In Athens, Berlin, Brussels, Frankfurt, Lübeck, Wuppertal and many other cities across Europe people protested against eviction threats against squats on Friday; #HandsOffAll Squats!
Spontaneous demo in Wuppertal, Germany, June 23rd 2017. [Read More]
A new spate of recent evictions and interventions by the Greek State against refugee solidarity occupations run by the anarchist movement in Athens has prompted callouts for a major emergency gathering this Friday.
The callout and associated international day of action comes in the wake of a series of crackdowns and repression [1][2] against the solidarity movement, which has helped thousands of refugees self-organise to house themselves and defend against far-right violence since the Syrian crisis began.
It has been supported by six major occupied centres and groups, Oniro, City Plaza, 5th School, Notara 26, Underground Railroad, Spirou Trikoupi, Jasmine School and Acharnon School, which have put out a joint statement on the deteriorating situation in the city:
During the last month we witnessed the State escalating its anti-immigration policy of restrictions against refugees and the solidarity movement. In Addition to the EU management of migration issues which include forcing people to live in horrible conditions ,deporting them and denying them their basic human rights, the Greek government is revealing its totalitarian face by demonstrating its repression power through evicting political and housing squats for refugees. [Read More]
City Plaza will not bend / Resist the “immigration & passport bureaus”, the frightful flags of states and diplomacy war weapons factories
The court order for the evacuation of the Refugee Accommodation Space City Plaza is the latest scene in the repressive management of refugees and the solidarity movement. From the closure of the borders to the shameful EU-Turkey deal, from the prisonlike camps to the evacuation of squats, a policy of casting refugees as a peculiar enemy is being articulated. [Read More]
We are an autonomus, self-managed collective based on libertarian and anti-authoritarian principles. We are living on Ashmakh Fwthla 18 in Exarcheia.
We come from several countries, including Greece.
The governing organ of our community is the General Essembly (GA). All important decisions regarding the house or its inhabitants must be approved by GA. Any decision taken otherwise will not be considered legitimate. We will not tolerate any threat of our autonomy, and will protect it. At the same time we perceive the solidarity among squats as self explanatory and continuous situation.
We will be vigilant and active in the struggle against drugs and drug dealing around the area of Exarchia as well as against the possibility of this happening inside the movement.
In addition, we are open to suggestions and political projects that promote the non-profit and anticonstitutional character, the strengthening of relationships among comrades and the general struggle for revolution and Anarchy. We want and we have the ability to house self-educational activities, as well as activities that promote political discussion and communication.
We send our greetings to the revolutionary comrades that fight for freedom around the world, and all the political prisoners that have been kidnapped by the state. Our space constitutes from the beginning a crossroad for comrades from all around the globe and we desire to remain as such.
Whoever wants to take part in our community life and build a connection with us or has some projects or ideas, are welcome every Friday at 1p.m. At this time we organise collective kitchen. [Read More]
Hands off from City Plaza and all other Refugee Squats!
At June 7th, 2017 the news came out that a court ordered the eviction of City Plaza Refugee Accommodation and two other refugee squats in Athens. Projects like City Plaza succeed in where the Greek government and other EU member states fail; a self-determined life, a life with dignity for those who traveled to a putative Europe under extreme hard conditions. A life where it doesn’t matter which papers people have but instead a life where people can live together in a self-organised way.
Since the former City Plaza hotel was squatted more than a year ago, after the building was empty for several years, more than 1500 people lived in the building. 400 at any one time. Among them where many refugees and supporters from many countries. While EU member states closed their borders, sharpened their asylum laws, detaining and deporting more and more refugees, people in Athens have buildup self-organised projects like City Plaza together with refugees.
In the past year repression against refugees and supporters has increased with evictions, arrests and police violence in various EU member states. Some of the squats where refugees lived in a self-organised way were evicted, for instance in Thessaloniki, Athens and Belgrade. Again and again there are reports from police violence against refugees in France, Croatia, Hungary and other European countries. Since the EU/Turkey deal refugees are being detained at the Greek islands and deported back to Turkey. But also in Germany more and more refugees are being detained and deported. [Read More]
Yesterday, Wednesday, May 24th, Gare’s occupation was the target of organized thugs. At midday, during clashes with MAT forces around Exarchia Square, there was a confrontation of protesters with a shopkeeper who tried to prevent a barricade-defense being set up against cops. This particular shopkeeper is known in the neighborhood of Exarchia as being connected with circles of protection rackets, prostitution and drugs, and with state security. A group from an adjacent movement space rushed to defend him. The incident with a portion of those present athte barricade, with this group has been the reason for GARE to attribute responsibility for these events as a whole.
This particular group has been denounced in open movement processes in the recent past by a multitude of collectives, for authoritarian attempts and military-style enforcement against self-organized efforts. The group supposedly acts on behalf of movement spaces and forms. But these, although they have been called upon to denounce the actions of this group, are silent instead.
