![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/2.jpg\")
Cats against cops.
\nThe New Democracy administration continues to exploit the pandemic to take action against immigrants and anarchists, implementing an updated form of strategies that have not been seen since the Junta of the late 1960s and early ’70s. Our movement against the state and capital is more indispensable than ever, as the Greek state rushes to modernize the machinery via which it represses political opponents under the guise of law, order, and anti-virus mandates.
\n\nThis is expanded from a contribution to the Bad News report. You can also read our reports from May, June, July, August, September, and October.
\n\n Cats against cops.
\nGreece is currently in a full lockdown. This includes no freedom of movement. To maintain such a lockdown without also expanding medical and financial support for those affected is an exercise in sheer authoritarianism.
\n\nThere are only six recognized justifications for leaving the house: to shop at pharmacies and supermarkets, to exercise (as defined and allowed by police) or walk a dog, to go to work, to attend funerals, to visit a doctor or hospital, or to help a person in need. The latter usually only applies to Greeks helping their grandparents; police have ticketed many people who were trying to give needed supplies to homeless people or people in refugee or Roma camps. You have to text the state to receive permission to go outside and show the SMS confirmation to police if they stop you. These SMS requests to the state provide data and surveillance opportunities to state agencies. Violations can result in a 300 euro fine or other charges. The police most often stop people of color or establish checkpoints in less affluent neighborhoods.
\n\nA curfew is also mandated between 9 pm and 5 am, during which the only permitted activities are going to work, walking a dog, or going to the hospital.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/1.jpg\")
Many people in Greece are homeless in the midst of the lockdown.
\nThough lockdown is nationally mandated, it is enforced differently in different neighborhoods. Exarchia, for example, is under intense surveillance with almost no one in the street, while wealthy suburbs see little supervision. In the United States, the right condemns safety measures and lockdowns as a liberal conspiracy to sabotage the economy; if they recognized the political opportunities that the pandemic has handed right-wing administrations across Europe, they might change their narrative.
\n\nThe first lock down in March and April took place when cases were averaging around 150 to 200 per day; today, the numbers fluctuate between 2000 and 2500 per day, with ICU beds filling rapidly. The blame for the infection rates rests on the business elite who demanded open borders for tourism in August, despite the obvious danger. Although there was 90% less tourism than in previous years, these policies permitted a few wealthy tourists to spread the virus throughout the mainland and islands of Greece. The New Democracy regime continues to slash hospital and medical staff budgets, redirecting the funds to decorative urban renewal projects, police and prison staff, and an increased military budget. They prioritize adding fountains and potted plants to neighborhoods over addressing rampant homelessness and drug addiction. They have failed to adjust public transportation to allow for social distancing, so subways and buses remain packed with people, likely spreading the virus. This disproportionately affects those who cannot afford to travel to work by car. While failing to provide funding for protection, the government blames individuals for the alarming infection rates.
\n\nAs in many other countries, elite scientists propose further lockdowns, taking everything into consideration except the plight of those already living precariously under capitalism. A lockdown without parallel support for the poor only offers protection for the wealthy elite, disregarding poverty as an excusable consequence of the preexisting social order.
\n\nWith everything closed, furloughed workers are paid even less than what was already too little to survive. “Essential” delivery workers, teachers, and grocery store workers receive no increase in pay or free protective equipment. Some wish their work was deemed “nonessential” so they could be paid a small unemployment salary rather than risking their health for so little money.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/4.jpg\")
Homelessness has worsened in Greece as the New Democracy government has attempted to reinvent the country as a glamorous, heavily policed tourist destination in the midst of a pandemic.
\nHomeless people continue to face fines, arrest, and displacement. The state is using the virus as an excuse to prevent assemblies of any kind. Police recently attacked and beat people inside a social center in Patras for gathering food to distribute to those in need. Mutual aid efforts continue, despite the constant threats, arrests, and fines imposed by police; the simple act of helping those in need outside of the context of the church is now treated the way that much more controversial or confrontational actions were before. Many in Greece, especially the residents of Exarchia who witness the harshest enforcement of the lockdown in an urban environment, refer to the virus as a “Junta holiday.”
\n\nDoctors have mobilized to call for more investment in protective equipment and medical solutions to the pandemic, but they are ignored or repressed. Essential workers have faced fines for not having the correct paperwork while outside risking their safety to deliver essential services. People have organized small demonstrations against this sort of political opportunism, but police have responded by kettling them, further endangering the demonstrators with regard to virus transmission as well as police violence.
\n\nNew Democracy and its European counterparts are implementing a lockdown that is designed to “save Christmas” for New Democracy’s right-wing base. In this strategy, a lockdown will be implemented to the fullest extent until retail stores open for those who have money to spend on Christmas shopping. The plan doesn’t go much further than this; except for this temporary period of consumption, the lockdown is expected to continue after the holiday. Formal announcements about this plan came as the state spent thousands of euros to temporarily project an image of Jesus Christ onto the parliament building for “Armed Forces Day,” an expression of New Democracy’s determination to reinvent Greece as an authoritarian Christian state.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/VassilisTsarnas/status/1330285516147859458\n\n\n
On November 17, 1973, the Greek junta murdered dozens of students engaged in an uprising at the Polytechnic in Exarchia; Greek anarchists demonstrate against the state on each anniversary. Last November 17, police surrounded an anarchist bloc and created a perimeter around the neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens; this year, we anticipated intense repression even before the pandemic offered the state additional opportunities to suppress protest.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/5.jpg\")
Every year, people place wreaths at the gates of the Polytechnic in mourning for the people who were killed. This year, because of the police state, they lay outside the gates in disarray.
\nA few days before this year’s November 17 anniversary, in the midst of the national lockdown, anarchists courageously coordinated occupations at various universities in Greece, notably the Polytechnic universities in Exarchia and Zografou in Athens. These courageous occupations occurred at a time of unprecedented repression, when the government had just implemented new policies; those who engaged in them chose to take action in spite of the intimidation of the state. They held on to the universities through a full night, concluding with a police raid on the universities and the arrests of all the occupiers. The police attacked nearby support demonstrations and imposed heavy fines on arrestees, with the fines totaling 23,000 euros at the Exarchia Polytechnic alone. In the face of repression, the occupations demonstrated the persistent will and passion that form the foundation of our movements. Though the authoritarian left seek to claim ownership of the November 17 anniversary in Greece, they sat by meekly, pleading for permits while failing to express solidarity with those occupying the universities.
\n\nYou can view video footage from the occupation of the Polytechnic in Exarchia on November 17, 2020 here.
\n\nAfter these occupations, the Greek state banned all gatherings of more than four people, even for purpose of exercise, until November 18. At the same time, the prime minister had the audacity to go to the Polytechnic to “pay his respects” to the students who died. At that time, the university was surrounded on every side by police prepared to stamp out any demonstration of dissent.
\n\nPerhaps the most vivid exemplar of the day occurred when an older woman passed the Polytechnic while the prime minister was making his appearance there. While out on a permitted exercise walk, she placed a flower outside the gates—a longstanding practice mourning the memories of the students lost. She was detained and fined while the prime minister enjoyed his photo op.
\n\nThe KKE, the authoritarian left Communist Party of Greece, did attempt an unpermitted demonstration after the state denied multiple requests for a permit. When the KKE first took the streets, one subset of the group was able to march in a socially-distanced fashion to the US embassy. However, a subsequent KKE attempt to gather was met with significant repression. While the KKE did face an army of police and flurry of tear gas and violence, they were still treated with some reserve, as they hold seats in parliament—a reserve that is never extended to anarchists.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/Souidos/status/1328783195702235136\n\n\n
Anarchists in Athens attempted to assemble on November 17, but the police responded with extreme violence. Small gatherings did happen in the Athenian neighborhoods of Peristeri, Vyronas, Pangrati, Kipseli, Kaisariani, Petralona, and more, but police overwhelmed the city center. Graffiti and banners for the day appeared across the city, however. People attempted to gather in Patras, Ionannina, Volos, Kavala, Karditsa, Larissa, Corfu, Thessaloniki and likely many other places across the country. Police responded with arrests, fines, and in almost every case, intense violence.
\n\nGreek police believe they are fighting a war, and they behave accordingly. They take pride in defending the ruling order by means of violence, without fear of consequences from the state. They represent the culture of the Junta that they wish to implement again. November 17 is just as important to them as it is to leftists and anarchists, but for the opposite reason. They would love to spill the blood of more students if they get the chance; while no one was murdered this year, quite a bit of blood was spilled.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/kagouriki/status/1328693397486526473\n\n\n
Corporate media reported likely revenge attacks that went formally unclaimed on the night of the 17th. Molotov cocktails were thrown at a police checkpoint in the Athens neighborhood of Petralona. A group of ten people also attacked a police station in Thessaloniki with Molotov cocktails.
\n\nThe anarchist group Maskova attacked a municipal building on the 17th. An excerpt from their communiqué reads as follows:
\n\n\n\n\n…as it circulates very well in the last days: “MAT everywhere, ICU nowhere.”
\n\nIt is clear that at the moment, New Democracy is experimenting and trying to bring the milieu of struggle to its knees on the pretext of the pandemic… They renounce state responsibility by putting the blame on young people and individuals, showing sheer hypocrisy in their repressive behavior and violence in the streets. Defying the ridiculous ban on rallies, comrades attempted to take the streets all over Greece with the sole purpose of showing that their mockery must end. People are waking up more and more and the anger is growing. Anger at our rulers and the murderers of our dreams. Time for them to stop deciding our future.
\n\nTherefore, we decided to attack the town hall of Ilio, a minimal but symbolic attack in response to the senseless violence we experienced as a movement on November 17, reminding the worms of the state that our resistance does not die. This action is a sign of solidarity with our comrade Costas Gournas (who they are trying so hard to place baseless accusations against, such as finding flags, masks, and some everyday tools in his possession), with those arrested on November 17, and with everyone around the world engaged in the struggle for a better tomorrow without rulers and oppression.
\n\nNo matter how much you drown us in chemicals, no matter how much you beat us, no matter how many court cases you put in our files, we will be there every time we can, with new ways of resistance and struggle.
\n\nSolidarity to Costas Gournas and all those arrested on November 17.
\n\nWhether it is MAT or DIAS, Kalashnikov blasts on security forces.
\n\n-Masovka Anarchist Collectivity
\n
![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/8.jpg\")
Graffiti reading “MAT (riot police) everywhere, ICU (intensive care units) nowhere.”
\nAfter November 17, soccer hooligans in Athens demonstrated against police brutality, highlighting the disgust so many people feel in response to the behavior of the police.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/9.jpg\")
A spontaneous march against police repression after November 17.
\nWhile funding has been directed towards prisons at the expense of hospitals, very little has gone to protecting prisoners from COVID-19, but rather almost entirely to expanding staff and improving their pay. Two prisoners in Greece are officially known to have died from the virus. More may have died—but, due to the policies of the prison administration in Greece, the true number will likely remain unknown even as cases surge inside prisons. As in the case of refugee camps, state administrators have acted as if prisons are not spaces where people must be kept safe. Some prisoners have gone on strike in the agricultural fields where they are forced to labor while others have collectively refused to cooperate with prison guards until basic social distancing and hygiene policies are introduced.
\n\nIn addition, some prisoners organized a strike to demand better protection at the Diavata prison in Greece, where there has been a known virus outbreak and death. Their demands were made public; these help to shine a light on the situation prisoners face across Greece at this time:
\n\n\n\n\nDiavata Prisoner Initiative
\n\nWe demand:
\n\n\n
\n\n- Social distancing in response to prison congestion.
\n- Releasing prisoners with six months sentence remaining.
\n- Early release due to suspension of sentences for elderly people and also for elderly people with pre-existing issues.
\n- Immediate release of those guilty of minor crimes.
\n- Reduction of suspension limits to 2/5 of the penalty payment with beneficial wages for imprisonment or 1/3 actual detention time as in previous congestion provisions and 1/5 of the sentence with beneficial wages for imprisonment throughout the health crisis.
\n- Staff must arrive one hour ahead of time to be subjected to a regular rapid test before each shift.
\n- Releasing prisoners serving pre-trial detention when their trial has been postponed for more then six months.
\n- No detention for slight offenses, including those imposed on drug addicts.
\n- Providing sufficient health protection (antiseptic, masks, rubber gloves) for all prisoners.
\n- Meticulous checks and quarantine measures for any forced detention.
\n- Meticulous disinfection of all materials entering prisons.
\nUnless all of the above measures are carried out, if the conditions of our detention do not change, we Diavatian prisoners will strike.
\n
Anarchist prisoner Kostas Sakkas began a hunger and thirst strike in mid-November, demanding to be able to continue his studies and simply to be treated as a human being. He exemplifies strength and courage in the face of constant prison staff harassment; they have moved him from prison to prison in their attempts to break his will and damage his psychological well-being.
\n\nWhile the state has done little to improve the hygiene of Greek prisons amid the pandemic, reports from the Prisoner Solidarity Network suggest that in some prisons, such as the Larissa prison, they are now banning most books from entering the prison on the pretext that they could contain the virus. This is a flagrant and ridiculous attack on prisoners’ educational opportunities and quality of life.
\n\nA new website has been created to collect donations for the legal support of four individuals facing felony charges under the Greek anti-terror law 187A. The individuals are charged for 54 separate actions; the authorities are claiming that all of these actions are connected, on the flimsy ground that the alleged communiqués claiming the actions all happened to use the term “comrades.” You can read information on their case and how to support them here.
\n\nAn appeals hearing continued on November 11 in the case against Revolutionary Struggle member Pola Roupa, who allegedly coordinated an escape via helicopter from the Korydallos prison in Athens. The initial decision by the court mandated that Pola Roupa serve 120 years in prison and Nikos Maziotis (another member of Revolutionary Struggle) serve 37 years.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/6.jpg\")
Anger against police remains widespread.
\nPolice evicted the anarchist squat Zaimi in Exarchia this month. Fortunately, there was no one inside, so no arrests took place during the eviction. But the loss of this beautiful building is another assault on our infrastructure, as it served as an important center for anarchist organizing over the past several years.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/3.jpg\")
The streets of Greece are deserted due to the lockdown and the police state.
\nAs reported in recent updates, apps such as Wolt and Efood are taking over the delivery sector of Greece. These apps follow the example set by Uber and Airbnb, functioning as the sort of invisible nonhuman bosses that will likely become more widespread in an increasingly automated and dystopian future. Meanwhile, lockdown measures have drastically increased delivery demand. We include an anonymous excerpt describing the labor conditions these companies impose:
\n\n\n\n\nAs the pandemic suddenly highlights the true value of the lower class, and what was once “unskilled labor” is now “essential” to the functioning of this society, we want to expose one company that is reaping the profits while relentlessly exploiting their workers. WOLT, the Finnish start-up delivery app has taken Greece by storm. This company, which is like Uber for food, is now everywhere in Athens, profiting off of the workers putting themselves at risk, and generally benefitting from the additional need for delivery during the lockdown. If you choose to use this application, we want to mention a few elements of the company.
\n\nThey hire workers as freelancers, or some creative name for independent contractors, meaning that they are not responsible for the safety or well-being of those who ride for them. Additionally, when you begin working for them, they make you work for free for the first 100 euros worth of labor without being paid, in order to pay for the uniform and equipment that you are required to wear. Essentially, they are selling you products by force. And despite them forcing workers to buy their own uniforms and equipment, no new virus protocols have been implemented. You must wear a mask when picking up or dropping off deliveries, but sanitizer and masks are not provided to workers, nor is any increase in pay provided due to the extraordinary circumstances. Couriers who make very little money to begin with must also pay for credit to call customers if the customers do not provide full information. This is a frequent issue, as the typically affluent customers rarely understand the service experience.
\n\nOn top of all this, it is likely that WOLT is over-hiring during the pandemic to meet the temporary increase in demand. What this means in the long run is that when the lockdown measures ease, many workers will be laid off—or the company’s algorithm will have more workers than deliveries, forcing couriers to quit on their own when there is no work for them. Since workers are independent contractors, or “partners” in their corporate language, they have no safety net or reliable expectation of income.
\n
![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/7.jpg\")
\nThe state continues to weaponize the lockdown and the virus against immigrants. The refugee camp of Moria has been replaced with an even more dangerous and unsafe encampment. Though they would never admit it for fear of losing EU funding, the Greek government is deliberately using the lockdown, the winter, and the virus to permit the suffering and deaths of asylum seekers. This is part of a broader xenophobic strategy. Even Vice doesn’t mince words when describing the situation.
