night a bus transporting police officers came under fire from a masked gunman, with at least two shots striking the vehicle, although no injuries were reported, according to state television.
There was no immediate motive for the attack on the three migrants, although police suspect the perpetrator may be part of a right-wing network, rather than treating the attack as a purely criminal act.
The bomb attack against the home of Panagiotis Hinofotis, who previously had responsibility for Greece's police, followed an anonymous tip-off.
Police sealed off the scene, but the device went off before there was time to defuse it, causing some damage to the property.
Greece has been racked by convulsions of violence since the police shooting of a 15-year old boy in December last year sparked weeks of rioting.
In addition to general lawlessness, several leftwing urban guerilla outfits have committed acts against state targets, whilst rightwing or racist groups have targeted immigrants.
Orininal Source
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On Friday night a bus transporting police officers came under fire from a masked gunman, with at least two shots striking the vehicle, although no injuries were reported, according to state television.
There was no immediate motive for the attack on the three migrants, although police suspect the perpetrator may be part of a right-wing network, rather than treating the attack as a purely criminal act.
The bomb attack against the home of Panagiotis Hinofotis, who previously had responsibility for Greece's police, followed an anonymous tip-off.
Police sealed off the scene, but the device went off before there was time to defuse it, causing some damage to the property.
Greece has been racked by convulsions of violence since the police shooting of a 15-year old boy in December last year sparked weeks of rioting.
In addition to general lawlessness, several leftwing urban guerilla outfits have committed acts against state targets, whilst rightwing or racist groups have targeted immigrants.
Orininal Source
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When the Minister met the Fascists (and OK’d them to attack an anarchist squat, it seems) Update #60
Christos Markoyannakis (pictured, centre) is a vice-minister for the Greek government. Mr Markoyanakis is head of the Vice-Ministry of Public Order - and he certainly does not lack the experience to fill the position. He launched his pubic sector career being appointed in the position of attorney general during the dictatorship (1967-1974). Old habits die hard: In the picture below, Mr Markoyanakis is chatting to the so-called “residents’ initiative” of the Ayios Panteleimonas neighbourhood in Athens.
The front group for the neo-fascists of the Golden Dawn (Chrysi Augi), have imposed an Apartheid-style rule in the neighbourhood: Locking up the local playground “because it was used by migrants’ children” they chase away migrants from the area. Mr Markoyanakis visited yesterday (9 July) to offer his support to the “residents’ initiative”. Apparently one of the questions he was asked during this meeting was “how come he hasn’t yet evicted the Villa Amalias squat”. Villa Amalias is one of Athens’ longest-standing squats. Only minutes after Markoyanakis visited, a group of fascists tried to attack Villa Amalias with molotov cocktails. They were pushed back by anarchists defending the occupation. Even being backed up by the cops (Riot police and the newly-introduced “Delta” motorcycle force) the fascists failed in their attack.
To sum up: A junta-appointed attorney general and present government minister meets with a “residents’” group widely known to be a fascist front. Minutes after the meeting, fascists attempt to attack the local anarchist squat, backed by police force. Sometimes, the line between fascism and democracy is much, much thinner than we’d ever think.
Found at: After The Greek Riots
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The front group for the neo-fascists of the Golden Dawn (Chrysi Augi), have imposed an Apartheid-style rule in the neighbourhood: Locking up the local playground “because it was used by migrants’ children” they chase away migrants from the area. Mr Markoyanakis visited yesterday (9 July) to offer his support to the “residents’ initiative”. Apparently one of the questions he was asked during this meeting was “how come he hasn’t yet evicted the Villa Amalias squat”. Villa Amalias is one of Athens’ longest-standing squats. Only minutes after Markoyanakis visited, a group of fascists tried to attack Villa Amalias with molotov cocktails. They were pushed back by anarchists defending the occupation. Even being backed up by the cops (Riot police and the newly-introduced “Delta” motorcycle force) the fascists failed in their attack.
To sum up: A junta-appointed attorney general and present government minister meets with a “residents’” group widely known to be a fascist front. Minutes after the meeting, fascists attempt to attack the local anarchist squat, backed by police force. Sometimes, the line between fascism and democracy is much, much thinner than we’d ever think.
