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Posts Tagged ‘Mytilene’

ABC Solidarity Cell: Strength to the anarchist hunger striker Martin Ignačák (Greece)

Tuesday, June 28th, 2016

Update by AntiFénix: Martin has suspended his hunger strike.

In April 2015, the Czech State launched a repressive campaign under the name “Operation Fénix” targeting the anarchist movement that’s active on its territory.

Raids on fighters’ homes, arrests, personal belongings confiscated, relatives and friends of the arrestees harassed, and accusatory dossiers cooked up in police offices. Eleven fighters were arrested as a result of this operation, of whom four were sent to remand prisons of the Czech Republic, while the rest were given restrictive bail conditions. All this has been portrayed in the media as a coordinated effort towards dismantling “terrorist networks”, such as the Network of Revolutionary Cells (SRB) who’ve claimed responsibility for dozens of incendiary attacks against statist and capitalist targets. Also one of the comrades is charged with participating in another attack that, according to the media, was carried out with Molotov cocktails against the house of the Minister of National Defence.

Martin Ignačák, who is accused of plotting attack on a train transporting military equipment, was in fact trapped by government agents who had infiltrated anarchist circles and indicated the target to Martin along with plans about how to carry out such an attack. (more…)

Tags: ABC - Anarchist Solidarity Cell, Athens, Czech Republic, Greece, International Solidarity, Martin Ignačák, Mytilene, Network Revolutionary Cells, Solidarity Action
Posted in Direct Action

Updated: No Border Kitchen Lesvos under threat of police raid and eviction (Greece)

Wednesday, March 30th, 2016

UPDATE BELOW

On the island of Lesvos, where the deportation machine is working at full speed, all the camps for refugees are cleared out and registration center ‘Moria’ has showed the true purpose and is now functioning as an deportation centre, NBK is still standing strong and operating at full speed.

On the island of Lesvos, where the deportation machine is working at full speed, all the camps for refugees are cleared out and registration center ‘Moria’ has showed the true purpose and is now functioning as an deportation centre, NBK is still standing strong and operating at full speed.

The current situation is that we now host a couple of hundred refugees, who have been hunted down the island by Frontex and police and have no other place to go. The kitchen is up and running day and night to help anyone in need on food, shelter, medical aid and a (semi)safe place to rest, where refugees work side by side with people in solidarity on an equal level. We host, the refugees participate, and together we keep the camp up and daily life running. (more…)

Tags: Frontex, Greece, Lesvos, Migrant Struggle, Mytilene, NBK Lesvos, Racism, Raids, Repression
Posted in No Borders

Lesvos: Incendiary attack against the office of Charalabos Athanasiou, New Democracy MP and ex-Minister of Justice (Greece)

Thursday, October 15th, 2015

Incendiary attack against the office of Ch. Athanasiou (Lesvos, 02/10/2015)

Inter Arma received and translated:

«…modern totalitarianism can be defined as the establishment, by means of the state of exception, of a legal civil war that allows for the physical elimination not only of political adversaries but of entire categories of citizens who for some reason cannot be integrated into the political system. … Since then, the voluntary creation of a permanent state of emergency (though perhaps not declared in the technical sense) has become one of the essential practices of contemporary states, including so-called democratic ones».

Giorgio Agamben
(State of Exception: The State of Exception as a Paradigm of Government)

After the discovery of the anarchist organization’s Conspiracy of Cells of Fire escape plan, from Koridallos Prison, at the beginning of the year, the “benevolent” institution of Alexandras avenue and the, several times, corrupted Counter Terrorism Unit (Special Violent Crime Squad) coordinated an unprecedented attack against the organization’s relatives and friendly environment, which was attended by the equivalent propaganda, during the election period. Two months later, after detentions, arrests and calls for interrogation to family and friends, on March 2nd, the crescendo of this media dissonance reached its highest point when the Counter Terrorism Unit puppets landed to Salamina island and arrested the wanted comrade Aggeliki Spiropoulou, who sought refuge in the home of Athena Tsakalou, mother of Christos and Gerasimos Tsakalos, imprisoned C.C.F. members, while, during Aggeliki’s arrest, Gerasimos’ wife, Evi Statiri, was also at home, and was also arrested on charges of harboring a criminal, that was later upgraded to accession and participation in the organization. The two women are transferred like cop’s trophies to GADA, among cameras and crime reporters and are pre-trial detained, under a fast-track procedure. The 60-year-old mother of the Tsakalos brothers, who – unasked – came along to the prosecutor in charge, was also pre-trial detained. The imprisoned members of the organization and A. Spiropoulou declared the beginning of a hunger strike, demanding only the immediate release of their relatives. After 32 days of a hard hunger strike, the comrades’ and the solidarity movement’s struggle is victorious, since a specific amendment is passed in the Parliament, concerning the release of detainees’ relatives. However, despite the release of Ath. Tsakalou under the most serious restrictive conditions, Evi Statiri remains imprisoned, as her successive requests for release, are emotively rejected by the special appellate magistrate Eftihis Nikopoulos and the judicial councils under the presidency of Isidora Poga (she also rejected the request for lifting of the restrictive conditions of A. Tsakalou, on the grounds that there’s no reason for her to visit her children in prison as well as going to the Nikaia General Hospital, to do a necessary medical examination) and Erieta Halevidou.