\n\nRefugees continue to organize desperate demonstrations; some of these go unreported as the Greek state continues to employ strategies of containment and isolation. You can view a map of refugee camps across Greece here.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/LysChadefaux/status/1332380558031269888\n\n\n
In late November, Spain, Malta, Italy, and Greece proposed new migration policies to EU parliament leaders. They claim that these proposals are intended to spread the “burden” of asylum seekers, but the true intention is to curtail or eliminate the asylum process in order to implement xenophobic immigration policies across the continent. Most of these countries are already suppressing asylum seeking via informal measures; now they are pressuring the European Union to drop any pretense of humanitarian policies.
\n\nThe war continues on the universities, following the New Democracy regime’s decision to cancel the asylum policy on school campuses. A new campus environment more in line with the “law and order” vision of New Democracy awaits the country after the lockdown.
\n\nAnonymous individuals attacked the offices of the dean of the Economics School, who collaborated with police to evict the squat Vancouver and a social center located in the university. They forced him to wear a sign saying “freedom for the squats” around his neck. While this man has leveraged police brutality to pursue vendettas against the anarchist movement, Greek politicians were shocked to see a frightened white man in a suit humiliated by anarchists. Even as the economic depression intensifies, the state has offered a reward of fully 100,000 euros for information on those who conducted this action, fearing that other privileged people might also experience grassroots revenge.
\n\nTwo communiqués appeared claiming the action. One reads, in part,
\n\n\n\n\nThis practice of presenting the human face of power frightened and depressed, detached from the usual glamour and prestige of his office, was aimed not only at intimidating him, but also at his peers. This action follows the logic that “to strike fear into one is to hit a hundred.” That is because it shows that the threat of resistance from below, the threat of revolutionary justice, is not something vague and abstract, but something that takes on flesh and blood and can be personified in the face of a panicked man from the powerful class. In addition, it demonstrates to the people of our class, those who suffer and are tormented by the oppression and exploitation inflicted by the powerful, that those who hold power are also ordinary people. They may look fearless and arrogant costumed in their uniforms, in their expensive motorcades accompanied by thugs and cops, in their offices where they put signatures that validate the suffering, humiliation, and pain of the people from the social base, but they still remain people. And they can be made afraid.
\n
A general strike of all transportation workers took place across the country on November 26. Various work forces and individuals also engaged in independent strikes. Small courageous gatherings took place despite the lockdown measures; some people were able to march in Athens despite the police bringing in anti-riot vehicles the night before. Police intervention was minimal compared to recent events in Athens; likely, the state was trying to keep tensions from boiling over as a consequence of the atrocities police had committed in public view on November 17. While the main march took place in Athens without incident, police attacked and arrested participants in a motorcycle parade organized by an autonomous delivery worker union. Likewise, in other cities such as Ioaninna, police attacked and arrested people marching to assert the general strike.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/savvaskarma/status/1331872518886617088\n\n\n
All the acts that manifested the general strike took place in defiance of draconian circumstances. Every march, however big or small, every person striking and potentially losing a day’s pay at a time of serious precarity, every banner hung, every spray-painted slogan—all of these deserve respect.
\n\nIt is hard to write this report this month. What is certain is our collective rage. Even if riots did not take place in Exarchia on the night of the 17th, we are living in a new era of repression, and it is important to stress that the actions and occupations that took place despite these circumstances demonstrate a revolutionary courage that persists in spite of efforts to crush our spirits.
\n\nThough people are living in increasing fear of further economic hardship, state violence, and the pandemic itself, the government won’t be able exploit the virus to implement political repression indefinitely. And what we lack in equipment and funding, we make up for in passion and solidarity.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/12/01/10.jpg\")
The gates of the Polytechnic.
\nIn Greece, the far-right New Democracy party has presided over a year and a half of reactionary efforts to crush the country’s vibrant culture of resistance, targeting immigrants, anarchists, ecologists, students, and rebellious neighborhoods. On October 7, after seven years of popular pressure, the Greek courts were finally compelled to find members of the fascist party Golden Dawn guilty for the murder of Greek musician Pavlos Fyssas. This gesture was supposed to legitimize New Democracy, distancing them from the fascist party whose voting base they stole to enact a more respectable version of the same agenda. But in the streets, refugee camps, and prisons, the same struggles continue with undiminished intensity.
\n\nThis is expanded from a contribution to the Bad News report. You can also read our reports from May, June, July, August, and September.
\n\nOn October 7, the trial of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn took place in Athens. The trial dates addressed the murder of anti-fascist Greek rapper Pavlos Fyssas, also known as “Killah P,” back in 2013. The neo-Nazi group, which previously held seats in both the Greek and European Union parliaments, faced conspiracy charges for “acting as a criminal organization” and for murdering Killah P as well as multiple migrants.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/24/7.jpg\")
Clashes in 2017 on the four-year anniversary of the murder of Pavlos Fyssas. Actions like these were essential in pressing the Greek courts to continue prosecuting his murderers rather than quietly concluding the case out of sight of the public.
\nOn the day of the trial, a crowd of thousands gathered against the fascist party outside the courthouse of central Athens. Small clashes took place after police attacked the march. Police threw tear gas, shot water cannons, and violently attacked demonstrators at random; people threw Molotov cocktails and built barricades to defend the march. It is not certain if the actions of police were ordered from above, or were the result of their own disappointment that a party that a large percentage of Greek police embrace was deemed criminal by the state that employs them.
\n\nMembers of the party were given sentences ranging from 5 to 13 years in prison, including a life sentence for the individual responsible for murdering Killah P. However, since the verdict, the state has already revealed how pointless it is to expect justice from the judicial system. The prosecutor has called for the suspension of all sentences with the exception of the individual found responsible for the murder of Killah P. One of the Golden Dawn members also has political immunity due to his status in European parliament. Most of them remain out of prison, employing excuses such as having sick relatives or COVID-19—ironic, since Golden Dawn has been seen denying the existence of the pandemic and playing on conspiracy theories about it being created by the likes of George Soros.
\n\nAnother appeals court awaits—and while this trial is probably the most famous in modern Greek history, it is no surprise that the convictions will not deliver justice for the atrocities perpetrated by Golden Dawn. So many acts of violence go unaccounted for. The appeals court, the enforcement of prison sentences, and the course that the prosecution will take in the post-verdict judicial proceedings remain unclear. It is reasonable to expect that as the case leaves the headlines, the right-wing New Democracy government will conclude that they have achieved the effect they needed from the guilty verdict; many of the defendants may end up serving no time at all.
\n\nHere is a statement by local anarchists in response to the verdict:
\n\n\n\n\n“We sympathize with this broad moment of joy at the expense and inconvenience of the scum making up Golden Dawn. However, we want to use our voice to state that our thirst for vengeance for their heinous acts is not satisfied. We desire the liquidation of fascism, both on a social and institutional level, not the judicial regulation of fascism.
\n\nWith a humble appreciation for the feelings of redemption experienced by the family and friends of those affected by Golden Dawn’s rotten existence, we also want to point out the trickery of New Democracy ‘s administration.
\n\nIn some ways, New Democracy also won today. In creating this spectacle of “justice,” they attempt to distinguish themselves from the “fringe extremists” of Golden Dawn and reinforce their claim as the moderate neoliberal heroes of a Europeanized Greece. At the same time, they continue carrying out fascist pogroms against people of color and immigrants and waging war on anarchists and anti-fascists.
\n\nWe don’t mind when those in Golden Dawn suffer, regardless of the cause; whether from the courts, COVID-19, or tripping on a banana peel. Any cause of pain to these awful fascists brings us comfort, but we do not want to use our voice to appreciate the courts of this fascist system. As anarchists, we recognize that no true justice will ever be found in the courts. The system of the courts in itself is an injustice to our humanity. The horrible actions of Golden Dawn must be avenged and dealt with in the streets and in our broader revolt against a society built on fascist ideals.
\n\nIt’s unclear how much time these people will get. It’s unclear if Pavlos had not been Greek whether the case would have ever reached the spotlight, or gone unprosecuted like those of so many others tortured and murdered by Golden Dawn and Greek fascists/patriots. It’s not clear if the state will compensate and appease its right-wing base after this by doubling down on future repression of immigrants, anarchists, and other communities it deems expendable or unwanted.
\n\nWe recognize the struggles and efforts to draw attention to this case in the streets, but we plead not to allow the state and its trickery to measure the distance and victories of our struggles.
\n\nWill the two comrades facing terrorism charges for attacking Golden Dawn’s offices now see their charges dropped? After all, they were combatting a criminal organization, according to the courts. Of course not—dismissing those charges wouldn’t serve New Democracy’s goals.
\n\nLet us use our voices to push things further, and on our terms!”
\n\n-Anarchists / October 7th
\n
![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/24/8.jpg\")
Clashes on the day of the Golden Dawn verdict.
\nAs we believe that it is essential to achieve victory in the streets, we want to recognize some of the actions building up to the case.
\n\nIn Patras, the day before the trial, people attacked the local branch of the Ministry of Justice, as well as two ATMs and two bank branches. An anonymous group took responsibility for the action. An excerpt from the communiqué states:
\n\n\n\n\nIn the early morning of October 6, while we waited for the completion of the trial of Golden Dawn, we chose to strike state and capitalist targets in various parts of the city. More specifically, the branch of the Ministry of Justice, two ATMs, and two bank branches were broken and painted…
\n\nAs anarchists, we have no illusions about the bourgeois system of justice, as we know that it is a pillar for the preservation and formation of power. We have no confidence in this institution, which will always be in favor of the bosses and the rulers.
\n\nWe recognize that this court is by no means the final battle with fascism, because the anti-fascist struggle is daily, and requires constant vigilance and presence in our workplaces, schools, universities, and squares.
\n\nNo matter how much the state escalates its repression, no matter how many squats it evicts, no matter how many revolutionaries it imprisons: we will stand up for the anarchist / anti-fascist struggle, aiming to upgrade it.
\n
Building up to the trial, people took other actions against the offices of New Democracy, as well as the offices of the lawyers defending Golden Dawn. The communiqués for the actions spelled out a message of refusal to embrace state justice. It was impossible to miss the banners and graffiti across the country as well.
\n\nThe verdict came just weeks after 51 people were arrested while covering up fascist graffiti in Thessaloniki, all of whom face criminal charges. Much like Facebook, or Macron in France and Merkel in Germany—and soon, Biden in the United States—New Democracy tries to present itself as the peacekeeper of a polarized society while enforcing and protecting the broader policies and goals of the right.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/24/3.jpg\")
Anti-fascist graffiti in memory of Pavlos Fyssas.
\nJust days before the trial of Golden Dawn, a 64-year-old man murdered an 18-year-old Roma boy in the region of Messina, Peloponnese. The man claims that the boy was trying to rob him, but witnesses state that the boy was simply stepping onto his land in order to gather some lemons. The man also claims he only fired to scare away the boy; however, he shot him three times with a shotgun.
\n\nAfter the murder of the boy, the Roma community of Messina surrounded the police station, hoping to capture the murderer and enact revenge. The news spread across the country to various Roma communities in Athens, Volos, Kalamata, Katerini, Thessaloniki, Aspropyrgos, Lamia, and elsewhere. During the week of the anniversary of the October 10, 1944 murder of 800 Roma children in Auschwitz, Roma communities across the country participated in riots and barricades in response to the murder. The Peloponnese region, despite its history of being occupied by the Nazis, has many active fascist groups and instances of racist violence.
\n\nRoma people are excluded and marginalized in Greece, as they are in Europe in general. While the man has been charged with murder, the state has also charged two Roma boys with trespassing on the allegations that they were with the victim when he was murdered. The laws surrounding this murder resemble the “stand your ground” laws in the USA; it will likely go unpunished because of the ethnic background of the victim. Fascism is alive and well in Greece, and no court will ever eradicate an ideology that serves to protect the state.
\n\nClashes outside the court following the verdict agaisnt Golden Dawn.
\nHuge student strikes have erupted across the country in response to the lack of safety in schools in the face of COVID-19. The state continues to redirect money towards gentrification efforts, military budgets, and policing while sending students back to school in the middle of the pandemic with nothing more then a mask mandate. In some cases, students have occupied their schools; ironically, some conservative parents have responded by assaulting the occupiers and trying to break up barricades, despite the fact that their children are fighting for their own safety.
\n\nThe occupations began in response to a lack of anti-virus safety protocols in the schools. They have become politicized as a consequence of anarchist groups’ support efforts, as well as many young people’s experience of state repression and brutality.
\n\nTo support the youth-led demonstrations, mass bicycle protests, and blockading of schools, anarchist and anti-fascist groups have organized solidarity actions and hung banners, as well as helping to defend the occupations. As the strike has grown, the state has threatened young people identified as participating in the occupations with expulsion from school programs. Repression has escalated with riot police and Delta police attacking young people, tear-gassing gatherings of students, and, in one recent case, arresting and beating four 14-year-olds.
\n\nThe strike is expected to continue, while the corporate media has tried to minimize attention, mocking young people’s demands for safety as nothing more than an attempt to avoid school. The students’ original demands were:
\n\n· Divide classrooms into sections to avoid overcrowding\n· Recruit long-term teachers, not teachers on temporary contracts\n· Expand funding for cleaning staff\n· Provide properly sized masks for students according to need, as well as general PPE and hand sanitizer for free
\n\nThe state has made clear to an entire generation that it is not concerned with the safety and preservation of humanity, leaving a new generation of young people skeptical and discontented.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/24/1.jpg\")
Graffiti supporting the student occupations: “The teaching system is the teaching of the system.”
\nOn Wednesday, September 16, 2020, police raided several apartments in Berlin and Athens, pursuing accusations from the German Federal General Prosecutor at the Federal Court of Justice regarding “formation of a criminal organization” according to §129 StGB. The raids and charges have been hushed up; according to one of the only corporate media reports, they are part of a broader investigation into the riots that happened during the G20 in Hamburg.
\n\nIn Athens, Greek officers of the anti-terrorism authority (DAEEB) and one officer from the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) stormed two apartments to execute search warrants. They took the accused and the other persons they found in the two apartments to the police headquarters in Athens and brought them into interrogation rooms.
\n\nAfter ten hours of waiting, they released two people and arrested the remaining three on the basis of pepper spray that was found in the apartment (violation of the Greek weapons law), two pocketknives, and for refusing to give fingerprints. After another six hours, the arrestees were transferred to prison cells. The next morning, a heavily armed squad dressed up all three with bulletproof vests as if they were in a blockbuster movie (typical for a presentation by the anti-terrorism authority), tied them up, and brought them to court. Yet at the end of the hearing, the court decided to postpone the trial and release the prisoners.
\n\nThe allegations seem absurd. However, the implications of the conspiracy charges and the state’s willingness to coordinate to pursue the case internationally both indicate seriousness on the part of the European authorities.
\n\nMeanwhile, Pola Roupa, the accused member of the group Revolutionary Struggle famous for allegedly hijacking a helicopter to liberate a political prisoner from the Korydallos prison in Athens, continues to fight for better living conditions and for an appeal of her sentence.
\n\nOn September 24, the anti-terror police unit arrested three comrades after raiding their homes and a warehouse. The media already had a full story from the cops linking them to the “Group of Popular Fighters,” a revolutionary group that has claimed responsibility for several attacks since 2013. It appears that the story is based on fake news and false evidence. Two of them were released; one was transferred to Larissa’s prison, facing the vengefulness of the minister Chrysohoidis. Focusing on his past contacts with the notorious fugitive Palaiokostas, the Greek state is trying to silence him and at the same time send a message to all the aspiring revolutionaries of the present and the future.
\n\nOn October 14, Şadi Naci Özpolat, an alleged fighter of “Popular Front” who is imprisoned in the Diavata prison in Thessaloniki, began a hunger strike. He was arrested in Athens on March 19, 2020, after an operation targeting Turkish and Kurdish fighters. From the moment he was taken prisoner, he refused to cooperate, maintaining his dignity in the face of the humiliating prison procedures. To punish his courage and will, the chief at the prison put him in solitary confinement, from which he was released only after a hunger strike. Now he has commenced a new hunger strike, demanding to be permitted to receive printed material sent to him (books, newspapers, letters) without censorship or damage by the prison authorities, and for his family to be permitted to visit him in prison.
\n\nPrisoners across Greece continue to demand hygienic conditions inside the prisons. Prison staff hiring continues to outpace hospital staff, as court cases continue to mount against the movement in parallel with the campaigns of state terror and repression. However, solidarity remains strong. Every trial draws a large presence of supporters outside the court, despite the attempts of riot police to intimidate those who express solidarity. Noise demonstrations continue relentlessly outside prisons as well. Repression is as strong as ever, but our solidarity will always provide a weapon to overcome it.