Found at: After The Greek Riots
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Thodoros Iliopoulos (last December prisoner in pretrial detention) has bail application rejected, goes on hunger strike - Update #59
Thodoros Iliopoulos is an anarchist and the last prisoner of December’s revolt still in pre-trial detention. He has been in prison since December and as of yesterday is the only prisoner of the revolt to be denied bail - still. On July 9 the court of appeals made explicit, in rejecting Iliopoulos’ application, that it did so on the grounds that Iliopoulos is an anarchist and therefore a “danger for democracy”.
What follows is a translation of Thodoros’ letter from prison, dated July 9.
Today, 9th of July 2009
On the 8th of July, after six-and-a-half months in prison, where I ended up following the incidents of December accused for things I never did, the Court of Misdemeanours ordered the extension of my pre-trial detention.
It is the only court decision ordering the extension of a detention for the events of December, at atime when every single other person in pre-trial detention for December’s revolt (with the same or other charges) has already been released.
The decision reveals personal prejudice and hatred against me; feelings that cannot be justified or explained and is a decision that is biased, unfair and illegal by default, same as any detention.
Faced with the hatred against me, against the unfair “sentence” I am serving in either case, against the stuborn denial of judges and atttorney generals to see the real facts and the truth in my case, against the obvious and unprecedented bias against me, I have no other weapon to fight with but my own body.
I am going on hunger strike. It is the only means I have left as a prisoner to shout out the truth and denounce the injustice and prejudice of the mechanisms of “justice”. To denounce the arbitrariness and the violence of a blind “justice” and its even blinder servants.
From Friday, July 10th, I will stop receiving any food and I will submit a hunger strike notification to the prison’s administration.
Those who lived the events of December, those who experienced the violence of these mechanisms, those who experienced the harshness of the pricon cell - with or without a prison sentence- those who know that the only path to freedom is resistance, those who react to the juridical arbitrariness and its horrors, are those who understand me and who will stand by my side.
I thank them in advance.
Thodoris Iliopoulos
Korydalos Prison, Athens
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What follows is a translation of Thodoros’ letter from prison, dated July 9.
Today, 9th of July 2009
On the 8th of July, after six-and-a-half months in prison, where I ended up following the incidents of December accused for things I never did, the Court of Misdemeanours ordered the extension of my pre-trial detention.
It is the only court decision ordering the extension of a detention for the events of December, at atime when every single other person in pre-trial detention for December’s revolt (with the same or other charges) has already been released.
The decision reveals personal prejudice and hatred against me; feelings that cannot be justified or explained and is a decision that is biased, unfair and illegal by default, same as any detention.
Faced with the hatred against me, against the unfair “sentence” I am serving in either case, against the stuborn denial of judges and atttorney generals to see the real facts and the truth in my case, against the obvious and unprecedented bias against me, I have no other weapon to fight with but my own body.
I am going on hunger strike. It is the only means I have left as a prisoner to shout out the truth and denounce the injustice and prejudice of the mechanisms of “justice”. To denounce the arbitrariness and the violence of a blind “justice” and its even blinder servants.
From Friday, July 10th, I will stop receiving any food and I will submit a hunger strike notification to the prison’s administration.
Those who lived the events of December, those who experienced the violence of these mechanisms, those who experienced the harshness of the pricon cell - with or without a prison sentence- those who know that the only path to freedom is resistance, those who react to the juridical arbitrariness and its horrors, are those who understand me and who will stand by my side.
I thank them in advance.
Thodoris Iliopoulos
Korydalos Prison, Athens
Read more!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
FascistsThrow Molotovs Against Anti-fascists in Athens
Athens, July 7. The anarchist migrant solidarity demo was very succesful. Indymedia reports put the number of demonstrators at around 2-3,000 in Athens and another 1,000 in Thessaloniki. On July 7, for the first time ever, fascists (who, ONCE AGAIN, were attacking the demonstrators from within police lines) tried to throw molotov cocktails against the demonstrators. Luckily, the fascists have little experience in handling these. The fascist in the photo below didn’t use his new weapon that well and, a few seconds later, was burnt by the molotov himself.