Immediately after the incident, this specific group along with another bunch of thugs gathered menacingly outside the GARE squat. This larger collection included members of gangs who sell protection to the area’s shops, and who have been involved in attacks and injuries against radicals in the past. After they all had gone, later some of the original problematic group came to our assembly and said they would turn against our squat if we do not identify and deliver to them within 24 hours the people who confronted them at the events earlier in the square. [Read More]
OPEN LETTER
To Ms. Aliki Papachela, owner of the City Plaza hotel
Dear Madam,
Sympathizing with your agony for the 81.500 euro bill sent to you by EYDAP (the Greek water company), we feel the need to clarify the following: on the day that we entered the hotel (22 April 2016), EYDAP technicians visited the hotel in order to read the water meter so that, given that the building was now under occupation, the owner, you, that is, would no longer have to bear the burden of the costs, which you too had also requested through an out of course dispute resolution document to EYDAP. In the immediately following period, we requested a regular connection from EYDAP, yet this was refused on the grounds that the owner of the building had to agree to it as well. The strange thing is that the EYDAP bill was calculated using household pricing, when it should in fact be calculated using professional (if not humanitarian) pricing, as was the case when the hotel was in operation, which resulted in a bill that is much higher than it would otherwise be. Therefore, while this bill poses no threat to you, EYDAP gave a «gift of propaganda» to you by issuing an extortionately high bill, which you do not have to pay (you admit as much yourself), but which you use for propaganda purposes. We imagine that, even within your value system, public health is above public order, so we hope you understand our «illegal» act, given that you are not even required to pay for it. [Read More]
Since 2015 and the emergence of the refugee movement to Europe, Greece has become a major stopover on the journey of people seeking a better and safer life. Thousands of immigrants from Syria, Kurdistan, Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones have abandoned their homeland in search of a new home, where their life and freedom are not compromised.
Unfortunately, the EU and Greek governments have been unable (and largely unwilling) to respond to the issue. Instead of providing safety and solidarity to war victims, they have signed a (rather shameful) agreement with Turkey, with the purpose of “managing refugee flows” and further securitizing the “forbidden” European borders. As a result, thousands of refugees are currently trapped in Greece, cramped inside detention centers and camps, away from the public eye.
In this context, on 22 April 2016, activists and refugees squatted the City Plaza Hotel in Athens, which had been abandoned for seven years, in order to create “here and now” a model of dignified housing inside the city. Since then, City Plaza became a home for 400 refugees, including 100 families and 168 children. More than 100 solidarians (locals, activists and volunteers) have mobilized to break with the reality of detention, to build new social relations and multicultural forms of coexistence between locals and immigrants, and to animate a living example of self-organization. [Read More]
On January 9, 2013, 93 anarchists fight their way in against riot cops in and re-occupied Villa Amalias, after it was evicted on December 20th, 2012. After more than 4 years, the trial against the 93 anarchists will start on March 28th.
On December 2012 as part of a far-right delirium, the State targets Squats and proceeds to evict several of them in Greece. On 20 December 2012 the State evicts one of the historical and oldest squats in Athens (since 1991) named Villa Amalias. In the morning of 9 January 2013, 93 comrades moving collectively and decisively fight their way in against riot policemen that continue to guard the building and succeed to retake the grounds, sending a message of resistance and solidarity, against the onslaught of State and capitalist barbarism. After a few hours special police forces invade the building and arrest the 93 activists.
After more than 4 years, (a usual State and judicial tactic to keep activists’s lives “imprisoned” in perpetual waiting) on March 28, 2017, the 93 are being taken to trial for the reccupation of Villa Amalias, because they dared to disturb the “peace” during the regime’s war and because they remained unruly against the imposed state of emergency and the authoritarian rules, whilst they declare that ‘for the “crime” of fighting for a world of equality, solidarity and freedom they remain consciously “guilty”’.
Solidarity to the 93 activists that retook the grounds of Villa Amalias Squat. [Read More]
Statement by the assembly of Villa Zografou and supporters after the eviction on March 13th in Athens, Greece.
1. Because you have been and you are still paying for it.
50% of the Villa Zografou estate was bought with an illegal loan in 2006 amounting to €19.000.000 (excluding interest). A loan which was legalized in 2013 through a majority vote by a municipal faction consisting of the parties: PASOK, NEW DEMOCRACY and SYRIZA.
2. Because you will continue to pay for it.
The ink is still wet on a €154.430 contract budgeted by the municipal and regional authorities for the renovation of the villas Kotopouli, Bougra and Bonaparte. And let us not forget the recent purchase of the theater Dimitris Potamitis amounting to €550.000, likewise bought under the pretext to create a „cultural center,“ and whose renovation will require a truck load of licenses and money. Apparently, municipal funds for „cultural centers,“ „cultural events“ and top artistic directors with annual salaries amounting to €23.000 exist and are available. But when it comes to providing stable and dignified work conditions for municipal workers, who disenfranchised slave away under so-called „charity work“ austerity programs, funds are missing – despite all the electoral and post-electoral declarations and promises to the contrary. These workers are exceptionally poorly payed and are denied basic worker right such as sick leave, right to strike, etc. In the end, it was only through a prolonged strike that municipal cleaning workers succeeded at re-claiming a few basic labor rights. These are the priorities not only of the municipal officials of Zografou, but of each and every municipal authority. [Read More]
After more than a year of existence, Themistokleous 58 anarchist squat and housing project for people with and without papers in Exarchia, downtown Athens, still needs some very practical solidarity to stay functional. Here goes our current list of needs.
Food supplies: Oil (olive oil/corn oil), rice, pasta, tomato sauce, beans, lentils, chick peas, eggs, potatoes, canned milk, dog-food. [Read More]
HANDS OFF THE 58!
The purpose of this text is to clarify the position of our squat regarding some incidents that took place over the last months in Exarchia, and defend our physical and political integrity by all means necessary.
We refer to the practices of gossiping, slandering and violative behavior against the structure and the actions of the 58, practices that we consider equal as snitching, regardless of whether or not the person using them each time is expecting something in return from the persecuting authorities. The outcome is the same, in the sense that they are singling out specific individuals as a target, they attempt to strip our project of its political characteristics, and prepare the ground for the direct or indirect repression that lurks in the corner.
We also refer to physical assaults that took place the last 2 months, like bullying attempts at our front door, a group ambush against squatters of the 58 at Dervenion street (Exarchia), and even threats and attacks against us with the use of sharp/lethal objects (like a knife and an awl) only a few meters away from the 58. [Read More]