\n\nSince our last report, police have evicted the squat Filolaou 99 in the Athens neighborhood of Pagrati. This follows the evictions of the historic squats Terra Incognita in Thesaloniki and Rosa Nera in Crete. The squat served as a library, an organizing point, and a mutual aid resource center.
\n\nThe state refuses to return any of the contents of the library or the other equipment and resources housed by the space. After the eviction, corporate media attempts to find locals willing to offer interviews demonizing the space failed; locals described their disappointment about the eviction, recalling that the squat had replaced a house once used for drug dealing, and that the squat became known as a community resource center supporting those suffering the economic consequences of the COVID-19 lockdown.
\n\nIn response to the eviction, a demonstration spontaneously gathered in support of the squat. A thousand people took to the streets in defiance of the new law banning all non-permitted demonstrations. Police attempted to intimidate the participants, but without success.
\n\nDespite the unrelenting attacks on squats in Greece, anonymous individuals expressed solidarity with those defending the recently evicted Leipig 34 squat in Germany by attacking the offices of a German tourism business in Thessaloniki.
\n\nResistance continues in response to all the evictions: a constant campaign of graffiti, banners, and protests communicating that the spirit at the foundation of the movement’s squatted infrastructure can never be evicted. October has been deemed a month of international solidarity with squats under threat; throughout the month, people have repeatedly attacked bank branches across Athens and Thessaloniki. There have also been reports that people threw Molotov cocktails at riot police guarding the recently evicted Terra Incognito squat in Thessaloniki. No arrests were made.
\n\nExarchia continues to be overrun with police. The latest pandemic measures will undoubtedly impact the neighborhood even more, as such measures are always enforced more harshly in Exarchia than elsewhere in Athens, as a means to seek more control over the area. An organization called the “quality of life” committee has been coordinating urban gentrification efforts, helping to line the pockets of Greece’s elite with funding from the European Union. A new proposal worth 3.5 million euros to restructure a street in Exarchia that runs parallel to the historic Polytechnic University—a street once notorious for clashes with police—will likely serve as another effort to gentrify Exarchia. This illustrates the priorities of an administration that aims to decorate the city in the face of a looming depression.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/24/4.jpg\")
In place of vibrant communities, capitalists want to reduce Greek cities to a gentrified wasteland.
\nOn the island of Lesvos, immigrants and refugees continue to face dehumanizing treatment from the Greek state; the only humanitarian measures are directed solely at shaping international attention. The new camp replacing Moria, the previous concentration camp for refugees, leaves the residents facing comparable or even worse conditions than before. Police continue attempting to deter grassroots support efforts, blocking aid shipments and threatening to arrest people who try to help those inside the refugee camp. While funding is desperately needed for infrastructure to support those displaced from Moria or facing miserable conditions elsewhere in refugee camps across Greece, the state is prioritizing investing funds in building a new border wall on the border with Turkey in Evros.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/24/5.jpg\")
The border wall Greece is constructing on the border with Turkey, imitating Donald Trump.
\nOn October 8, a massive strike and demonstration took place involving delivery workers across Athens. Organizing attempts by delivery workers have drawn repression and arrest. But efforts to crush the delivery workers’ grassroots union have only invigorated the strike; in light of pandemic safety measures and the new recognition of delivery people as essential workers if another lockdown is to come, these workers are refusing to tolerate the degradation of their jobs. The strike called for more PPE for delivery workers and payment for fuel for those working on motorbikes. The delivery union’s wildcat efforts have radicalized an entire demographic of workers in Greece, helping to provide a support network among delivery workers during a precarious time.
\n\nIn solidarity with the strike and efforts of the delivery union, anonymous individuals set fire to a delivery van belonging to the courier company ACS in the early hours of October 13. ACS is a courier company operating across Greece that is notorious for exploiting their employees.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/24/6.jpg\")
Striking delivery workers.
\nIn memory of murdered LGBTQ activist Zackie-O and against patriarchy in general, anonymous individuals claimed responsibility for a campaign of actions against churches in Athens in mid-October.
\n\nIn response to New Democracy’s escalation of surveillance and policing, anonymous individuals attacked the private security company Group22 SA on October 13. The company’s office’s façade was set on fire along with multiple vehicles belonging to the company. The action also declared solidarity with squats and squatters evacuated by the state. Vehicles belonging to another security company had been set ablaze in Thessaloniki the previous day, on October 12.
\n\nIn response to the broader repression of campuses in light of the abolition of the asylum laws protecting universities from police attacks, anonymous individuals stormed and destroyed the offices of the dean of the NTUA university in Athens.
\n\nThe second wave—or is it the third?—of COVID-19 is coming hard. The deception of New Democracy’s guilty verdict for Golden Dawn has helped to conceal some of the regime’s heinous acts from public dialogue and media headlines, but nothing has really changed. We face an uncertain future, as people do everywhere in the world—but our solidarity and struggles remain intact.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/10/24/2.jpg\")
October 7 in Athens. Despite all their efforts, the police cannot maintain control—even on the day when the court verdict against Golden Dawn was supposed to legitimize the system they serve.
\nIn the following report from Greece, anarchists describe the burning of the refugee camp, Moria, and the response countrywide, as well as the latest chapter in other struggles against state repression on a variety of fronts.
\n\nThis update is adapted from a monthly contribution to the “Bad News Report” podcast. You can also read our reports from May, June, July, and August.
\n\nAnother month, another report on the situation here in Greece. There has been no pause in the repression of the state, nor any peace for the marginalized and excluded. Another historic squat has been evicted, the economic despair many already face is becoming generalized, society drifts towards the right at the guidance of state and corporate media, and the largest concentration camp housing migrants in all of Europe has been engulfed in flames, displacing thousands.
\n\nAs in the rest of the world, each morning brings new concerns, new disasters, new forms of precarity. We share the following information in the pursuit of a relentless and borderless solidarity.
\n\n-Anarchists, September 2020
\n\nRefugees demonstrating after the burning of Moria. “Azadi!” Freedom!
\nThe refugee camp Moria on the island of Lesvos has burned down.
\n\nThe state claims this was the result of demonstrations by desperate people inside the camp reacting to new measures the police had opportunistically declared in response to an inevitable and now unavoidable outbreak of COVID-19 inside the camp. Some 35 cases have been made public as of early September; considering the intense overcrowding of the camp, the number should be assumed to be much higher. Some wonder whether nearby fascists took the opportunity to set fires under the cover of the refugees’ protests. It is certain that some of the villagers wanted those fleeing the flames to burn alive, as they pushed those who tried to flee to the nearby village of Mytilene back towards the blaze.
\n\nIf the government’s claim that the fire started from the demonstrations is correct, we can understand this as an act of desperation on the part of individuals protesting against an unbearable situation. Out of all the concentration camps where refugees are contained on islands near Turkey or out of the view of the public on mainland Greece, Moria is by far the most famous, both for its size and for the severity of the conditions. Moria housed over 13,000 refugees, though it was designed for only around 3000. It is a symbol of the racism and dehumanizing policies of exclusion that comprise the basis of modern Europe.
\n\nIt was inevitable that COVID-19 would enter Moria. Imposing additional restrictions on the already forcibly isolated and controlled camp brought an already dire situation to the brink. Now thousands are going hungry without shelter, including many children. Facing fascist and police violence, they find themselves in an even worse situation than before.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/DunyaCollective/status/1303648750989082625\n\n\n
In some ways, the New Democracy administration has used the Moria camp to claim that the EU has failed Greece in the so-called “refugee crisis” dating back to 2015. At the same time, the administration has used the camp to fan the flames of xenophobia, framing the conditions in the camp and the desperation of those who occupy it as self-inflicted. The state shifts between these narratives according to what is politically expedient.
\n\nFascists and their “patriotic” allies will rally around the fire, blaming those inside the camp, and the state will use the disaster to demand more funding from the European Union. The only positive element of this story is that Moria is gone. Moria couldn’t have gotten any worse. It was a concentration camp. Now the world is paying more attention to a camp that was already infamous for its heinous conditions. While misery is especially visible now in the ruins of Moria, we hope that the former residents will somehow find better conditions and that the international attention this has drawn will deter the Greek state from intensifying the attacks on refugees and immigrants described in our prior reports. Many have survived Moria thanks to grassroots efforts and solidarity campaigns that have nothing to do with the state. The state has channeled much of the funds allocated for refugee support to benefit the civil and business elite and the companies they profit from.
\n\nToday, as the corporate media disparages the survivors, homeless refugees are scattered around the edges of the ruins of Moria, with many seen sleeping in cemeteries, one of the few places they can find peace from police and fascists. Riot police have been sent in. State officials intend to deal with this humanitarian and health crisis by imposing “law and order,” encouraging refugees to give up and flee back where they came from or detaining and containing them with police procedures intended to push the situation out of sight rather than improve matters for those who are suffering.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/DunyaCollective/status/1304435152743956480\n\n\n
The plight of refugees and immigrants in Greece is dire; refer to our prior reports for information on previous chapters in this struggle. The Lesvos Mutual Aid Network has called for support:
\n\n\n\n\n“If you are in need, or if you are interested in supporting us in any way you can contact us by phone: 6948580322 (+Whatsapp) or by e-mail: lesvos_network@protonmail.com.”
\n
The “Other Man Social Kitchen Free Food For Everyone” project has also gone to Lesvos to cook for those displaced by the fire. You can donate to them here.
\n\nAnarchists, the excluded, and the exploited must all stand together against the state and Eurocentric racism. When refugee and asylum laws were created in international court in Geneva in 1951 in response to World War II, the state couldn’t have anticipated that these would force Europe, the United States, or the “First World” in general to have to accept those escaping the suffering of the so-called “Third World.” The fascist reaction to these laws exposes the inherent hypocrisy and conditional nature of First World Neoliberal philosophies. Whether New Democracy plays victim or pursues populism via xenophobia, their true position regarding the plight of these desperate people is clear in the statement of Adonis Georgiadis, the minister of development and investment and the vice president of New Democracy, in response to the fire. The refugees should “get up and leave. We did not invite them here, they should leave.”
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/m_kormbaki/status/1304462840955318274\n\n\n
Resistance from the refugees in Lesvos and solidarity efforts from broader revolutionary movements has become substantial. The situation is developing.
\n\nDemonstrations have spontaneously erupted near the capital of Lesvos. Thousands of people took to the streets of Athens on September 11, and various solidarity efforts are occurring across Greece. A local anti-fascist demonstration took place on Lesvos on September 11, only to be brutally attacked and tear gassed by riot police. Nineteen people were arrested, many with injuries. The people of Moria are refusing to forfeit their dignity as they face attacks by fascist locals, an imported brigade of riot police, and threats of deportation and or disappearance. Alleged “humanitarian” efforts by the state have continued with the “law and order” approach, going so far as to prevent the military from distributing food to punish the houseless refugees for making demands and demonstrating. Fascists have acted parallel to police by attacking mutual aid support efforts—smashing the windows of cars bringing aid or threatening and assaulting individuals coming to help the refugees.
\n\nSome locals are also fighting some state efforts to build another concentration camp on the island. Some of them do not have a problem with refugees, per se, but rather with the state’s use of the land to build a concentration camp. However, it is hard with so much happening to distinguish the intentions of every actor. Many refugees are not only without resources and support, but also face manipulation by the police and “humanitarian” agencies, potentially forcing many into accepting potential deportation or loss of status as a result of confusion, disinformation, and desperation. While France and Germany have agreed to take some of the minors, European politicians have approached this disaster as a mere political debate rather than the dire situation that it is.
\n\nWe say “Bye Moria! No more First and Third World!”
\n\nFor updates on the situation in Lesvos, start here.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/9.jpg\")
The wreckage of Moria.
\nThe evictions continue. The most recent target was the historic Rosa Nera squat on the island of Crete.
\n\nRosa Nera was a gigantic squat overlooking the sea in the tourist destination of Chania in Crete. It served as a venue for concerts, educational events, political organizing, and various other activities typical of a revolutionary social center. Occupied for 16 years, it was notorious for its beautiful location and size. The state presumably carried out the eviction in September in order to send a message to the squats still holding ground across Greece. Solidarity demonstrations immediately broke out across Crete, drawing 1500 the day of the eviction. An occupation of City Hall followed, as well as interventions at the local offices of property managers and solidarity demonstrations across the island of Crete and throughout Greece.
\n\nSimultaneous solidarity actions for the recently evicted Terra Incognita squat in Thessaloniki have also been occurring, with thousands of people attending rallies across the country for both of these historic squats and all squats evicted since New Democracy called for the liquidation of all occupations following their accession to power in 2019.
\n\nComradres attempting to rebuild Libertatia, a squat burnt by fascists in Thessaloniki.
\nThese squats have served as our movement’s infrastructure. They offer places to organize, but they also function as medical centers, gyms, mutual aid and social resource bases, and martial arts studios. While the assaults of the state are dealing powerful blows, the hearts that gave life to this infrastructure continue beating with revolutionary desire, and the courage that helped to create it remains.
\n\nRecently, one of the last remaining squats in Exarchia, K-Vox, was targeted with gunfire. At the beginning of September, someone shot eight bullets into the squat while people were inside; fortunately, they didn’t strike anyone. Those inside reported that they could hear the bullets whizzing by their heads. This occurred shortly after the the vigilante Kyle Rittenhouse murdered two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The shooting has not been claimed, but it is reasonable to imagine it could be a local fascist inspired by QANON or 5G or COVID-19 conspiracy theories, as American fascists are influencing the Greek right.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/3.jpg\")
\nAs a consequence of the influence of the church, misogyny has long been a rarely-questioned norm in Greek society. Sexual assault, abuse, and even femicide have been rampant for years. A movement is emerging to break this silence. The COVID-19 lockdown led to an increase in acknowledged domestic abuse, and the lifting of the restrictions has correlated with a spike in sexual assaults.
\n\nA project mapping and tracking instances of rape, assault, and misogyny is online here. We do not encourage using Facebook as a platform, but projects like this are important and should be supported and replicated by whatever means are available.
\n\nMore and more people are speaking up to break the silence about sexual assault. An employee of a ship attempted to sexually assault a 25-year-old woman en route to Santorini island for a vacation in front of her daughter. He apologized to the courts and the judge gave him a fine of one thousand euros and released him pending a trial that may or may not happen, depending on whether his case re-enters the spotlight. On the island of Ikaria, some men have been beaten following an attempt to sexually assault a woman. This woman now fears for her safety as police are coming to her investigating the beating, rather than the assault they attempted to perpetrate.
\n\nOn the television show Big Brother, a contestant was heard giggling on a live-stream of the sitcom with his fellow contestants as he states that “I go with one chick every day ‘to empty my pocket,’ (ejaculate) otherwise there is rape.” Neither the sitcom nor the channel flinched until there was public outcry about the incident. The individual who said this has since been removed from the show; however, as occurred in response to Trump’s infamous hot-mic leak, many other misogynists came to his defense, claiming that his reference to rape was a harmless joke, or, as they say in the United States, “locker room talk.” There is no attempt by the powers that be to challenge the normalcy of rape and the patriarchy that persists. Any attempt to appear politically correct is precisely political and nothing more than this.
\n\nAnother man has been sentenced for tossing gasoline on several women in 2018. The girl who was murdered following a dispute with her cop boyfriend in Trikala last month, described in our last report, has disappeared from the headlines as police endeavor to shape the narrative. Yet women are continuing to speak up, publicizing and doxxing sexual assaulters, and, as mentioned above, some perpetrators have been beaten. Vandalism of Orthodox Christian churches and graffiti and banners against patriarchy and the culture of rape can be seen across the country as well.
\n\nIn the city of Patras, some people carried out a noteworthy action in response to the sexual assaults and abuse perpetrated by a particular guard still working at the Petrouralli detention center for migrants in Athens. On the night of Monday, August 24, a group attacked a regional asylum office with red paint balls, littering the area with leaflets against the culture of rape by police inside detention centers and spray-painting a slogan across the facade of the building: “Cops and rapists, keep your hands off immigrants!”
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/8.jpg\")
\nCostas Sakkas and Giannis Dimitrakis face trial on September 16 for allegedly attempting to expropriate a Piraeus Bank ATM in Thessaloniki. The trial of four comrades arrested during the eviction of the anarchist squat known as Gare in 2017 will continue on September 18. The defendants have passionately declared that they will not compromise or cooperate with the state.
\n\nThe Greek state continues to implement new pre-trial restrictions, preventing individuals from visiting Exarchia or associating with “political” individuals as pre-trial measures. As mentioned in a prior report, four anarchists arrested on conspiracy charges stand accused of being part of a group allegedly known as “comrades.” The state is claiming that these comrades are responsible for dozens of actions claimed by the anonymous signature “comrades.” These individuals are trying to battle pre-trial restrictions of movement and association. A call for solidarity is online here.