(A report from Athens IMC follows)
Recently the Greek state and its neonazi thugs seek to intensify their attacks on poor immigrants. Anarchists (most of them are of the anarchist-communist variety, those who read Bakunin and Kropotkin) and antiauthoritarians (a label that includes anyone fighting against state oppresion, not necessarily an anarchist) from Greece called for a march in Athens on 7 July 2009 at 19.00 o’clock, against what they call a “modern apartheid” (refering to the recent attempts by fascists in the Saint Pandeleimonas district, where immigrants many stay, to disallow immigrants from entering into communal spaces such as playing grounds or parks, but also to the cop operations in central Athens “clearing” the city of unwanted immigrants en masse with no regard for their human rights). It worths mentioning that the Greek press and television has taken extreme xenophobic views recently, fully supporting the government’s attempt to drive people’s attention away from the economic crisis. There are also alarming government plans for all unwanted immigrants to be arrested and held at concentration camps for years.
The call to march was publicised on many places, including the Athens Indymedia (athens.indymedia.org) website, which operates from occupied computing equipment in the Athens Polytechnic university (NTUA), and the government and OTE (the major ex-public Greek telecom company) are desperately trying to locate and shut down. Anarchists in Greece also publicise their news and calls with wall posters, graffiti messages, anonymous blogs, through gatherings at occupied buildings or university campuses, and pirate radio stations (some of them operating from university campuses or near them). It is for these reasons that the Greek state seeks to end the anonymity of blogs and put cops inside university campuses, which are one of the few places in Greece still free of cops (the other one being the Exarchia district in Athens downtown which is traditionally controlled by anarchists and any cops there are attacked with molotov cocktails, even though it is only a few hundred metres away from the high-society bourgouoise district of Kolonaki and the police headquarters in Alexandras Avenue).
The march began at 20.00 o’clock in Omonoia Square, downtown Athens, the capital city of Greece.
Hundreds of counter-information flyers were distributed and a speech was made. The march (as shown in the photos) had about 2500 comrades, and this made the cops to keep themselves at safe distance.
During the march various texts were distributed, anarchist graffiti was drawn, security cameras were destroyed, as well as bank ATMs. The march proceeded towards Saint Pandeleimonas (a neighbourhood in Athens were lots of immigrants stay, who have recently came under attack by fascists) and when the head of the march was about to enter the district the cops immediately fired tear gas and shock grenades, with the comrades replying with stones and flare bombs.
The march had good defence and moved towards ASOEE (a public university in Athens specializing in economics; comrades in Greece take advantage of a sanctuary’s law, called asylum, that disallows the cops to enter university premises). There was somewhat of a chaos there for a while, as some comrades where entering the university campus while others were leaving to go fight the cops in the nearby Patision street. The whole Patision street was in fire.
Barricades built with trashbins set on fire were keeping the cops away and after the usual (for Greece) violent fighting between anarchist comrades and the cops (and the huge amount of chemicals released by them) the cops came under a well-organized attack that forced them to take cover in the 3rd September street, while the whole Patision street was again set on fire.
Many immigrants were participating in the march and they attacked Delta guards (Deltades) in Victoria Square (Deltades are stupid thugs the state uses as light-cops until real cops can arrive): when comrades informed the immigrants that real cops were coming to Victoria Square (so that those with no passports could leave in time to avoid arrest and forced repatriation), the immigrants, disregarding their own individual self-interest, attacked the Deltades thugs, who took cover at the nearby OTE bulding (OTE is the Greek National Telecommunications Company, recently privatized and sold to German T-Telekom).
After the march, the Saint Pandeleimonas district was full of immigrants and clear of fascist scum or cops. The fascists supported the cops in their attempt to drive the march out of Saint Pandeleimonas.
A fascist accidentaly set himself on fire while trying to use the anarchists’ weapons against them, a sport the fascists aren’t good at.
The anarchists carried multilingual banners in Greek, English, French, Arabic, Albanian, and other languages known to the immigrants. A banner held by comrades carrying black and red flags, both men and women, read: “war against bosses - solidarity to immigrants”.