From the above, we come to the conclusion that the passing of the amendment was a gross persiflage of the hunger strikers – for which the first-time-left SYRIZA government’s Minister of Justice, Nikos Paraskevopoulos, bears personal responsibility – and that the organization members’ relatives’ hostage situation is an insidious emotional blackmail by the law enforcement authorities – whose prestige had been damaged by the discovery of the escape plan – against the imprisoned comrades, who, all these years, remain uncompromising in the cells of Democracy. For those who are aware of the CCF case, it is clear that the prosecution of the organization members’ relatives, was the peak of an escalating treaty, formed in the recent years by the police-judicial complex of the Greek state, which uses the specific case as a tank of prosecutions against anarchist comrades from the whole spectrum of the anarchist milieu and seek to isolate the imprisoned urban guerrillas, establish fear within the insurrectional circles, through making the detainees an example and through their persistent hostage situation of the restrictive conditions imposed, and prevent new comrades from the choices of the anarchist fight and the urban guerrilla warfare, creating this way a permanent state of emergency, in which everyone can be imprisoned, just because they are related to C.C.F. as comrades – friends – relatives.

So, after 6 months of pre-trial detention, on September 14th, 2015, Evi Statiri begins a hunger strike, in order to put an end to her continuing captivity… Within the frame of Evi’s struggle, early morning of Friday, October 2nd, we chose to attack the office of the Member of Parliament and former Minister of Justice, Charalabos Athanasiou, in the center of Mytilene.

Our attack was an act of solidarity, rage and memory. It was a solidarity signal to Evi who, during those days, with her body as a weapon, asserted her freedom, against the criminalization of the family and friendly relationships of the political prisoners. Evi stood up towards the fear of the Authority’s shadow, that wished to wreak its revenge on her companion, Gerasimos Tsakalos, and punish her for the years she has stood by him. Her victorious hunger strike and her release proved that if you choose to face the fear straight in the eyes, fear will be scared and will retreat…

It was an act of rage for the days and the work of Ch. Athanasiou. Athanasiou, as a modern inquisitor, is the head of a judicial clique (among which also is the Advocate of the Supreme Court E. Goutzamani, who from the same place as Athanasiou) that, through scheming and machinations “set” judicial cases, do favors to their own people, extort in the interests of the conservative oligarchy of the mobsters of Mount Athos (Efraim case) and the loathsome priesthood… In spite of the leaks of the ND (New Democracy) Press Office on his forthcoming dismissal from the ministerial chair, during the government reshuffle of that period, due to his “inexpedient” handling of the Golden Dawn case, the former president of the Union of Magistrates and Prosecutors remained in place as political supervisor of the Greek Justice, in some mysterious way, pertained to the godparenthood of Antonis Samaras’ kinfolk with a local lobby of magnates and personal friends. After covering the accounting scandal in which he played a leading part, through the concealment of his assets, Athanasiou purports to be the chastiser of the dissidents and the political prisoners. He was the Minister of Justice who inaugurated the high-security prisons (type C), in Domokos, for urban guerrillas and “dangerous” convicts serving long sentences. Even after his retirement from the ministry, he attended to let his foster children in the appropriate posts of power, in order for them to complete his work. King of the castle, the special appellate magistrate E. Nikopoulos (planted in this position by Athanasiou and his uncle Vasilis Nikopoulos, former president of the Supreme Court, who is involved in a pedophilia case in Northern Greece, defending an Archimandrite and threatening witnesses). E. Nikopoulos, strictly following the instructions of his mentor Ch. Athanasiou, launches a fierce counter-terrorism campaign. He is responsible for the shut-off of anarchist Nikos Romanos’ educational leaves, as well as initiator of the most fascist persecution of relatives of political prisoners, with the pre-trial detaining of A. Tsakalou and E. Statiri.

It was an act of memory, as the persecution of political prisoners’ relatives, the new places of exile and the murdering restrictive orders (ban on leaving the Salamina island for A. Tsakalou, ban on distancing over 1km away from her home and ban on the communication with her companion G. Tsakalos for E. Statiri) bring back in mind other iron-clad periods. Periods during which thousands of people were transferred to Makronisos island, to Ai Stratis and other places of oblivion, for the regime fear to win. Periods during which the family of Athanasiou worked with the Germans snitching on guerrillas. In fact his father, who was a well-known traitor, when captivated by guerrillas, was spared… It seems that spying was the legacy left by the father to his son, who’s today, in turn, chasing anarchists.