\n\nPrison authorities continue to take advantage of COVID-19 to restrict the rights of prisoners, disrupting or halting visitation and furlough and limiting or suspending consultations with lawyers. Food and clothing transport have been severely disrupted. Measures in sanitation and hygiene remain as bad as they were prior to the pandemic. As cited in our prior reports, the virus has only provided an excuse for further punishment of those already facing the daily misery of prison.
\n\nThe Petrouralli immigrant detention facility in Athens continues to be a nightmare for undocumented prisoners facing deportation. You can read a statement from a prisoner held there regarding the everyday life conditions here.
\n\nAs repression intensifies, public demonstrations are legally banned, and squatted social centers are constantly threatened with eviction, revolutionary movements are forced to adapt and take cover in the night.
\n\nSince the asylum of universities has been lifted, private security contractors and police have collaborated to supervise university campuses and rid them of the freedom previously enjoyed on Greek campuses. In response, a communiqué claimed responsibility for an arson targeting a car belonging to the company “My Services” on August 24:
\n\n\n\n\n“On August 24, we attacked a vehicle belonging to the security company “My Services” that has coordinated security efforts with the police on university grounds. We broke into their car and set it on fire, destroying it completely. This company is one of the largest of its kind and is owned by a well-known mobster named Makris. Regardless of its mafia ties, this does not prevent the state and universities from cooperating with them via a two-million euro per year publicly funded security contract […]
\n\nBased on the latest leaks, also the announcements of Chrysochoidis (Minister of Civil Protection), there is a plan by security companies to expand their operations. Plans to increase security on campuses, further collaborate with police in training and supervision, and change existing laws in order to arm security personnel at universities. There is also a proposal to create an electronic card entry system in order to identify people, share information with the state regarding activity on campuses, and further suppress the presence of revolutionary activity and organizing at universities.”
\n\n-Anarchists
\n
A vehicle belonging to a Turkish diplomat was set ablaze in Thessaloniki in the early hours of Thursday, August 27. The action occurred in a neighborhood that houses multiple foreign embassies, communicating a will to strike regardless of the immense security obstacles in such an area. The action was declared to be in solidarity with Ebru Timtik, who passed away inside one of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s prisons after a 238-day hunger strike. A communiqué for the action also expressed solidarity with the Terra Incognita squat. Its release appears to have been timed to coincide with the international days of solidarity with political prisoners the Anarchist Black Cross announced for August 23-28.
\n\nFrom the communiqué:
\n\n\n\n\n“We take responsibility for the arson of a diplomatic vehicle on Ioanni Varvaki Street in Thessaloniki, in the early hours of Thursday, August 27. We call on all the world of struggle to turn the call of International Solidarity with political prisoners into a fiery flame of aggression, that will unite our struggles of rebellion across the earth. In light of this call, we took this action in response to the murder of another hunger striker by the fascist state of Erdoğan in Turkey. Ebru Timtik passed away on August 27, after 238 days of a hunger strike, demanding a fair trial.
\n\nEvery step of state repression is a call for war.
\n\nEvery loss is an occasion for new waves of attack.
\n\nSolidarity with the occupation of Terra Incognita and those who fight to the end against injustice.”
\n\n-Angry squats
\n
Late in the night on August 30, the personal car of Stefanos Tsonakidis, a well-known fascist in Patras, was destroyed by arson while it was parked in front of his home. Stefanos used to be a member of the fascist group Golden Dawn, and has now joined an even more fascistic splinter group of Golden Dawn created by notorious Neo-Nazi Ilias Kasidiaris. This action was claimed by “Anti-Fascist Action,” sending a message that there is no safe space for fascism in Greece.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/5.jpg\")
\nLittle has changed in Exarchia since our last report. Police continue to run rampant in the streets, harassing women, anyone with brown skin, and those who look “alternative” or queer—though with the end of the summer, the return of people to the streets as businesses re-open has hindered some of this harassment and abuse. Delta and riot police attacks continue on any organizing in public space for non-business reasons or in order to benefit the movement. One sees more police in uniform in Exarchia than anywhere else in the city. Fortunately, Airbnb has taken a big hit from COVID-19, though business owners and real estate developers are betting on a big boom after the pandemic eases. Unfortunately, this means that foreign businessmen and local elites have maintained their property holdings in the center of Athens as long term assets, continuing to charge absurdly high rents that do not reflect local wages.
\n\nIn the context of the ongoing struggle for control of Exarchia, it’s worth reporting a case in which one person faced and won a trial.
\n\nElias Gionis is a local artist and queer activist. Before the formal police occupation, which intensified during the COVID-19 lockdown, it was mafia and drug dealers harassing woman and LGBTQ people. Now that many of them have moved elsewhere or become more discreet in collaboration with the police, the police have taken their place. In fact, police were the first ones to push drug dealers and addicts into Exarchia in order to discredit the neighborhood’s reputation as a police-free zone.
\n\nElias Gionis was walking around Exarchia when Delta police harassed him. Elias responded, verbally defending himself. Being used to silence in response to their threats, as many residing in Exarchia live in fear of their state-sanctioned beatings and arrests, the Delta police arrested him. He faced trial and the risk of prison time simply for verbally defending himself against their homophobic abuse. Fortunately, the charges were dropped in early September.
\n\nA statement from Elias:
\n\n\n\n\n“The police are arbitrary against the citizens because they have the freedom to be. When you are attacked by a citizen, you are taught to call the police to protect you. When the police attack you, then they charge you to protect yourself. What would happen if I was not a well-known activist, if I was a weak child without a lawyer, without financial ability, and without a family to support me, especially if I was someone who did not have a family that supported me knowing I was gay? Just as we hear every day that a homosexual has been attacked, we must begin to hear that a police officer has heard a response. To give strength to the other children who may have once been wronged or to know how to react, if it happens to them in the future.”
\n
You can read more about Elias’s case here.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/2.jpg\")
Graffiti from a demonstration in solidarity with a Pakistani citizen who was shot and killed on the Greek border after living in Greece for some time.
\nAs mentioned in prior reports, environmental conflicts are escalating as the government seeks to make up for the loss of tourist money. In the region of Pelion, the state has began expanding its attempts to take control of water supplies in the biologically diverse mountain region. In concert with other community assemblies in the region, such as the one in Stagiates, the village of Drakia has established a popular assembly to stop the privatization and exploitation of natural water sources. Villagers have blocked developers from the DEYAMB group, which maintains water and sewage systems serving the nearby city of Volos. DEYAMB plans to bring in police; many anticipate a long-term struggle like the one seen in nearby Stagiates. Popular assemblies in villages across the region have given broader strength to a movement to defend the land against developers and business elites.
\n\nMeanwhile, the struggle against industrial trash burning continues in Volos, with a large banner action against the plant. There are also protests against the development of wind turbines, with blockades set up on the island of Tinos. The state has stationed police in villages and on islands to counter popular resistance, in order to halt traffic to escort industrial machinery or to lock down entire regions for the sake of destroying mountaintops before any resistance can emerge.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/AnarchyPressgr/status/1305024331622350848\n\n\n
As on the West Coast of the United States, fires also continue to blaze, likely caused by a combination of climate change and Greek developers seeking to evade regulations governing building structures. Regardless of who is responsible, capitalism is at the root of these disasters. As the climate crisis worsens, we can expect an increase in tragic ecological events—and hopefully a parallel growth of resistance to them.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/10.jpg\")
Moria on fire. From the West Coast of the United States to the wildfires in Greece and the fire that destroyed Moria, we are going to see more and more refugees. How we treat others in those straits will determine how others later treat us.
\nSeptember 18 marks seven years since Neo-Nazis from Golden Dawn murdered anti-fascist musician Pavlos Fyssas. Since then, the only justice we have seen addressing his murder was the anonymous killing of two fascist members of Golden Dawn and the broader street movement of anti-fascist resistance. The state continues to play games in their courts, shifting the urgency of the prosecution according to media attention. However, a verdict is expected on October 7.
\n\nFascists have gotten on the bandwagon of global conspiracy theories. Golden Dawn and other Greek Neo-Nazi groups have been challenging COVID-19 restrictions, spreading nonsense about 5G, and taking other cues from their American and German counterparts. Scuffles are taking place in the streets. On the other side, anti-fascists found the leader of Golden Dawn and attacked him with water bottles while he was vacationing. As the administration escalates repression, we expect a much more intense future of fighting the efforts of fascists in Greece.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/4.jpg\")
Pavlos Fyssas.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/7.jpg\")
Graffiti memorializing Pavlos Fyssas by his stage name as an MC, Killah P.
\nThe Greek delivery union has been specifically attacked for organizing events. Wolt and E-food, Greek versions of Seamless or Uber Eats have made inroads into the country. This is a sign of further automation in Greece, a consequence of the “modernization” of the Greek economy. The gig economy is not widely understood here yet, but apps such as BEAT (Greek Uber for taxis) and Airbnb have set precedents for its expansion. These services will complicate the lives of delivery workers; it is much harder to confront an invisible boss when a worker has been wronged.
\n\nWhile the economy has shrunk exponentially due to measures to control COVID-19, the Greek state was able to to find 2.5 billion euros to ramp up its military in response to the recent conflict in the Mediterranean. As cited in past reports, the heads of state of Turkey and Greece are both taking advantage of the heightened tensions around oil drilling in the Mediterranean. Turkey is sending oil exploration ships into the Aegean Sea, which Greece claims is a violation of national sovereignty. Both countries are using this conflict over natural resources and maritime claims to fan the flames of national pride rooted in militaristic goals. Regardless of who is in the right according to international law, it is obvious why the rhetoric is escalating at a time when distractions are needed, as the reality of the post-pandemic economy in both countries sets in.
\n\nWith that said, if the deal goes through that is planned by Greece, Cyprus, and Israel to drill in the Mediterranean and create a pipeline under the sea into mainland Greece and onward to Europe, it will without a doubt lead to deadly environmental disasters and social displacement. This situation will have disastrous effects on the people and land around the Aegean sea.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/6.jpg\")
The President of the European Commission shaking hands with Greek border police.
\nAs all this is unfolding, many people are fighting for the relief of their electrical bills and simply to keep their homes. The anarchist movement of Greece is facing a modernizing repression. “Quality of life” policing and a new status quo similar to the social control seen in northern Europe and the United States are both making their way to Greece as the authorities seek to reinvent a “Europeanized” Balkans.
\n\nThe situation is bleak. However, our hearts are still here. Our bodies are still here. Our passion and desire remain, awaiting the next wave of insurrection. It is only a matter of time.
\n\nMay the torch of insurrection and resistance be passed across the world through our borderless solidarity.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/09/14/1.jpg\")
\nIn Greece, following the accession of the New Democracy party and a ban on freedom of assembly, the simmering conflict between anarchists and the far right continues, even in the middle of summer. In this report, we cover gentrification, escalating tensions with Turkey, ecological struggles, refugee and prisoner solidarity, the eviction of the historic Terra Incognita squat, and more.
\n\nThis update is adapted from a monthly contribution to the “Bad News Report” podcast. You can also read our reports from May, June, and July.
\n\nThe Greek government and its bootlickers and beneficiaries are stumbling towards disaster. The economic crisis of 2008 will soon be seen as easier times. While tourists wander Greece dropping coins into the pockets of the bosses, only half of society can afford to take a holiday this year—something considered indispensable in the hot Greek summer. COVID-19 cases are at record highs. The daily infection rates are much higher than they were when the country was in formal lockdown back in March. Yet the state continues cutting hospital budgets in order to redirect funds to police agencies, focusing on its human opponents rather than the virus.
\n\nIn Greece, as elsewhere in the world, revolutionaries, the excluded, and the exploited struggle with self-preservation both materially and psychologically in the face of the slow-motion COVID-19 apocalypse and the right-wing police state. While new measures are going into effect and a second lockdown seems likely, we find strength in understanding that both our precarity and the struggle against it are shared globally. The struggle here is rooted deep in the discontent of countless beautiful hearts and a history in the streets: “Even if we never win, we will always fight!”
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/8.jpg\")
\nFormal state attacks and grassroots fascist campaigns of harassment continue in parallel across Greece. World-famous basketball player Giannis Antetokounmpo recently discussed the hardships of growing up black in Greece in light of Black Lives Matter; in fact, he was not given citizenship until he was drafted into the NBA—many people born in Greece to immigrants or non-white families never receive citizenship. In response to his comments, a high-ranking member of the Ministry of Education, Konstantinos Kalemis, called Antetokounmpo a “monkey” and a “n—r” in a tweet. At the same time, the Mayor of Aspropyrgos, Nikos Meletiou, facing criticism for demolishing the homes of 100 Roma families, responded that he “didn’t demolish people’s homes,” he “simply took out the trash.”
\n\nOn August 4, a man from Cameroon was assaulted by a mob at Lianokladi Station. He was on his way via train to Lamia when he mentioned that he had already had the COVID-19 virus. He was threatened with violence, forced to the back of the train, and forced off the train at the following station. Anarchists in the region staged a demonstration at the station where this took place.
\n\nRefugees continue to arrive at Aegean Islands only to be threatened with homelessness if they request asylum and pressure not to communicate about their conditions to those who might support them. As a result of continued measures to complicate the efforts of support workers, many arriving refugees are not welcomed by helping hands, but greeted by state forces or predatory farmers looking for cheap labor. Immigrants face heinous work conditions in the brutally hot agricultural fields of Greece.
\n\nIn the last few months, support groups have documented dozens of cases of Greek border authorities escorting life rafts and dinghies of refugees out of Greek waters and abandoning them in the sea. Officially, more than a thousand refugees have been stranded in the Aegean Sea; we assume the actual number is much higher. Greek border authorities have not only pushed refugees back towards Turkish territory, but gone so far as to shoot at inflatable rafts. The journey to asylum is dangerous enough already; to force those taking this risk back into the ocean increases the chance of drowning. Even according to the state’s own protocol, this violates asylum laws established on an international level.
\n\nRefugee camps still lack basic hygiene to limit the spread of COVID-19; they are sealed off, treating the inhabitants as expendable. In the process of hiding these virus outbreaks, many camps have begun preventing supporters from entering. This cuts off a much-needed lifeline, as many refugees in the camps across Greece rely on assistance from volunteers rather than the few state programs available. Using the virus as an excuse to rationalize excluding visitors, the state has blocked the flow of needed supplies and silenced the voices of those inside the camps.
\n\nMeanwhile, construction companies are competing for a 132,680,000 euro contract to create three new refugee camps on the islands of Samos, Leros, and Kos. This offers an opportunity for money laundering; undoubtedly, this construction project will cut corners when it comes to the safety of refugees, prioritizing the profits of the contractors.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/7.jpg\")
Fliers spread by anarchists at Lianokladi Station.
\nAs described in our previous report, a campaign of displacement and terror has targeted immigrants and refugees who gather at Victoria Square in central Athens. The fascist party Golden Dawn and its sympathizers joined other groups in a call to “take back” the square, candidly asserting that they were protesting the “diversity” in the park and calling for ethnic cleansing to defend Greek purity—rhetoric typical of the Greek Christian right. A flyer for the demonstration to “cleanse the square” displayed pictures of people of color hanging out and women in hijab smiling.
\n\nIn response, a few dozen fascists rallied near the square on July 15, countered by hundreds of anti-fascists eager to fight. Once more illustrating the relationship between the state and fascists, riot police and other state agencies protected the fascists; after a few hours, the police attacked and ultimately displaced the anti-fascist protesters blocking the square. Throughout the event, police could be seen encouraging the fascists to calm down, expressing their support for them. In the end, the police escorted the fascists into the square. Dispersed anti-fascists attempted to block the nearby streets and disrupt the flow of traffic; police responded by throwing tear gas into the crowd and beating and arresting two people. Subsequent video footage clearly shows police placing weapons in their bags to justify the beating and arrest. The Delta police who arrested them took few precautions to conceal what they were doing even as they were filmed; in the current political climate, such a video may not even matter. The arrestees currently face various charges and a long trial; they have been banned from attending demonstrations or “visiting Exarchia.” New Democracy appeals to the moderate right of the European Union and the Greek middle class while consistently supporting Golden Dawn and other openly fascist elements of its base.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/2.jpg\")
During the standoff around Victoria Square.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/1.jpg\")
During the standoff around Victoria Square.
\nAnti-fascists continue to show solidarity with those residing in Victoria. Efforts continue to defend the square against fascists, along with attempts to put new benches and infrastructure in the square, since the state has removed the previous ones.