Some of the graffiti created during the march included: “death to fascists” on a bank’s window and signed with the anarchists’ circled-A symbol; “don’t touch the Efetio” on the OTE building (telecom company) walls (the Efetio at the Sokratous Street is a big occupied courts building in Athens downtown where lots of immigrants live rent-free and was recently attacked by neonazi thugs and cops, with the government eyeing to re-take it by force); “cops - TV - neonazis, all the bastards work together” on a shop’s security walls and signed with the anarchist circled-A symbol; “immigrants, my siblings, all of us together, black flag we rise to any authority” on a wall and signed with the circled-A; and a big circled-A symbol painted on a bank’s advertisement immediately under the advert’s words: “we are besides you”.
A block of EEK members (EEK or Workers’ Revolutionary Party is a Greek Trotskyist political party with about 6,000 votes) was also seen marching in the streets near the anarchists but not really intermingling with them. Anarchists in Greece generally boycott the elections, but a few antiauthoritarians sometimes do vote for small leftist parties. But even the bigger political parties on the left of the political spectrum, such as the Syriza coalition, try to persuade antiauthoritarians that they support their views, because they want to capture for their interests the dynamism of the anarchist and antiauthoritarian scene, which is particularly powerful and influential in Greece, especially amongst the youth. While antiauthoritarians in Greece sometimes do support particular parties, anarchists keep true to Kropotkin and other classical anarchists’ call for revolution without representatives. The fact that leftist parties carry on trying to win votes from antiauthoritarians and the anarchist-influenced youth reveals the strong influence of anarchism in contemporary youth culture in Greece, and also explains why the Greek government is so desperate to upgrade its repression and surveillance apparatus (it recently asked the Scotland Yard for help and plans to introduce DNA databases and ban anonymous mobile phones).
A march also took place in Thessaloniki in northern Greece (the second biggest city of the country). Bank ATMs were also set on fire there.
Fire engines were seen driving out of downtown Athens by 21.30-22.00 o’clock after their attempts to put down the fires and the revolutionary spirit with them. But no matter how many fires they put down, they and the whole state apparatus won’t succeed to put down the coming revolution, because that’s what the people want.
From After the Greek Riots
Read more!
(A report from Athens IMC follows)
Recently the Greek state and its neonazi thugs seek to intensify their attacks on poor immigrants. Anarchists (most of them are of the anarchist-communist variety, those who read Bakunin and Kropotkin) and antiauthoritarians (a label that includes anyone fighting against state oppresion, not necessarily an anarchist) from Greece called for a march in Athens on 7 July 2009 at 19.00 o’clock, against what they call a “modern apartheid” (refering to the recent attempts by fascists in the Saint Pandeleimonas district, where immigrants many stay, to disallow immigrants from entering into communal spaces such as playing grounds or parks, but also to the cop operations in central Athens “clearing” the city of unwanted immigrants en masse with no regard for their human rights). It worths mentioning that the Greek press and television has taken extreme xenophobic views recently, fully supporting the government’s attempt to drive people’s attention away from the economic crisis. There are also alarming government plans for all unwanted immigrants to be arrested and held at concentration camps for years.
The call to march was publicised on many places, including the Athens Indymedia (athens.indymedia.org) website, which operates from occupied computing equipment in the Athens Polytechnic university (NTUA), and the government and OTE (the major ex-public Greek telecom company) are desperately trying to locate and shut down. Anarchists in Greece also publicise their news and calls with wall posters, graffiti messages, anonymous blogs, through gatherings at occupied buildings or university campuses, and pirate radio stations (some of them operating from university campuses or near them). It is for these reasons that the Greek state seeks to end the anonymity of blogs and put cops inside university campuses, which are one of the few places in Greece still free of cops (the other one being the Exarchia district in Athens downtown which is traditionally controlled by anarchists and any cops there are attacked with molotov cocktails, even though it is only a few hundred metres away from the high-society bourgouoise district of Kolonaki and the police headquarters in Alexandras Avenue).
The march began at 20.00 o’clock in Omonoia Square, downtown Athens, the capital city of Greece.
Hundreds of counter-information flyers were distributed and a speech was made. The march (as shown in the photos) had about 2500 comrades, and this made the cops to keep themselves at safe distance.