Moreover, we’re sending another message, through our attack: The responsibilities of those who serve the power are neither forgotten nor are retired… Those who play with our comrades’ lives, who built walls and raise bars in order to keep us apart, those who have blood on their gown, should not feel secure, never and nowhere… Our enemy always has a name and an address!

Evi’s victorious struggle is just a snapshot of the overall fight that we want to give… From Mytilene to Agrinio, from Komotini to Crete, messengers of the insurrection and anarchy sabotage the regularity of a life going by so confidently and so painfully, like a well-tuned clock… From the attacks against courts and pre-election political parties’ kiosks to the squat of the TEI of Athens, from the open assemblies to the vandalism of election centers, from the street and squares interventions to the gatherings, from the comrade’s G. Tsakalos hunger strike in solidarity to the attempt of squat of governing party offices (ANEL) in the center of Athens, from the banners, the posters, to the gathering outside the hospital where Evi was hospitalized, this is our world against theirs, against the laws, the judges and their uniforms… We are the provocateurs of their peaceful sleeping, we are the practical theory of the insurrection, we are the first waves before the tsunami that will drown out the authoritarian culture!

«So the bet remains to us, every anarchist cell and individuality that promotes continuous attack and rebellion, to prove that there will be no truce with the enemy neither now nor ever. Particularly in times of repressive operations one does not step back, but instead reignites the attack outbreaks in order to become truly dangerous. To remain a threat as an internal enemy at the heart of the system. Because everything that rolls downhill, stops only when it finds an obstacle in front of it, otherwise it will continue to do so indefinitely by continuously increasing speed, carrying away anything of inferior proportions. It is a live wager, without end, but with continuity, evolution and one direction only… liberation, anarchy.»

Olga Ekonomidou, imprisoned member of C.C.F. – F.A.I.

WHOEVER FORGETS THE PRISONERS OF THE ANARCHIST – REVOLUTIONARY WAR, WILL SOON FORGET THE WAR ITSELF

SOLIDARITY AND STRENGTH TO THE ANARCHISTS OF PRAXIS ALL OVER THE WORLD

FREEDOM TO THE POLITICAL PRISONERS

HONOUR FOR EVER TO SPIROS DRAVILAS

Insurrectionals from the Frontier

PS.1. The rumors that human lives were put in danger are totally untrue, as the only inhabited apartment is on the 5th floor and has immediate access to neighboring rooftop. We suggest your sending the cost of the damage suffered by the communal area of the building and the dentist, to the Charity Shops of the Metropolis of Mytilene, guild of which Athanasiou and Gkoutzamani are founding members. We think that the Metropolitan Jacob and all together with him, will be glad to launder “black” money from their funny businesses, with a donation…

2. Given that, lately, after the transition of dozens of riot police officers, the island has turned into a vast pigsty, which is common knowledge, the local decision makers along with the local lobotomized citizens – who are sometimes being emotively disinterested, sometimes express their xenophobic gregarious instincts and sometimes benefit, through a vulgar toutism, from the refugee crisis, should keep in mind that their disgraces do not go unnoticed, their moves are being noted and, sooner or later, they will face the cost of their choices…

Tags: Aggeliki Spyropoulou, Arson, Athena Tsakalou, CCF Escape case, Charalabos Athanasiou, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Evi Statiri, Greece, Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI), Insurrectionals from the Frontier, International Revolutionary Front, Lesvos, Mytilene, Nikos Romanos, Solidarity Action, Type C prisons
Posted in Direct Action

Mytilene: Intervention in solidarity with the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire (Greece)

Sunday, February 22nd, 2015

Inter Arma received and translated:

Last week (8-14 / 2) we made a propaganda campaign in the town of Mytilene, in solidarity with the imprisoned comrades of the anarchist revolutionary organization the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire. We painted slogans and put up posters in the main streets, on bank branches, supermarkets, phone stands, bus stops, crowded buildings and the city courts. Although the photos would be enough to convey our anger and passion, we write these lines as we want to also tell that during our intervention in the campus of the University of the Aegean, knowing that there are no environmental sensitivities in the faction of New Democracy at the School of Environment, we stole the whole year’s election material (huge colored posters) of DAP and sent them for recycling, so that they won’t think that it was lost and, secondly, for them to know that we do not abstain from the university campus and the student elections, but from the educational process and the collective stupidity… We wish you luck with the election results morons!

Notes: New Democracy is the biggest right-wing political party in Greece and DAP is its student faction.

Tags: Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, Conspiracy of Cells of Fire : Imprisoned Members Cell, Fuck the Elections, Greece, Mytilene, Solidarity Action
Posted in Direct Action