\n\nReports circulate that detainees at the Petrouralli immigrant detention facility in Athens face a campaign of sexual terror from the guards and staff. Women requesting medical attention have been sexually assaulted while being escorted to facilities where there is less surveillance. Women who have organized against the guards and attempted to share stories with the outside world have been punished for this—in one case, a group of women were surprised with searches of their confinement areas and transferred to other detention centers around Greece. Allegations of sexual assault against the staff of the detention center have become so widespread that the prison’s internal affairs has undertaken a show investigation. As of now, however, all of the guards accused of sexual assault and intimidation continue working there as if nothing has happened.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/3.jpg\")
The Petrouralli immigrant detention facility.
\nIn the early hours of August 17 in Thessaloniki, police evicted the historic squat Terra Incognita. This eviction was carried out in the middle of summer on the assumption that many supporters would be out of the city on holiday. Founded in 2004, Terra Incognita has hosted various concerts, assemblies, and projects, serving the broader anarchist and revolutionary communities of Thessaloniki.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/exiledarizona/status/1295298585077133313\n\n\n
.
\n\nSome hours later, 100 people held a protest in response, followed by a protest of 400 people in the evening.
\n\nOther squats across the country remain on high alert. Over eight months have passed since the deadline set by the state for squats to sign leases or face eviction. Police continue to threaten squats in the major cities and on islands including Corfu and Crete. Squats housing immigrants and refugees, such as Notara in Exarchia, have cited repeated harassment by local police. Banners, demonstrations, and graffiti campaigns continue across the country in support of these squats.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/9.jpg\")
The world-famous Terra Incognita squat before its eviction.
\nA text message from the state in mid-August warned of a wildfire taking place near a plastics factory, urging people to keep their windows closed, as the air is expected to become too toxic to breathe. This is a foretaste of the future in Greece.
\n\nDevelopers in Greece have long used fires to clear forests for development. Between this and climate change, fires are a constant and increasing threat to the land and people here. At the end of July, four thousand people were displaced from their homes when a twenty-kilometer-long area caught fire adjacent to the largest armory in the country. Some anarchist groups are organizing to help prevent forest fires where the state will not.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/5.jpg\")
Anarchists organizing against forest fires and ecological devastation.
\nAn environmental movement is growing across the country as quickly as capitalist developers look to sell off the land. An occupation of a municipal building in Athens on July 28 brought attention to plans to deforest a local mountain called Immotos, one of the few places that offers natural refuge around the city. The occupation publicized the threat; for now, the plans to deforest parts of the beloved mountain have been suspended.
\n\nCampaigns to protect fresh water against companies such as Nestle are continuing to gain traction in regions including Pelion. The campaign referred to in a prior report about the village of Stagiates continues. Communities in the region of Mesochora in Trikala face eviction orders from Greece’s state electric company, which aims to expand a hydro-electric dam there. People have already started to mobilize against the threat.
\n\nAs tourism declines, the new administration intends to intensify the plundering of previously protected wilderness. Anarchist and anti-authoritarian movements are beginning to appreciate the need for an ecological movement. On July 29 and 31, people in Athens attacked the headquarters of the companies ENTEKA SA in Chalandri and Erren Hellas in Acropolis with hammers and paint extinguishers in solidarity with those defending mountains against wind turbine construction across Greece, and to send a message that a militant ecological movement is indispensable.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/6.jpg\")
A protest at the dam at Mesochora.
\nThe Greek Orthodox church has always served to preserve patriarchy and sexual violence. The pandemic has exacerbated the situation. Some people have undertaken a project to map occurrences of sexism and sexual violence.
\n\nAs described in our last report, the anarchist Vassilis Maggos was brutally beaten by police during a demonstration expressing solidarity with those arrested while protesting a cement factory in Volos. He suffered intense psychological trauma while in recovery from the beating. Police seized his body from his family in order for the police to use their own coroner, following a public outcry about the 26-year-old’s death. The police brought in Eleni Kalyva to conduct the autopsy—she is a well-known ally that the police have repeatedly employed to investigate controversial cases in which officers may have been at fault. She is known to have fascist sympathies and a close relationship with the current government.
\n\nEleni Kalyva’s conclusion was that Vassilis died of acute pulmonary edema. The police claim that this was not due to the beating; however, the full investigation has not been made public, and his family is seeking outside help. Vassilis spent his final weeks of his life recovering from the pain and trauma of being beaten by police. Using a familiar playbook, right-wing social media have cited personal issues such as drug use as a way to suggest that Vassilis was responsible for his own death. Even if drug use had something to do with his passing, the trauma of being beaten and tortured by police was clearly the cause of his tragic death, and drug use or other issues do not diminish the responsibility of the police.
\n\nThe police also brought Eleni Kalyva to investigate the murder of a girl in Trikala in late July, when a 16-year-old girl who was known to have a relationship with a police officer was found dead outside of a church. Kalyva was called in to investigate her death after suspicions began to circulate that the girl had been murdered by her police officer boyfriend. Now we are told that the girl climbed to the top of the church and killed herself—which would be a surprising feat, given the details of the situation, but Kalyva confirmed the claims of the police.
\n\nAnarchists and anti-fascist football fans have spread murals, banners, and graffiti across Greece remembering Vassilis Maggos. A Molotov cocktail attack against a government building in Volos took place in his name, as well as an arson attack on a bank in Marroussi, Athens. He will be remembered.
\n\nWhile Greece proceeds deeper into economic crisis, an ironic relationship of opportunity is emerging between Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
\n\nWar games in the Mediterranean are escalating as regional powers race to discover oil in the Aegean Sea. The conversion of the Hagia Sophia, designated a Unesco heritage site, into a mosque has also stoked tensions. Both of these have helped to distract and embolden the right-wing bases of the Greek and Turkish heads of state, utilizing nationalism to shift attention away from the economic hardships inflicted upon the people of Greece and Turkey.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/10.jpg\")
Fliers spread by anarchists at Lianokladi Station: “The machismo of the security guards reaches where the baton of the police does not.”
\nThe Solidarity Assembly for prisoners, fugitives, and persecuted fighters organized a demonstration at the Korydallos prison in Athens on July 20. The demonstrators held their ground for an hour outside the notorious prison, throwing leaflets and chanting in order to bring attention to the conditions prevailing in prisons across Greece, government plans to construct a new prison in the ruins of refugee and Roma encampments, and the danger that COVID-19 poses to prisoners.
\n\nAccess to adequate water has become an issue in the Grevena prison, as prisoners struggle to maintain proper hygiene in the midst of the pandemic. Doctors remain scarce in Greece’s prisons, leading many to wonder what the true number of COVID-19 infections is behind bars, as many who fall ill or die never see medical personnel.
\n\nInside Korydallos prison, anarchist political prisoner Dinos Giagtzoglou made a solidarity statement expressing support for Chilean defendants Monica Caballero and Francisco Solar on August 14.
\n\nVangelis Stathopoulous, a long-term prisoner accused of being a member of the group Revolutionary Struggle, was scheduled for an appeal court appearance in Athens on July 24, only to be denied access to his lawyers and quickly returned to his prison cell in Larissa, a four hour drive away. It is assumed that the point of this was to inflict psychological pressure on this political prisoner as he struggles to continue fighting for his appeal.
\n\nOn September 16, anarchist defendants Giannis Dimitrakis, Kostas Sakkas, and Dimitra Syrianou will face trial in Thessaloniki, accused of the attempted robbery of an ATM cash supply delivery. They were arrested in June 2019 following an organized operation involving an ambush by the anti-terrorist and EKAM squads. The defendants have already faced incarceration, bullet wounds, torture, prison riots, hunger strikes, arrest warrants, and then arrests and fresh imprisonment in the course of their principled commitment to anarchist struggle. Due to the pandemic, concerts and other means of fundraising are not possible, so the movement has established a firefund for their support.
\n\nNew measures are going into effect to prevent the transfer of prisoners deemed terrorists. This strategy is intended to create additional hurdles for political prisoners, especially anarchist and illegalist prisoners, who seek to be transferred to prisons closer to their families or to pursue studies while behind bars.
\n\nIn Greece, with good behavior, prisoners are permitted weekends out of prison to visit family and friends. The current government is trying to eradicate this tradition, especially for political prisoners and those deemed political enemies, implementing new hurdles to prevent prisoners from receiving permission for short-term leave. Political prisoners such as Dimitris Koufodinas of the N17 group have been denied any possibility of furlough at all. This is part of a broader claim to “modernize” Greece’s prison system, which includes the reduction of funding for hygiene and social services for prisoners and an increase in budget for prison infrastructure and staff.
\n\nAirbnb is a major cause of gentrification around the world. It has also been a driving force in the campaign to clear Exarchia of “undesirable” elements and lobbied for re-opening Greece to tourism regardless of the pandemic. The pandemic has taken a toll on Airbnb in Greece, but the company is still encouraging its beneficiaries to buy new houses and hold onto existing property on the premise that the disruption of tourism is only temporary. On August 12, people smashed the windows of the offices of a private company managing Airbnb properties in the neighborhood of Pagrati, sending a message to those who aspire to turn Athens into a zoo for tourists. Graffiti against Airbnb is widespread in Greece.
\n\nThe state is experimenting with new measures in the process of eviction in response to bankruptcy. The state is doubling down on auctioning homes while people still reside in them and foreclosing and seizing homes belonging to residents who cannot pay taxes or bank fees. While politicians are pushing new measures through parliament and police are experimenting with new tactics, anarchists and community groups are organizing popular assemblies in preparation for the fall, when the economic crisis is expected to intensify.
\n\nThe Greek government continues to grant new licenses to businesses for use of sidewalks and public space to compensate restaurants and bars for losses during the pandemic. This is also an opportunistic attempt to privatize more public space. While another lockdown is looming, we expect to lose more public space as soon as the lockdown is lifted again.
\n\nIn one of many attempts to appear more modern and “European,” a massive campaign has prioritized policing public transportation. In response, on July 27, at a major metro station in the Petralona neighborhood of Athens, people destroyed the entrance machines. Onlookers applauded as the entrance became admission-free. This action occurred just two weeks before the seventh anniversary of the death of Thanasis Kanaoutis—a nineteen-year-old boy who refused to pay the 1.20 euro fee to ride the bus and was pushed out of the bus by a metro officer, killing him. The July 27 action took place in solidarity with five graffiti writers who have died over the past few years in the course of crossing the electric track while running from security guards.
\n\nA communiqué claiming responsibility for the action signed by anarchists concludes thus:
\n\n\n\n\n“END OF APATHY
\n\n
\nCLEAN CITIES, ONLY IN DIRTY MINDS
\nSECURITY OFFICERS GET YOUR HANDS OFF GRAFFITI WRITERS
\nSOLIDARITY WITH THE SQUATS
\nA CITY ON FIRE IS A FLOWER BLOOMING
\nMOVEMENT WITHOUT TICKETS FOR EVERYONE”-Anarchists
\n
![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/08/18/4.jpg\")
Graffiti on the subway in Athens.
\nThe uprising in the United States continues to resonate in Greece. In mid-August, a communiqué from a group calling itself Anarchist International Solidarity claimed responsibility for two arsons expressing solidarity with those taking the streets of the USA. One targeted the home of the General Director of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, Elias Spyrtounia, a lobbyist and mediator for US geopolitical interests in Greece and around the Balkan region. According to the communiqué, “the arson attack on his home was an act of solidarity with those who took to the streets of US metropolises, clashed with police, destroyed symbols of wealth and oppression, and are struck by racist violence and state repression.” Another targeted a police officer’s car in the Athens neighborhood of Gyzi: “If the police want to speak the language of violence, let us reply in night visits to their homes and vehicles as our minimum reaction.”
\n\nEven as our movement’s infrastructure faces pressure from the Greek state, Greek anarchists have rallied to the struggle to defend squats elsewhere in Europe. In Athens, people damaged the façade of a German grocery, LIDL, and a communiqué claiming responsibility for the action declared solidarity with the squats Liebig 34 and Rigaer 94 in Berlin, Germany, as well as with all squats struggling in Greece and around the world.
\n\nThe Delta police—the police unit created to quell demonstrations following the 2008 insurrection—roam Exarchia, accosting women with sexual threats and detaining people with dark skin and those they suspect of anarchism. Some officers wear fascist patches on their uniforms—the Greek flag with an image of the Hagia Sophia in Turkey. While we do not support either side on this issue, that particular emblem is a traditional image used to rally fascists.
\n\nOne of the last open squats belonging to refugees and immigrants in Exarchia, Notatra, continues to face constant harassment. People with darker skin are followed when they approach or leave the squat; the Delta police are routinely stationed nearby. The increase of police has been obvious all around Greece since New Democracy came to power, but the situation in Exarchia is different. It is an experiment that even police agencies outside Greece will likely pay attention to—a long-term campaign to overwhelm a neighborhood and destroy its spirit.
\n\nIt is interesting to note that this approach, though new to Greece, is drawn from a strategy New York City and London police employed in the nineties known as “quality of life policing.” The idea is to attack every instance of suspected crime with equal ferocity in order to overwhelm a neighborhood that is at odds with the status quo, creating an environment of perpetual fear for those who inhabit it. As in New York City, police employ “stop and frisk” tactics in Exarchia relentlessly.
\n\nThey opened the borders—and only a fraction of the usual number of tourists came. But some of the ones who did come brought COVID-19 with them. At the same time, those few still able to work during the summer season have less leverage against their bosses than usual, both because of widespread economic desperation and because of the conditions under New Democracy. In Greece, hundreds of thousands of people usually work during the summer in order to make money to sustain them for the rest of the year. We expect a gloomy fall.
\n\nPolice continue to evict and ticket free campers across Greece, trying to force them to go home. In July, on the island of Samothrace, some police who were harassing campers were attacked with stones and beaten.
\n\nIt’s August in Greece and most people are away from their homes—or wish they could be. It’s hot and the situation is grim. Yet even amid the harsh summer, there have been demonstrations against the bill described in our previous report banning unpermitted protests. Fresh graffiti all over the country expresses insurrectionary discontent.
\n\nThe church and the far right count on the neo-liberal New Democracy administration to coddle them. Greece received some seventy billion euros in COVID-19 relief from the European union, but we know that money will chiefly serve to provide more contracts to the wealthy and to hire more police to protect their power and enforce their laws. Whatever happens in the coming months, we hope the fall will see a new wave of resistance ignite in Greece and around the world.
\n\n" }, { "id": "https://crimethinc.com/2020/07/15/greece-everything-is-coming-to-a-boil-looming-recession-the-ban-on-freedom-of-assembly-and-the-death-of-vassilis-maggos", "url": "https://crimethinc.com/2020/07/15/greece-everything-is-coming-to-a-boil-looming-recession-the-ban-on-freedom-of-assembly-and-the-death-of-vassilis-maggos", "title": "Greece: Everything Is Coming to a Boil : Looming Recession, the Ban on Freedom of Assembly, and the Death of Vassilis Maggos ", "summary": "As the Greek government seeks to ban freedom of assembly via sheer brutality, anarchists are giving battle to the forces of oppression on every front.", "image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/07/15/header.jpg", "banner_image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/07/15/header.jpg", "date_published": "2020-07-15T20:00:00Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-09T15:08:33Z", "tags": [ "repression", "ecology", "Greece", "Prisoners", "Athens", "Exarchia", "pandemic", "COVID-19" ], "content_html": "Since coming to power last summer, Greece’s far-right New Democracy party has waged an all-out war against immigrants, anarchists, and rebels, attempting to evict the entire network of occupied social centers that animates the country’s ungovernable movements and to crush other spaces of autonomy such as universities. The COVID-19 pandemic has offered New Democracy additional pretexts as they attempt to replace this rich history of rebellion with a police state suitable for international investment. Yet the looming economic crisis promises to render this effort moot. In this tense context, the past month has seen conflicts escalate all around the country, with the government attempting to ban freedom of assembly, police beating countless demonstrators—one of whom later apparently died of his injuries—and determined anarchists giving battle to the forces of oppression on every front.
\n\nThis update is adapted from a monthly contribution to the “Bad News Report” podcast. You can read last month’s report here.
\n\nAs we reach the peak season of summer tourism, it is becoming obvious that Greece is headed for economic doom. Desperate attempts to appease business owners at the risk of everyone else’s health have become embarrassing as a 90 percent drop in tourism shows how pointless it was for the Greek government to re-open the economy amid the pandemic. Yet at all costs, in defiance of reality, the state is still trying to preserve the old status quo.
\n\nFacing a disaster that will make the 2008 recession seem tolerable by comparison, the new administration continues to escalate its war on immigrants and anarchists in order to distract the public.