During the march various texts were distributed, anarchist graffiti was drawn, security cameras were destroyed, as well as bank ATMs. The march proceeded towards Saint Pandeleimonas (a neighbourhood in Athens were lots of immigrants stay, who have recently came under attack by fascists) and when the head of the march was about to enter the district the cops immediately fired tear gas and shock grenades, with the comrades replying with stones and flare bombs.
The march had good defence and moved towards ASOEE (a public university in Athens specializing in economics; comrades in Greece take advantage of a sanctuary’s law, called asylum, that disallows the cops to enter university premises). There was somewhat of a chaos there for a while, as some comrades where entering the university campus while others were leaving to go fight the cops in the nearby Patision street. The whole Patision street was in fire.
Barricades built with trashbins set on fire were keeping the cops away and after the usual (for Greece) violent fighting between anarchist comrades and the cops (and the huge amount of chemicals released by them) the cops came under a well-organized attack that forced them to take cover in the 3rd September street, while the whole Patision street was again set on fire.
Many immigrants were participating in the march and they attacked Delta guards (Deltades) in Victoria Square (Deltades are stupid thugs the state uses as light-cops until real cops can arrive): when comrades informed the immigrants that real cops were coming to Victoria Square (so that those with no passports could leave in time to avoid arrest and forced repatriation), the immigrants, disregarding their own individual self-interest, attacked the Deltades thugs, who took cover at the nearby OTE bulding (OTE is the Greek National Telecommunications Company, recently privatized and sold to German T-Telekom).
After the march, the Saint Pandeleimonas district was full of immigrants and clear of fascist scum or cops. The fascists supported the cops in their attempt to drive the march out of Saint Pandeleimonas.
A fascist accidentaly set himself on fire while trying to use the anarchists’ weapons against them, a sport the fascists aren’t good at.
The anarchists carried multilingual banners in Greek, English, French, Arabic, Albanian, and other languages known to the immigrants. A banner held by comrades carrying black and red flags, both men and women, read: “war against bosses - solidarity to immigrants”.
Some of the graffiti created during the march included: “death to fascists” on a bank’s window and signed with the anarchists’ circled-A symbol; “don’t touch the Efetio” on the OTE building (telecom company) walls (the Efetio at the Sokratous Street is a big occupied courts building in Athens downtown where lots of immigrants live rent-free and was recently attacked by neonazi thugs and cops, with the government eyeing to re-take it by force); “cops - TV - neonazis, all the bastards work together” on a shop’s security walls and signed with the anarchist circled-A symbol; “immigrants, my siblings, all of us together, black flag we rise to any authority” on a wall and signed with the circled-A; and a big circled-A symbol painted on a bank’s advertisement immediately under the advert’s words: “we are besides you”.
A block of EEK members (EEK or Workers’ Revolutionary Party is a Greek Trotskyist political party with about 6,000 votes) was also seen marching in the streets near the anarchists but not really intermingling with them. Anarchists in Greece generally boycott the elections, but a few antiauthoritarians sometimes do vote for small leftist parties. But even the bigger political parties on the left of the political spectrum, such as the Syriza coalition, try to persuade antiauthoritarians that they support their views, because they want to capture for their interests the dynamism of the anarchist and antiauthoritarian scene, which is particularly powerful and influential in Greece, especially amongst the youth. While antiauthoritarians in Greece sometimes do support particular parties, anarchists keep true to Kropotkin and other classical anarchists’ call for revolution without representatives. The fact that leftist parties carry on trying to win votes from antiauthoritarians and the anarchist-influenced youth reveals the strong influence of anarchism in contemporary youth culture in Greece, and also explains why the Greek government is so desperate to upgrade its repression and surveillance apparatus (it recently asked the Scotland Yard for help and plans to introduce DNA databases and ban anonymous mobile phones).
A march also took place in Thessaloniki in northern Greece (the second biggest city of the country). Bank ATMs were also set on fire there.
Fire engines were seen driving out of downtown Athens by 21.30-22.00 o’clock after their attempts to put down the fires and the revolutionary spirit with them. But no matter how many fires they put down, they and the whole state apparatus won’t succeed to put down the coming revolution, because that’s what the people want.
From After the Greek Riots
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Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Immigrant Solidarity Demonstrations in Athens and Thessaloniki
Recently the Greek state and its neonazi thugs seek to intensify their attacks on poor immigrants. Anarchists (most of them are of the anarchist-communist variety, those who read Bakunin and Kropotkin) and antiauthoritarians (a label that includes anyone fighting against state oppresion, not necessarily an anarchist) from Greece called for a march in Athens on 7 July 2009 at 19.00 o'clock, against what they call a "modern apartheid" (refering to the recent attempts by fascists in the Saint Pandeleimonas district, where immigrants many stay, to disallow immigrants from entering into communal spaces such as playing grounds or parks, but also to the cop operations in central Athens "clearing" the city of unwanted immigrants en masse with no regard for their human rights). It worths mentioning that the Greek press and television has taken extreme xenophobic views recently, fully supporting the government's attempt to drive people's attention away from the economic crisis. There are also alarming government plans for all unwanted immigrants to be arrested and held at concentration camps for years.
The call to march was publicised on many places, including the Athens Indymedia (athens.indymedia.org) website, which operates from occupied computing equipment in the Athens Polytechnic university (NTUA), and the government and OTE (the major ex-public Greek telecom company) are desperately trying to locate and shut down. Anarchists in Greece also publicise their news and calls with wall posters, graffiti messages, anonymous blogs, through gatherings at occupied buildings or university campuses, and pirate radio stations (some of them operating from university campuses or near them). It is for these reasons that the Greek state seeks to end the anonymity of blogs and put cops inside university campuses, which are one of the few places in Greece still free of cops (the other one being the Exarchia district in Athens downtown which is traditionally controlled by anarchists and any cops there are attacked with molotov cocktails, even though it is only a few hundred metres away from the high-society bourgouoise district of Kolonaki and the police headquarters in Alexandras Avenue).
The march began at 20.00 o'clock in Omonoia Square, downtown Athens, the capital city of Greece.
Hundreds of counter-information flyers were distributed and a speech was made. The march (as shown in the photos) had about 2500 comrades, and this made the cops to keep themselves at safe distance.
During the march various texts were distributed, anarchist graffiti was drawn, security cameras were destroyed, as well as bank ATMs. The march proceeded towards Saint Pandeleimonas (a neighbourhood in Athens were lots of immigrants stay, who have recently came under attack by fascists) and when the head of the march was about to enter the district the cops immediately fired tear gas and shock grenades, with the comrades replying with stones and flare bombs.
The march had good defence and moved towards ASOEE (a public university in Athens specializing in economics; comrades in Greece take advantage of a sanctuary's law, called asylum, that disallows the cops to enter university premises). There was somewhat of a chaos there for a while, as some comrades where entering the university campus while others were leaving to go fight the cops in the nearby Patision street. The whole Patision street was in fire.
Barricades built with trashbins set on fire were keeping the cops away and after the usual (for Greece) violent fighting between anarchist comrades and the cops (and the huge amount of chemicals released by them) the cops came under a well-organized attack that forced them to take cover in the 3rd September street, while the whole Patision street was again set on fire.
Many immigrants were participating in the march and they attacked Delta guards (Deltades) in Victoria Square (Deltades are stupid thugs the state uses as light-cops until real cops can arrive): when comrades informed the immigrants that real cops were coming to Victoria Square (so that those with no passports could leave in time to avoid arrest and forced repatriation), the immigrants, disregarding their own individual self-interest, attacked the Deltades thugs, who took cover at the nearby OTE bulding (OTE is the Greek National Telecommunications Company, recently privatized and sold to German T-Telekom).
After the march, the Saint Pandeleimonas district was full of immigrants and clear of fascist scum or cops. The fascists supported the cops in their attempt to drive the march out of Saint Pandeleimonas.
A fascist accidentaly set himself on fire while trying to use the anarchists' weapons against them, a sport the fascists aren't good at.
The anarchists carried multilingual banners in Greek, English, French, Arabic, Albanian, and other languages known to the immigrants. A banner held by comrades carrying black and red flags, both men and women, read: "war against bosses - solidarity to immigrants".