\n\nIn a move reminiscent of the Junta of the late 1960s and early ’70s, the government passed a law against freedom of assembly on July 9. The ruling New Democracy party demanded this law on the grounds that unregulated freedom of assembly was seen as a severe problem for Athens traffic. This is indicative of this administration’s priorities. The bill immediately sparked social unrest.
\n\nDemonstrations ahead of the vote drew a significant police response, especially those organized by anarchists. As detailed in last month’s report, police kettled a delivery workers’ motorcycle protest, arresting every attendee—something much more unusual in Greece than it would be in the United States. Another anarchist demonstration weeks before the ruling drew roughly one riot cop for every attendee.
\n\nOn the day the bill passed, some 15,000 people took to the streets in Athens around the Greek parliament. Anarchists organized several different blocs in the demonstration. Unfortunately, both the police and the authoritarian left quickly attacked anarchists: police rammed motorcycles directly into demonstrators, while at the same time, members of the KKE and PAME (two authoritarian left groups with seats in parliament) blocked the way to parliament. KKE and PAME protest marshals attacked anarchists and others who attempted to resist—beating them, removing their masks in order to expose their identities, and in some cases kidnapping them in order to hand them over to police.
\n\nDespite this, courageous acts of resistance took place. Graffiti appeared across the center of Athens decrying the law and the state. The police in front of parliament faced a flurry of Molotov cocktails, rocks, and other projectiles. One commander of the Delta squad experienced burns and damage to his teeth as a consequence of a Molotov cocktail.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/savvaskarma/status/1281300484104622081\n\n\n
In response, various riot and Delta police rushed to the borders of Exarchia, beating and detaining people at random, especially young people and those perceived to be subcultural. Police did the same thing in the nearby luxury neighborhood of Kolonaki. At least nine people are facing charges for the events, three of whom face significant felony charges. As of July 13, all nine defendants have been released awaiting trial.
\n\nDemonstrations involving anarchists and autonomists also took place in Patras, Ioannina, and Thessaloniki. As this goes to press, demonstrations are illegal without the advance approval of the state. The bill promises a future of brutality, detention, and imprisonment for those who take to the streets.
\n\nProtests in Athens against the new law banning freedom of assembly.
\nOn June 26, various police agencies evicted the Dervenion 56 squat, one of the last squats in Exarchia. The occupation was established in response to the influx of refugees and immigrants in 2015, at a time when dozens of buildings were squatted. Immigrant solidarity projects later used the space as a resource hub and cooking center. In recent years, it has hosted various solidarity projects, language classes, fundraising events, and political presentations, offering a safe gathering space for groups to assemble. When the state used COVID-19 to shut down universities, specifically the occupied GINI building at the Exarchia’s Polytechnio, Dervenion offered an essential alternative.
\n\nPolice shut down nearby streets in Exarchia to evacuate the building. Various police agencies blocked off all access points so that investigation teams could survey the grounds. City workers eventually boarded up the building’s entrances with cinder blocks, a typical state strategy.
\n\nMultiple protests have taken place since the eviction. The first night following the raid, people gathered in nearby Exarchia Square, then marched to the squat and demolished the cinder blocks closing the entrance. The police were taken by surprise, but eventually responded with full force, arresting seven people. During another demonstration a few days later, people smashed the cinder blocks in the doors of evicted occupations in another nearby Exarchia street. A week later, people also smashed the cinder blocks at the site of a squat evicted last year in Koukaki. While symbolic, these actions demonstrate a will to keep fighting. The entry points of Dervenion are now blocked with reinforced steel.
\n\nThe attempt to reoccupy Dervenion.
\nAfter the eviction, supporters organized a concert for Dervenion. Prevented from happening in its original location, this was eventually moved to Exarchia Square. Afterwards, people scattered around the neighborhood. Barricades appeared and small scuffles broke out as people attempted to reclaim Dervenion while riot police and Delta police counterattacked. Everyone on the streets in Exarchia that night was a target. Many people were sent to the hospital with injuries; police spread asphyxiating tear gas at random, in some cases in the confinement of cafés. Police raided an anarchist cooperative bar without reason. In order to rationalize the attack, police arrested and brutalized the waiter who was working there at the time. Ten people were arrested altogether, with seven facing accusations including possession of explosives, weapons, and ammunition as well as various misdemeanors. Resistance did take place on this night, but the police response was startlingly arbitrary. Video evidence of their behavior has circulated widely, showing the absurdity of these arrests.
\n\nA video supporting the re-squatting of all the evicted occupations.
\nOther actions have taken place in response to the eviction of Dervenion and the repression of squats in general. Grafitti and banners continue to be seen across the country. A group reportedly attacked the mayor at a private event in response to his war on squats and grotesque use of public funds to decorate the center of Athens. There was also a demonstration outside the home of the person who claims to own Dervenion.
\n\nPolice continue to harass Exarchia residents. The assault on public space continues as businesses are granted bigger licenses to control sidewalks. While the mafia and drug dealers who frequented Exarchia Square when it was cop-free are gone now, they have only been replaced by the police, who spread fear in much the same ways.
\n\nThe clashes of July 3 in Exarchia.
\nSolidarity actions including graffiti, banners, educational events, and small demonstrations continue as people express support for the struggle against white supremacy in the USA. In Thessaloniki, the night before the funeral of George Floyd, a small incendiary device was placed near the headquarters of the North American human resources management company MANPOWER. Anarchists took responsibility for the action in a communiqué mentioning the call for international solidarity released by the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement:
\n\n\n\n\n“The arson of the ManPower Group is a practical declaration of fiery solidarity with the comrades of the Revolutionary Abolitionist Movement, who call on the international revolutionary community to take immediate and uninterrupted action in solidarity with [demonstrators in] the United States. The war waged in the American metropolises and suburbs will not be silenced. Because the fire of the attacks of internationalist revolutionary solidarity is spreading to the ends of the earth. Comrades, you have our full appreciation and solidarity from the war fronts on the other side of the Atlantic.
\n\nAll the power in the Black Uprising
\n\n
\nRevolution now and always.”-Anarchist Action Organization
\n
![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/07/15/5.jpg\")
A flier for one of the demonstrations on July 9.
\nThe Greek state continues to reinforce the parallel world of misery non-citizens experience by means of aggressive measures and opportunism.
\n\nIn the municipality of Aspropyrgos, bulldozers demolished an entire Roma camp, rendering a large Roma community homeless.
\n\nOn the islands of Lesvos and Samos, where some of the largest refugee camps are located, the measures passed on the pretext of responding to the virus enable local police to segregate and isolate immigrants in camps, normalizing COVID-19 outbreaks in these already overcrowded camps as long as the virus remains contained there. These camps lack basic hand washing equipment and render social distancing impossible. Alongside prisons, the Greek government has effectively designated these camps COVID-19 ghettos, in keeping with its explicit “Greece is for the Greeks” platform.
\n\nIn the first half of June, many immigrants and refugees in the grossly overpopulated Moria camp in Lesvos were granted asylum and freedom of movement. Yet according to the Greek state, it is the responsibility of immigrants to find their own housing within one month of the decision. Little to no help is provided to immigrants in these situations; over 11,000 faced eviction and homelessness. Having nowhere to turn, many escaped to Athens and set up a homeless encampment at Victoria Square.
\n\nVictoria Square is located in Kipseli, a neighborhood in central Athens. Compared to most of Greece, it’s a diverse area; refugees and immigrants have populated it since the beginning of the so-called refugee crisis of 2015. While fascists and police have attacked people there, it has been known for some time as a haven for people of color and immigrants.
\n\nStarting on June 15, buses of riot police surrounded the square, attempting to pressure people in the encampment into being escorted to other refugee camps further into the country and out of sight. At first, the police promised free housing and aid to all who voluntarily boarded the buses. When many refused, police became aggressive. Supporters arrived to show solidarity with the immigrants. For roughly 48 hours, groups mobilized to defend those in the encampment.
\n\nBefore sunrise on June 17, buses of riot police, Delta police, and other police agencies violently entered the square, forcing at least 71 children and 44 adults into buses headed for various camps across the country. Supporters of the encampment also faced repression; the police beat and arrested at least fifteen people. In order to rationalize forced detention, police forced immigrants to sign papers many of them did not understand stating that they had refused housing following their asylum.
\n\nThe whereabouts of some of the detainees remain unknown. Others have managed to escape detention and return to Athens. Stories are circulating that many of the detainees have been dropped off at refugee camps and given no accommodations there. Many remain homeless on the outskirts of camps and smaller villages or cities, facing harsher precarity in isolation out of public view. These conditions leave them at the mercy of human traffickers, sexual assault, fascist attacks, predatory agricultural and construction bosses looking to take advantage of their desperation, and other risks. A week after the first police attack, another group of approximately 70 immigrants granted asylum at Moria arrived in search of support, only to encounter the same buses full of police demanding that they forfeit their right to free movement or face arrest and deportation.
\n\nVictoria Square continues to face constant surveillance and police pressure, including an attack on July 4.
\n\nMeanwhile, volunteers and members of non-governmental organizations have been asked to register with the state. While we do not support most NGOs and recognize the faults of an industry based on suffering, the purpose of the bill calling for this is to intimidate those who support immigrants. The state will use this database to target those accused of overstepping Greek measures on immigration, revoking work and residency visas or pursuing criminal charges.
\n\nFrom the floating dams in the Aegean Sea to the absurd demands forced on the most vulnerable asylum seekers, state violence against immigrants and refugees continues to intensify countrywide.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/07/15/3.jpg\")
Graffiti against the abysmal conditions at the Moria camp.
\nRecently, there have been repeated hunger strikes inside the immigrant detention facility in Athens known as Petrouralli. Nine women went on hunger strike in June demanding better living conditions; in response, the state threatened to place them under arrest in a formal Greek prison. Sexual, physical, and psychological violence is notorious inside this detention facility, where suicide attempts are frequent. No one outside knows the extent of the virus outbreak and suicide, but it is clear enough that the facility serves to torture already struggling immigrants and refugees. Supporters frequently organize noise demonstrations outside of the facility; movement lawyers are also involved in support efforts. A recent demonstration outside inspired visible unrest in two floors of the facility.
\n\nThe supreme court of Greece recently granted permission to Dimitris Koufontinas, an ex-member of the armed struggle group N17, to leave prison in order to visit family and friends. In Greece, prisoners have the privilege to leave prison due to good behavior, regardless of their conviction—something unimaginable in North America, especially for those facing long sentences for violent crimes. The new administration is trying to amend this law, using Dimitris as a specific example. He has gone on hunger strike on and off for the last few years, and while the supreme court has declared that he is legally entitled to a “furlough,” the local council of Volos, where he is imprisoned, has rejected the supreme court ruling and his request. They claim that in light of his refusal to apologize for his actions or forswear his convictions, he does not deserve the right to leave prison. Large-scale solidarity campaigns have supported Dimitris for some time; he is expected to continue fighting for his right to leave the prison.
\n\nDuring the pandemic, the department of corrections in Greece has been punishing prisoners who express dissent by stripping them of their few rights, as COVID-19 remains a significant threat to the health and safety of those behind bars.
\n\nPrisoners such as Vassilis Dimakis and Antonis Kyriazis have carried out frequent and dangerous hunger strikes in response to the state taking away their right to education. The department of corrections has responded by reassigning prisoners to various prisons throughout Greece and sabotaging the studies of student prisoners who organize behind bars. While the authorities claim that these are simply safety measures, ironically, most of the expressions of discontent for which political prisoners are being punished were about the lack of safety measures in response to the pandemic. Solidarity graffiti and banners can be seen across the country supporting the prisoners in their hunger strikes; some supporters occupied a conservative news station in Patras in solidarity with Antonis Kyriazis.
\n\nImprisoned members of the group Revolutionary Struggle attended a court hearing in late June. The prosecution has added various bank robberies to their existing accusations; it appears that the state is trying to pin various actions to them to live up to the “law and order” rhetoric of the new administration.
\n\nAs mentioned in last month’s report, two individuals in Thessaloniki accused of an attempted incendiary attack were given until mid-June to pay a 20,000 euro bail fee in order to await trial outside prison. Thanks to a remarkable solidarity effort, the money was quickly raised and then some. At the direction of the two comrades, the extra funds were donated to the Tameio group (a solidarity fund for prisoners and other persecuted fighters), an anarchist newspaper, and espiv.net, a movement-run server similar to riseup.net that has been under attack by the administration of the university where it is located. Taking advantage of the pandemic to strike while students are locked out of the university, the administration has been making claims about piracy as an excuse to target the server.
\n\nFemale prisoners’ efforts to demand safer conditions during the pandemic have also precipitated strategic reprisals from the state. Woman prisoners accused of organizing behind bars, such as Hazal Seçer, Harika Kizilkaya of the Turkish People’s front, and the anarchist Dimitra Valavani, have been targeted with frequent searches, segregation, and even physical detention by male guards in retaliation for their attempts to speak up about prison conditions.
\n\nIn a Larissa prison, the authorities transferred 65-year-old political prisoner Ismail Zat to an isolation cell in late June in response to his refusal to be humiliated by prison guards upon his return from a hospital visit. He is one of eleven Turkish and Kurdish fighters arrested in March in a so-called anti-terror campaign. He has dedicated his life to preserving the dignity of his people and is refusing to compromise his own dignity behind bars.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/07/15/4.jpg\")
July 9: police in Athens get a small taste of the brutal violence they are constantly doling out.
\nThe government of New Democracy continues to withdraw environmental protections. It is not a coincidence that there is new pressure to develop previously protected wilderness as tourism dies off amid the pandemic. Valued for its beauty, this land was considered worth preserving as long as it helped to draw 30+ million tourists to Greece each year. Now that the economy is expected to shrink at least 12 percent and tourism has fallen almost 90 percent, the state is rushing to exploit nature in order to preserve the façade of a functioning economy.
\n\nStruggles continue across Greece against wind turbines on mountaintops. These turbines decimate the environments around them, requiring the construction of new roads for trucks to construct and service them. Such turbines are part of a broader campaign by the Greek state to appease the environmental demands of the European Union without making structural changes.
\n\nIn theory, Greece is one of the most water-rich countries in the Mediterranean—but between the effects of tourism, agriculture, and climate change, 30 percent of the country may be desert in the coming years. Attempts to privatize water continue across the country as rivers, lakes, and aquifers slowly dry up. Agricultural projects looting natural reserves are given a free pass as long they yield profits.
\n\nCommunities are coming together across the country, taking to the forests, the mountains, and the streets. Banners and graffiti of support for ecological resistance can be seen from the inner cities to the deep countryside. In the Athenian neighborhood of Kaisiarini, a vehicle belonging to the construction company INTRACAT was targeted in an arson attack. A notorious exploiter of vulnerable labor, INTRACAT is responsible for an array of wind turbine construction projects in Ithairon and South Evia as well as various other building sites.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/07/15/1.jpg\")
The clashes of July 9 in Greece.
\nGreece has started a new so-called urban renewal project in the southern suburbs of Athens. This is deemed the largest project of its kind in Greece and in all of Europe as well. An investment of nine billion dollars over ten years is intended to build a gigantic resort and casino in the ruins of the abandoned airport that was built for the Summer Olympics in 2004. The airport itself is the result of money laundering efforts by opportunistic construction companies. While Greece’s economy is expected to shrink almost 12 percent, the new administration is flaunting this development project for the alleged 2% growth it will create. In a country some say is among the most corrupt in the world, many assume that the project will benefit Greece’s elite, serving only as a talking point about economic recovery for Greece’s capitalist right. The project itself is being funded by the American casino giant Mohegan gaming.
\n\nThe planned development has caused rampant displacement. The state has already evicted nearby refugee camps and plans to displace various homeless encampments that have existed for some time nearby. At this point, it is foolish to expect great gains from a project that depends on tourism. The project will most likely fail; in any case, it will benefit the very few in the process, while further indebting the public. While the politician Mytsotakis is the face of the new administration, the business elite make the decisions here, as in the USA and many other countries.
\n\nGreece continues to sell off its land to the highest bidder. Saudi business men are buying up islands as well as ports and debt to foreign governments such as China.
\n\nAs we prepare to publish this, reports have just appeared about the death of a man in Volos, Greece. Vassilis Maggos was found dead on July 13 in his apartment by his mother, though he may have passed away some time prior to her arrival. The ambulance that responded could not resuscitate him. Police immediately rushed to the scene to supervise the investigation and shape the narrative.