Some of the graffiti created during the march included: "death to fascists" on a bank's window and signed with the anarchists' circled-A symbol; "don't touch the Efetio" on the OTE building (telecom company) walls (the Efetio at the Sokratous Street is a big occupied courts building in Athens downtown where lots of immigrants live rent-free and was recently attacked by neonazi thugs and cops, with the government eyeing to re-take it by force); "cops - TV - neonazis, all the bastards work together" on a shop's security walls and signed with the anarchist circled-A symbol; "immigrants, my siblings, all of us together, black flag we rise to any authority" on a wall and signed with the circled-A; and a big circled-A symbol painted on a bank's advertisement immediately under the advert's words: "we are besides you".
A block of EEK members (EEK or Workers' Revolutionary Party is a Greek Trotskyist political party with about 6,000 votes) was also seen marching in the streets near the anarchists but not really intermingling with them. Anarchists in Greece generally boycott the elections, but a few antiauthoritarians sometimes do vote for small leftist parties. But even the bigger political parties on the left of the political spectrum, such as the Syriza coalition, try to persuade antiauthoritarians that they support their views, because they want to capture for their interests the dynamism of the anarchist and antiauthoritarian scene, which is particularly powerful and influential in Greece, especially amongst the youth. While antiauthoritarians in Greece sometimes do support particular parties, anarchists keep true to Kropotkin and other classical anarchists' call for revolution without representatives. The fact that leftist parties carry on trying to win votes from antiauthoritarians and the anarchist-influenced youth reveals the strong influence of anarchism in contemporary youth culture in Greece, and also explains why the Greek government is so desperate to upgrade its repression and surveillance apparatus (it recently asked the Scotland Yard for help and plans to introduce DNA databases and ban anonymous mobile phones).
A march also took place in Thessaloniki in northern Greece (the second biggest city of the country). Bank ATMs were also set on fire there.
Fire engines were seen driving out of downtown Athens by 21.30-22.00 o'clock after their attempts to put down the fires and the revolutionary spirit with them. But no matter how many fires they put down, they and the whole state apparatus won't succeed to put down the coming revolution, because that's what the people want.
Found At UK Indymedia
Read more!
The call to march was publicised on many places, including the Athens Indymedia (athens.indymedia.org) website, which operates from occupied computing equipment in the Athens Polytechnic university (NTUA), and the government and OTE (the major ex-public Greek telecom company) are desperately trying to locate and shut down. Anarchists in Greece also publicise their news and calls with wall posters, graffiti messages, anonymous blogs, through gatherings at occupied buildings or university campuses, and pirate radio stations (some of them operating from university campuses or near them). It is for these reasons that the Greek state seeks to end the anonymity of blogs and put cops inside university campuses, which are one of the few places in Greece still free of cops (the other one being the Exarchia district in Athens downtown which is traditionally controlled by anarchists and any cops there are attacked with molotov cocktails, even though it is only a few hundred metres away from the high-society bourgouoise district of Kolonaki and the police headquarters in Alexandras Avenue).
The march began at 20.00 o'clock in Omonoia Square, downtown Athens, the capital city of Greece.
Hundreds of counter-information flyers were distributed and a speech was made. The march (as shown in the photos) had about 2500 comrades, and this made the cops to keep themselves at safe distance.
During the march various texts were distributed, anarchist graffiti was drawn, security cameras were destroyed, as well as bank ATMs. The march proceeded towards Saint Pandeleimonas (a neighbourhood in Athens were lots of immigrants stay, who have recently came under attack by fascists) and when the head of the march was about to enter the district the cops immediately fired tear gas and shock grenades, with the comrades replying with stones and flare bombs.
The march had good defence and moved towards ASOEE (a public university in Athens specializing in economics; comrades in Greece take advantage of a sanctuary's law, called asylum, that disallows the cops to enter university premises). There was somewhat of a chaos there for a while, as some comrades where entering the university campus while others were leaving to go fight the cops in the nearby Patision street. The whole Patision street was in fire.
Barricades built with trashbins set on fire were keeping the cops away and after the usual (for Greece) violent fighting between anarchist comrades and the cops (and the huge amount of chemicals released by them) the cops came under a well-organized attack that forced them to take cover in the 3rd September street, while the whole Patision street was again set on fire.
Many immigrants were participating in the march and they attacked Delta guards (Deltades) in Victoria Square (Deltades are stupid thugs the state uses as light-cops until real cops can arrive): when comrades informed the immigrants that real cops were coming to Victoria Square (so that those with no passports could leave in time to avoid arrest and forced repatriation), the immigrants, disregarding their own individual self-interest, attacked the Deltades thugs, who took cover at the nearby OTE bulding (OTE is the Greek National Telecommunications Company, recently privatized and sold to German T-Telekom).
After the march, the Saint Pandeleimonas district was full of immigrants and clear of fascist scum or cops. The fascists supported the cops in their attempt to drive the march out of Saint Pandeleimonas.
A fascist accidentaly set himself on fire while trying to use the anarchists' weapons against them, a sport the fascists aren't good at.
The anarchists carried multilingual banners in Greek, English, French, Arabic, Albanian, and other languages known to the immigrants. A banner held by comrades carrying black and red flags, both men and women, read: "war against bosses - solidarity to immigrants".
Some of the graffiti created during the march included: "death to fascists" on a bank's window and signed with the anarchists' circled-A symbol; "don't touch the Efetio" on the OTE building (telecom company) walls (the Efetio at the Sokratous Street is a big occupied courts building in Athens downtown where lots of immigrants live rent-free and was recently attacked by neonazi thugs and cops, with the government eyeing to re-take it by force); "cops - TV - neonazis, all the bastards work together" on a shop's security walls and signed with the anarchist circled-A symbol; "immigrants, my siblings, all of us together, black flag we rise to any authority" on a wall and signed with the circled-A; and a big circled-A symbol painted on a bank's advertisement immediately under the advert's words: "we are besides you".
A block of EEK members (EEK or Workers' Revolutionary Party is a Greek Trotskyist political party with about 6,000 votes) was also seen marching in the streets near the anarchists but not really intermingling with them. Anarchists in Greece generally boycott the elections, but a few antiauthoritarians sometimes do vote for small leftist parties. But even the bigger political parties on the left of the political spectrum, such as the Syriza coalition, try to persuade antiauthoritarians that they support their views, because they want to capture for their interests the dynamism of the anarchist and antiauthoritarian scene, which is particularly powerful and influential in Greece, especially amongst the youth. While antiauthoritarians in Greece sometimes do support particular parties, anarchists keep true to Kropotkin and other classical anarchists' call for revolution without representatives. The fact that leftist parties carry on trying to win votes from antiauthoritarians and the anarchist-influenced youth reveals the strong influence of anarchism in contemporary youth culture in Greece, and also explains why the Greek government is so desperate to upgrade its repression and surveillance apparatus (it recently asked the Scotland Yard for help and plans to introduce DNA databases and ban anonymous mobile phones).
A march also took place in Thessaloniki in northern Greece (the second biggest city of the country). Bank ATMs were also set on fire there.
Fire engines were seen driving out of downtown Athens by 21.30-22.00 o'clock after their attempts to put down the fires and the revolutionary spirit with them. But no matter how many fires they put down, they and the whole state apparatus won't succeed to put down the coming revolution, because that's what the people want.
Found At UK Indymedia
Read more!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Police attacked again in Crete’s Zoniana
Police officers have been assaulted and threatened in the notorious Cretan village of Zoniana, the scene of a botched raid two years ago, in an incident that has been kept quiet for several weeks, sources told Sunday’s Kathimerini.
Three local police officers were allegedly beaten and threatened that they would be killed after they followed a pickup truck that had crashed into their vehicle and then drove off into the village.
The incident occurred on June 18 but authorities chose to keep it quiet, as there is already a highly tense atmosphere in the area since the trial of 42 locals began earlier this year in connection to the shooting of a police officer in November 2007. The policeman was left paralyzed after locals opened fire on officers.
Sources said that some of those who attacked the policemen last month are suspects in the ongoing trial.
Original Source
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Three local police officers were allegedly beaten and threatened that they would be killed after they followed a pickup truck that had crashed into their vehicle and then drove off into the village.
The incident occurred on June 18 but authorities chose to keep it quiet, as there is already a highly tense atmosphere in the area since the trial of 42 locals began earlier this year in connection to the shooting of a police officer in November 2007. The policeman was left paralyzed after locals opened fire on officers.
Sources said that some of those who attacked the policemen last month are suspects in the ongoing trial.
Original Source
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