\n\nVassilis Maggos passed away after weeks of suffering resulting from a beating inflicted by police officers. In our last report, we described a large demonstration on June 13 in the city of Volos against the incineration of trash, the privatization of water, and other efforts from municipal authorities to escalate the exploitation of this pristine and biologically diverse region. The police beat and arrested many people during this demonstration. The next day, Vassilis Maggos was attending a demonstration outside the courthouse of Volos in solidarity with those arrested the day prior. Video footage shows various police forces standing across from the demonstration, then suddenly running towards an individual and beating him to the ground until he was heard to scream “I can’t breathe.” That individual was Vassilis Maggos.
\n\nThe police beating Vassilis Maggos.
\nWhile the beating captured on video was heinous, the police took Vasillis into custody to continue beating and torturing him out of sight of supporters. Vassillis is known to the police as a local anarchist and football fan; the video shows that he was clearly being targeted. After arresting him, they brought him to the police station while continuing to threaten him and make homophobic remarks in response to his need for medical treatment. Now we know that he was suffering from 7 broken ribs and significant damage to his liver and gallbladder. Despite the fact that he was obviously suffering from excruciating pain, the police continued to taunt him, denying him food and water, threatening him further, and eventually throwing him into a prison cell. Vassilis reported that when he said that he would sue them, the guards answered, “Who will punish us, the police?” After they stopped laughing at him, he heard the guards saying, “If we are going to arrest him, we probably have to take him to the hospital.” Shortly after this he was thrown out onto the street, most likely to avoid a lawsuit and the procedures of formalizing his arrest.
\n\nVassilis barely recalled being on the street. He could barely breathe, he was unable to think clearly, and, in addition, he was very dehydrated. Some people came to his aid, taking him back to his home, from which he eventually went to the hospital. He remained in the hospital for four days. After he returned home, he made his story public, declaring that he had a positive attitude—that he was happy to be alive and was ready for the long recovery ahead.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/exiledarizona/status/1282929903239933952\n\n\n
An autopsy is taking place as we prepare to publish this. The Ministry of Civil Protection is hurrying to claim that there is no connection between the police beating and torturing Vassilis and his subsequent death, maintaining that those who suggest otherwise are simply political opportunists. Yet the defensive statements of the authorities cannot erase the video of his beating. Regardless of what the autopsy reports, during the days leading up to his death, he was suffering painful disability as a consequence of the police assault. This was his punishment for expressing solidarity with those arrested resisting the exploitative ventures of the Greek state.
\n\nThe situation is still unfolding, but it has sparked outrage from anarchists around Greece.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/07/15/2.jpg\")
The Athenian skyline at dusk.
\nIt remains to be seen how far the economic crisis will go—or the repressive violence of the New Democracy government. But it is certain that the frustration that prevails in Greek society will continue to manifest itself in the broader revolutionary movement against the state and capitalism.
\n\n" }, { "id": "https://crimethinc.com/2020/06/22/from-minneapolis-to-greece-fuck-the-police-a-month-of-ecological-prisoner-and-solidarity-struggles-in-greece", "url": "https://crimethinc.com/2020/06/22/from-minneapolis-to-greece-fuck-the-police-a-month-of-ecological-prisoner-and-solidarity-struggles-in-greece", "title": "From Minneapolis to Greece, Fuck the Police : A Month of Ecological, Prisoner, and Solidarity Struggles in Greece", "summary": "A month of struggle in Greece around prisons, ecology, autonomous spaces, and other issues, including solidarity with the uprising in the US.\n", "image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/22/header.jpg", "banner_image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/22/header.jpg", "date_published": "2020-06-22T17:26:21Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-09T15:07:24Z", "tags": [ "repression", "Greece", "insurrection", "borders", "Athens", "Exarchia", "Riot", "Minneapolis" ], "content_html": "While an uprising against the white supremacist violence of police unfolds in the United States, a protracted struggle continues in Greece, where the far-right New Democracy government is trying to suppress a longstanding culture of resistance. In the following report, we review anti-authoritarian movements across Greece—around prisons, ecology, autonomous living and organizing spaces, and other issues—including expressions of solidarity with the uprising in the US.
\n\nThis update is adapted from a monthly contribution to the “Bad News Report” podcast. It picks up where last month’s report left off.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/22/3.jpg\")
\nCOVID-19 has all but disappeared from day-to-day discussion in Greece. Bars are open, shops are open, and rampant opportunism and repression of marginalized people and revolutionary movements remains the primary focus of the New Democracy regime.
\n\nOur last report was completed just hours before one of the first open assemblies was called at the previously occupied “Gini” at the Polytechnio school in Exarchia. While universities remain closed across Greece, the Gini building at the Polytechnio has long been an autonomous space used by the broader anarchist movement for assemblies and organizing. The first people to arrive at the open assembly were detained and brought to the police precinct for questioning. COVID-19 offers the state and the university administration a pretext to try to take back the occupied building at the Polytechnio and to eradicate the tradition of universities serving as a safe haven for revolutionary organizing in Greece. Blocking access to the Gini bulding represents a direct assault on our movement’s ability to gather and organize. The Polytechnio in Exarchia is the university campus at which the anarchist movement established a crucial foothold in Greece after the student uprising against the Junta in the early 1970s, during which several students were murdered by the dictatorship before its transition into what is now known as New Democracy.
\n\nAlongside these efforts to use the closing of schools to wage war on the movements that have organized within them, the espiv.net servers housed at the Panteion University in Athens have been shut down by the decision of a board director of the school who claimed they were being used for electronic piracy. It is not surprising that this would occur after New Democracy formally eliminated the university asylum policy. The espiv.net servers hosted hundreds of projects, websites, and communication platforms.
\n\nJust one day after the “re-opening” of much of Greece, police raided a squat in Exarchia that housed over fifty refugees including many children. Refugees in the squat were supposedly placed in various detention centers and refugee camps—but in fact, many simply ended up homeless. New Democracy is intent on maintaining its xenophobic platform of repression and torture against non-Greeks and refugees. Immediately afterwards, a demonstration against the eviction drew many people into the streets of Exarchia. Many squats persist, despite the government declaring that it would evict all of them in December 2019. However, repression is ongoing and may continue until our movements have nowhere to organize.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/22/5.jpg\")
An expression of solidarity from Prosfygika, a longstanding self-organized neighborhood in downtown Athens.
\nJust like the right wing in the US, far-right Christian groups in Greece have fixated obsessively on COVID-19. Fascistic groups are beginning a new push in the name of God and economy to deprioritize the health and safety of the vulnerable, holding demonstrations claiming that COVID-19 is a conspiracy involving 5G and George Soros. At the same time, the New Democracy administration has declared that Greece will be open to the world in a desperate attempt to generate money for the economy. No quarantine, no testing—anyone who can bring tourist dollars to Greece this summer is welcome to spread the virus however they like. After one demonstration involving these conspiracy theorists, anti-fascists beat up two of them. These groups seem to be an extension of the fascist-controlled anti-Macedonia protests that took place in recent years.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/22/2.jpg\")
Athens: demonstrators use Molotov cocktails to push back police at the US embassy in solidarity with the uprising in Minneapolis.
\nIn addition to prioritizing tourist money over the health of the vulnerable, the new government is pushing forward its campaign to pillage the land. Village communities across Greece are threatened by various projects including mining, the plundering of natural resources such as drinking water, and the construction of so-called green energy projects. In the Agrafa mountains near Trikala in central Greece, in the islands of Tinos and Skyros, and elsewhere around the country, people are organizing against wind energy parks. Environmental struggles like this have recently been gaining steam in Greece and these struggles will reach a critical juncture in the near future.
\n\nIn Volos, ecological organizing has focused on organizing against a large cement factory (AGET-Lafarge) that burns waste for fuel and government plans to build a new SRF (solid recovered fuel) factory. The SRF factory is supposed to collect plastic waste and then transfer it to other factories (such as AGET-Lafarge) for burning. The local movement has been fighting against these projects since 2017; it is diverse, involving everyone from social democrats and labor unions to anarchist assemblies and occupations.
\n\nThis year on June 13, the second major demonstration took place against these projects, drawing approximately 3000 participants including a black bloc contingent. The demonstration stopped in front of the main gate of the factory where many police stood guard. When the protestors attempted to hang a banner on the gate of the factory, the police violently attacked the demonstration, hitting many people with clubs and shooting tear gas and flash-bang grenades into the crowd. The resulting conflict continued until 10 pm. As a consequence, thirteen people were detained; two were arrested and are facing charges.
\n\nDuring this conflict, the local chief of police was beaten by members of the black bloc in front of the factory gates. Later on the same night, approximately 100 people gathered in front of the local police headquarters in solidarity with the arrestees; riot police attacked this crowd as well. The next day, on June 14, when people gathered outside the local court in solidarity with the arrestees, police yet again attacked the crowd with tear gas and flash-bang grenades. One participant in this demonstration was beaten badly by police, who left him on the side of the road outside the police headquarters with broken ribs. As of our last news from Volos, he remained at the local hospital recovering from his injuries.
\n\nMost of the organizations that participated in these events wrote statements against the police repression proclaiming solidarity with the ecological struggle against AGET-Lafarge’s activities and the construction of the SRF factory. The arrestees have been released but face charges for which they will return to court in October.
\n\nLess than 10 kilometers away, in Stagiates, a small village in the Pelion mountains, residents have created an autonomous assembly to organize against attempts to privatize the water.
\n\nThis struggle has been ongoing for over five years. On June 5, the mayor of Volos, who is known for mafia associations, appeared in the square of Stagiates with police forces and corporate media reporters to invade all the municipal buildings—including the local library and school—where the locals hold events and assemblies. He threw away their belongings and changed the locks to prevent further usage by the community. His actions sparked an angry response from the locals.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/22/1.jpg\")
A banner in Stagiates.
\nOn April 9, in response to the death of a prisoner—most likely caused by COVID-19—a courageous uprising broke out at the women’s prison of Eleonas demanding more safety measures against the virus inside Greek prisons. The state has taken disciplinary measures against at least 11 women since then while refusing to make any changes to the awful conditions and poor hygiene in the prison, communicating a new will to heighten brutality and repression behind bars.
\n\nIn other prisoner news, Vassilis Dimakis, the anarchist prisoner who is conducting a long hunger strike in order to demand the right to continue his studies behind bars, has been segregated from other prisoners in an attempt to silence him and break his spirit. Solidarity efforts supporting him have been strong and he continues his courageous struggle inside the prison.
\n\nIn the early hours of May 27, in Thessaloniki, Greece, two anarchists were arrested, allegedly in response to an attempt to place an explosive device at the house of a former member of New Democracy, the current president of the Deposit and Loans Fund, Dimitris Stamatis. Greek corporate media claims that one comrade was observed by police watching the politician’s residence, while another was allegedly caught trying to plant the device. One was arrested immediately; the other, some hours later while riding his bicycle. After the arrests, police raided one arrestee’s home as well as various other homes of alleged anarchists throughout the city. They used this as an opportunity to raid four squats in the Ano Poli area of Thessaloniki, briefly arresting ten people.
\n\nThe two anarchists are accused of multiple felonies including criminal association, attempted bombing, attempted arson, possession and manufacturing of explosive material that could pose a danger to human beings, violating Greek arms laws, and resisting authority. Following a court appearance on June 1, they were released from pre-trial detention on the conditions that they report to the police station three times per month, are forbidden to travel outside of Greece, and pay a bail of 20,000 euros by June 15. People organized solidarity events at a rapid pace in order to meet the financial demands of the court, rapidly exceeding the needed amount in a remarkable display of solidarity. Comrades now encourage people to donate to Tameio or to bail funds and anti-repression efforts in the US.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/exiledarizona/status/1268125228644827138\n\n\n
Greece has seen a variety of efforts expressing solidarity with the insurrection in the United States. Anarchists have carried out banner drops and put up huge graffiti installations across mainland Greece and its islands while organizing educational events to help people understand the complicated political context in the US. Solidarity demonstrations have occurred in Thessaloniki and elsewhere around the country. The most notable event involved 3000 people marching from the Greek parliament to the US embassy. Upon arriving at the embassy, they threw stones and Molotov cocktails against the riot police protecting the building. The police responded with tear gas as the demonstration continued marching away from the embassy. Small clashes took place; various small attacks also occurred in the nearby upscale neighborhood of Kolonaki.
\n\nHumiliated by the videos of Molotovs hitting them outside the US embassy, police reacted by beating and arresting demonstrators at random. Some arrests took place. The trials are pending.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/exiledarizona/status/1268242970433720322\n\n\n
Another solidarity action supporting the insurrection in the US took place on June 12 in the Nea Ionia neighborhood of Athens. Afterwards, a communiqué and video appeared claiming responsibility for an attack in which multiple Molotov cocktails were hurled at a police station. The individuals all escaped, while the police officer standing guard fled in fear. The action was claimed anonymously by a group calling itself the “George Floyd Revenge Unit.” The act was declared to be a gesture supporting the insurrection against white supremacy and expressing solidarity with all anarchist prisoners. An excerpt from the communiqué reads as follows:
\n\n\n\n\nWe took this action inspired by the events in the US and in revenge for George Floyd. We took this action in solidarity with the imprisoned throughout the world and in conjunction with the three days of international solidarity with the imprisoned. We must make them think twice before they take our lives. Hopefully, we can build the power to make it impossible for them to.
\n\nFor Black Liberation! Death to the State! Attack the Police! Destroy the System! Loot the World!
\n\n-George Floyd Revenge Unit
\n
Action at Nea Ionia Police Station.
\nOver the past few months, the union of delivery workers have repeatedly held motorcycle parades to demand more protections and an increase in pay. They expressed these demands more fiercely as the pandemic saw these workers forced to run new health risks for their exploiters’ profits without any additional compensation. For some time, these demonstrations had taken place without serious repercussions; yet on June 11, a demonstration of delivery workers experienced unprecedented repression. As soon as they assembled, the demonstration of about 50 workers found themselves surrounded by police. The workers refused to identify themselves or be intimidated into silence; the police arrested every single participant in the demonstration, using a kettling technique rarely seen before in Greece. They forced all the workers to abandon their vehicles, bringing them to jail.
\n\nThis is a heinous assault on workers who were deemed “essential” during the lockdown in Greece. It is also a statement by the state that they intend to employ more repressive measures against demonstrators from here on—certainly a gamble, in a time when self-defense against state violence is becoming commonplace all around the world.
\n\nThe neighborhood of Exarchia itself has experienced some relief from police pressure as the re-opening of businesses has brought people back to the neighborhood, potentially deterring local police from public displays of brutality. However, police continue to patrol the square of Exarchia, frequently raiding it and demanding that those present show identification. The Delta police unit continues to roam Exarchia and other neighborhoods that young people previously experienced as safe places to gather. They wander at random, intimidating non-white individuals, harassing and searching people, aggressively sexually harassing women. Most likely, these actions are intended to recapture public spaces that youth have taken over during the lockdown, returning control of them to the bars and restaurants that occupy the sidewalks and demand that young people pay for the privilege of gathering outside. Following demonstrations in Athens after a huge assault on a public space gathering in Kipseli in May, riots broke out in Thessaloniki when police tear gassed and beat young people for hanging out in a public square.
\n\nThe movement in Greece refuses to back down even as the government does everything in its power to plunder the land, sabotage our organizing efforts, and distract society from the obvious economic crisis looming in the immediate future. Actions continue to take place every day and we remain ungovernable. Solidarity to everyone fighting white supremacy and state power in the United States and all around the world.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/06/22/4.jpg\")
\nWe present the following report from Greece about the ongoing efforts of the Greek government, along with business owners, police, and fascists, to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to intensify repression—and the efforts of anarchists, migrants, prisoners, rebel workers, and others to fight back and open up spaces of freedom.
\n\nThese updates are adapted from a monthly contribution to the “Bad News Report” podcast about the current situation in Greece. We hope to spread awareness about this situation and to bring more listeners to the podcast itself; we recommend the “Bad News” report and the Anarchist/Anti-Authoritarian Radio Network as a whole.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/obsidiananarchy/status/1257282714555817984\n\n\n
In Greece, the state has taken advantage of the coronavirus outbreak to experiment with various methods of martial law and social control. The police are running around the streets as if it is a holiday for them—a reminder of the days under the junta, the dictatorship that ruled Greece in the 1960s.
\n\nMany of the measures have political implications for our movements and for social struggles in this region.
\n\nThe refugee situation was already intensifying as a consequence of the Turkish state opportunistically sending desperate refugees to the Greek border. In the end, the refugees faced attacks on both the Turkish and the Greek sides. Many people overlooked this as a result of the virus—yet while they did not appear in the headlines, these attacks have drawn the praise of fascists, patriots, and others who want to see the passive genocide of refugees and immigrants.
\n\nThe Greek state is trying to contain refugees in camps that are utterly unhygienic, in which there are already cases of COVID-19 and it is impossible for people to maintain a safe distance from each other. These are something between concentration camps and outright death zones. Additionally, new measures are going into place to create additional refugee camps on the mainland in order to isolate refugees; many have described these proposed camps as mass petri dishes of infection and death. Hiding behind its reputation as overwhelmed and underfunded, the Greek state has sent MAT (riot police) and various other state forces to islands and refugee camps to enforce a lockdown and contain refugees who are fighting for their survival in the face of the pandemic. Tests in some hotels that house refugees have found over 70% infection rates; the death toll in some refugee camps remains unknown.
\n\nThe state has taken aggressive measures to repress refugee protests. In addition, the refugees detained on the islands have faced vigilante attacks; during the week of April 23, vigilantes attempted to murder refugees who were walking home on the island of Lesvos, the location of the Moria refugee camp, which holds over 10 times its originally intended capacity. This attack by local fascists or “patriots” has been part of a larger pattern of violence towards immigrants and refugees that also involves police forces.
\n\nThe state also arrested an anarchist immigrant for posting calls to support those facing these unbearable conditions at the border. The authorities justified the arrest on the basis of online posts, demanding a 10-year sentence and claiming that the arrestee wanted to arm refugees so they could defend themselves. They have cited no evidence in the case against him besides these posts advocating for general self-defense. This highlights a new level of repression in Greece, as the state implements new preemptive and draconian policies introduced under the far-right Mytsotakis administration.
\n\nOn Thursday, April 9, 2020, an uprising broke out in the women’s prisons of Eleonas-Thebes, triggered by the death of the arrestee Azizel Deniroglou. She may have been killed by coronavirus, seeing as she suffered from fever, shortness of breath, and a severe cough in the days before she passed away. Prisoners in Korydallos prison in Athens also demonstrated for self-preservation. Like other prisoners across the world, Greek prisoners are demanding early release or new safety and protection measures. Just like the refugees left to die, the way that prisoners are being treated shows that the state considers them expendable.
\n\nThe anarchist prisoner support group Tameio is circulating a call for urgent solidarity and funds: A Solidarity Fund for Anarchist Prisoners and Persecuted Fighters. Since they got started in 2010, they have mostly drawn their funding from donations left in cash boxes at bars and restaurants, as well as fundraising parties; the lockdown measures have caused the group a serious shortfall in resources. In this regard, the lockdown has disrupted support for those who face repression, who face court fees and legal aid—and most of all, for the 24 political prisoners that the fund supports on a monthly basis. You can find more information about this situation here.
\n\nAnarchist teams, squatted social centers, and other groups involved in mutual aid and disaster relief that is independent of the state are making new efforts. Officially, “helping those in need” is one of the six acceptable justifications for leaving one’s house during the lockdown. However, many of these groups and the spaces that host them have faced relentless police harassment and intimidation just for trying to coordinate food deliveries to those in need. On April 25, police carried out multiple arrests in Exarchia targeting those who were simply gathering food that would otherwise go to waste in order to distribute it to those struggling to get by.
\n\nMany mutual aid groups have continued operating regardless of the consequences. While the laws are blurry regarding what constitutes “helping people,” the police have been given permission to interpret this for themselves, and they maintain blatant double standards denying any efforts that specifically help immigrants or the excluded. Similarly, the anarchist group Rouvikinos received praise from the corporate media for bringing needed supplies to Athenian nursing facilities, while the gestures of support and solidarity they have made towards those in Roma camps have not elicited similar affirmations. It is dangerous to try to help people when the police consider this an affront to their authority and to the state, and this risk increases according to which people you are trying to help.
\n\nDespite the repression and intimidation of the goon police in the streets of Greece, the movement has carried out many solidarity actions with medical workers, prisoners, and refugees. It is a scary time, but it is inspiring that even under these circumstances, our movement remains visible thanks to a tremendous amount of mutual aid efforts, not to mention revolutionary graffiti, posters, and banners throughout the country.
\n\nThe police have also used the pandemic as a justification to swarm Exarchia and terrorize its residents, especially immigrants and those entering or exiting squats. The lockdown measures are more visible in Exarchia than elsewhere. Police have been randomly stopping and searching people and ticketing them for fabricated violations in order to terrorize the neighborhood. The police units typically used to attack the anarchist movement, known as MAT and Delta, have set up checkpoints and occupations across Exarchia, claiming that “the neighborhood as it was once known will never return.”
\n\nNight is especially scary; teams of Delta police can be seen riding around in motorcycle gangs, beating and arresting people at random, chiefly non-white immigrants. On top of this, gatherings of 30 to 50 cops can be seen at various checkpoints, flagrantly violating the social distancing protocol that is the justification for the lockdown in the first place. This sort of opportunism would be comical if it weren’t so oppressive for the most vulnerable residents.
\n\nHowever, disdain for the police behavior is widespread, even among residents who were annoyed by Exarchia’s squats and riots in the past. We are certain that when the lockdown measures are eased, resistance will return with a vengeance.
\n\nThe state has done everything it can to blame the public if social distancing efforts fail. The state and corporate media have spread fabricated videos of people not respecting social distance in order to turn Greek society against itself. The state is using this pandemic to experiment with martial law, even enforcing prohibitions on swimming and fishing. Such measures serve to test what Greek people will put up with in order to refine plans for future authoritarian efforts to change this society, especially considering that the IMF now anticipates an even worse economic downturn than the recession of 2008.
\n\nAll across the country, Greek police are ticketing homeless people for violating the lockdown as a consequence of lacking shelter, ticketing immigrants at a higher rate and targeting the most vulnerable on the pretext of enforcing safety measures. The Greek state has also evicted student housing throughout Athens, a step they likely hope will make it easier to privatize the university system in the future. They are also using the text message system via which residents request permission from the state to go outside to collect information about the general population.
\n\nIn short, the Greek state that slashed funding for medical facilities and accelerated the privatization of health care is dealing with the pandemic by escalating state control and social manipulation. In early April, when doctors and other workers at the Evangelismos hospital in central Athens tried to stage a demonstration demanding more protective equipment, an army of police swarmed in to shut it down. In addition to ordering direct assaults on medical staff, the authorities have also told Greek medical workers that they are forbidden to speak publicly to the press about issues relating to the pandemic.
\n\nThis is adapted from the Bad News report for April; you can listen to it here.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/TH_NASHS/status/1258204686534008833\n\n\n
The tweet reads, “Did we survive coronavirus only to catch swine flu?”
\n\nAs of now, Greece is perceived to have avoided being hit hard by COVID-19. While the official death toll has remained quite low, some suspect that the state is reporting lower numbers in order to claim a political victory over the virus and keep Greece attractive to luxury tourism this summer. In any case, the state continues to take advantage of the situation to extend its apparatus, oppress marginalized and excluded groups, target youth, and reorganize Greek society to serve the new administration’s political ends.
\n\nIn contrast to recent years, a broader anarchist call circulated for people to participate in May Day demonstrations. In Greece, May Day had been largely appropriated by the [statist] left, despite its anarchist origins. Whether to spark new efforts or to demonstrate the political will of our movement, May Day 2020 saw a massive anarchist presence across Greece.
\n\nAround 800 anarchists gathered to march in the center of Athens in defiance of the lockdown. As usual, the police focused on this contingent while ignoring the mobilization organized by the communist party. This shows who the defenders of the state consider to be their enemies, who they consider to be a threat. In addition to this march, the autonomous labor union of delivery workers took to the streets in a motorbike demonstration. This followed an earlier demonstration by delivery workers demanding better pay and working conditions, especially in view of the increased demand for delivery during the pandemic. Other small gatherings and demonstrations took place across Athens and all around Greece on May Day, as well as banner drops and graffiti—asserting a meaning for May Day that is not coopted by the authoritarian left.
\n\nDuring the night following May Day, the anarchist group Rouvikinos attacked the headquarters of the customer service company Tele-Performance. This company is notorious for exploiting Greek people, seeing Greece as an opportunity to pay third world salaries within the European Union. This action focused attention on one of the predators that aims to profit on the economic deterioration that the coronavirus will wreak in Greece.
\n\nTaking advantage of the opportunity presented by economic desperation and the distraction created by the pandemic, the new government of Greece is attempting to eliminate many of the existing protections of Greece’s beautiful wild areas. A new law they have proposed will eliminate several regulations preserving wild areas and clear the way for the destruction of the environment to accelerate. The new law will legalize various mining, construction, and development projects that were previously impossible. This will put the fate of Greece’s vast wilderness at the mercy of private companies and industrial capitalism. On May 5, the day after the easing of the lockdown, a vigil took place in front of the parliament drawing attention to the ecological destruction that the law will cause; police brutally detained and removed 15 of the demonstrators.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/b3ta_p1nk/status/1258720925769519104\n\n\n
While freedom of movement has been eased in Greece since May 4, many of the lockdown restrictions remain in effect specifically for bars, restaurants, and other “non-essential” businesses. Regardless, it is clear that the police will continue to target specific demographics and gatherings. First, police violently attacked youth who gathered to celebrate the lifting of the lockdown in Agia Pareskevi square. Police chased young people and fired tear gas at them simply for gathering outside after weeks of lockdown.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/exiledarizona/status/1259046605258358785\n\n\n
Soon after, on May 8, in the Kipseli neighborhood of Athens, police once again fired tear gas into a small square and attacked young people for drinking and hanging outside. This assault followed an anarcha-feminist “take back the night” demonstration against patriarchy, likely one of their motivations for attacking the square. When the police attempted to surround the square, people began chanting against them; in response, they shot tear gas at random into the center of the crowd. People dispersed in various directions, slowing police with some projectiles and pulling dumpsters into the street. Afterwards, Delta police began chasing whoever was trying to avoid the tear gas, beating and detaining people at random. In the end, they detained over 40 people, arresting five. Many people were beaten severely, including one person whose teeth were smashed and another who suffered broken bones after police dropped a motorbike on them.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/05/14/2.jpg\")
A flier for the “take back the night” demonstration in Athens on May 8.
\nAnger about this attack inspired a defiant gathering the next day, on May 9. Thousands returned to this square to show the police that COVID-19 will not strip our society of humanity. During the demonstration, people attacked banks, corporate franchises, and a police station; one cop was ambushed and saw his motorbike destroyed.
\n\nIn addition to the misogynistic motivations for the repression of the demonstration of May 8, many believe that shopkeepers are encouraging police to disperse youth gatherings in squares. Not wishing for people to enjoy free space, they want to make it clear that when “non-essential” businesses are able to open again, you will have to buy a drink in order to hang out in public. In response to the extreme efforts police are making to exert control over Exarchia, young people are looking for new places to gather freely; the police do not want such a tradition to prevail again, nor do they want anything resembling what Exarchia was—and will be again—to generalize throughout the city.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2020/05/14/1.jpg\")
A call to demonstrate on May 9 in response to the police attacks in Kipseli on May 8.
\nThe anti-migrant campaign involving both the state and grassroots fascists continues to grow rapidly. Migrants are still holding small demonstrations demanding livable conditions inside refugee camps. Fascists both in and out of uniform continue to aggressively attack these demonstrations. The state has all but proclaimed that they don’t mind COVID-19 spreading in refugee camps as long as it doesn’t go beyond their walls. They are continuing to move refugees to the mainland in a process aimed at further isolating and concealing them, away from tourist destinations.
\n\nDuring the first week of May, however, local fascists responded to an attempt to move 57 refugees with extreme violence. The government was trying to move the refugees, many of whom were children, to a rented hotel in Pella, North Greece. Local fascists and so-called “patriots”—a euphemism for fascists who do not want their allegiances to be quite as obvious—attacked the buses conveying them. The attackers also set fire to the ground floor of the hotel intended to house them.
\n\nAfterwards, another attempt was made to house refugees to another hotel in Arnissa; this time, 250 fascists and other bigots set fires in the road to block the buses from entering the village. Fascist villagers also assaulted the hotel owner and attacked the hotel itself. Eventually, the refugees were taken to the region of Thessaloniki. It is known that these actions were part of a broader campaign by the openly fascist party Golden Dawn and other fascist groups to escalate violence against immigrants in ways that the state cannot do publicly. It is widely suspected that many of the participants were off-duty police officers.
\n\nThe refugee situation is not improving, and the pandemic is complicating it even further. The state narrative is typically that the authorities understand the xenophobic and fascist responses of some Greek citizens, but they cannot fully support them due to the obligations of international law. This has set the stage for state oppression and grassroots violence to work side by side, if informally. In the second week of May, a Lidl chain store on the island of Samos began to segregate customers into lines of Greeks and non-Greeks for shopping. Immigrants were told to wait for Greek shoppers to finish before they entered the store. The situation for immigrants in Greece is already terrible and expected to get worse.
\n\nPrisons have also been targeting outspoken prisoners who have stood up for their livelihood during the pandemic.
\n\nVasilis Dimakis is an anarchist serving 23 years for alleged bank robberies. He has been a courageous voice against the filthy conditions in Greek prisons. He began a hunger strike when the pandemic was first acknowledged in Greece, contributing to a broader public awareness of the repression and foul conditions that prisoners are facing during this epidemic. He has also been a passionate student behind bars, using the few educational opportunities available to him to pursue his studies while incarcerated. On May 9, he decided to expand his hunger strike to include a thirst strike in response to the authorities moving him to an isolation cell in the Korydallos prison to prevent him from continuing to inspire rage and resistance behind prison bars.
\n\nPola Roupa, a prisoner from the group Revolutionary Struggle, has called for international solidarity. She too has continued to struggle against the opportunistic repression and violence inside Greek prisons. She too has been isolated, transferred, and targeted by prison staff on account of her consistent resistance and organizing behind prison walls. Other imprisoned members of Revolutionary Struggle have also been transferred and isolated in an attempt to suppress intensifying prison resistance in response to the looming pandemic. The group has made a call for international revolutionary solidarity.
\n\nTwo members of Grup Yorum, a beloved Turkish-founded band that has a close relationship with movements in Greece, passed away in April following a long-term hunger strike: Helin Bolek passed away on April 3 and Ibrahim Gokceck on April 24. The Turkish state went so far as to steal Ibrahim’s body during his funeral and to arrest many of those attending, including his own grieving father. Afterwards, an arson attack took place targeting a Turkish diplomat’s car in Thessaloniki. The burning of the diplomat’s car was an act of revenge, but it is nothing compared to the repression and trauma that the Turkish state continues to inflict.
\n\nWith economic crisis looming ahead, insurrectionary anarchists have been carrying out expropriations in Thessaloniki. On May 7, a group went into a corporate supermarket and took baskets of food and other essentials without paying. Many of these items appeared afterwards in a major square of the city for all to take as needed. Such actions are likely to increase as Greece faces even harder economic times ahead. This is another element of an existing campaign of mutual aid projects that has continued to grow during the pandemic. Anarchist groups have delivered masks and other essentials to refugee camps for Turkish and Kurdish political refugees, Roma communities, and others excluded by the Greek state.
\n\nSummer is upon us in Greece, but the dark skies still loom ahead. However, resistance and rage are very fertile here. While the situation is unprecedented, our movements are prepared.
\n\nThis is adapted from the Bad News report for May; you can listen to it here.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/exiledarizona/status/1257942359586856965\n\n\n
“B(A)D NEWS—Angry voices from around the world is a monthly news program from the international network of anarchist and anti-authoritarian radios, consisting of short news segments from different parts of the world. As an international network of radio projects, we believe in the importance of international solidarity. And we also recognize the importance and the need to create and disseminate our own media and counter-information. We hope, with this effort, to reach out to other anarchist and anti-authoritarian projects, groups, and individuals, and to strengthen our connections and our struggles in sharing our stories.”
\n\n\n\n" }, { "id": "https://crimethinc.com/2019/12/25/merry-crisis-and-a-happy-new-fear-repression-and-resistance-in-greece-december-2019", "url": "https://crimethinc.com/2019/12/25/merry-crisis-and-a-happy-new-fear-repression-and-resistance-in-greece-december-2019", "title": "Merry Crisis and a Happy New Fear : Repression and Resistance in Greece, December 2019", "summary": "Greek police are continuing their assault on refugees, student movements, squatters, and their animal companions—and anarchists are fighting back.", "image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/header1.jpg", "banner_image": "https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/header1.jpg", "date_published": "2019-12-25T21:12:00Z", "date_modified": "2025-11-09T15:02:39Z", "tags": [ "Greece", "Athens", "Exarchia", "Riot", "repression", "borders", "insurrection" ], "content_html": "Continuing our coverage of the struggle in Greece between the new repressive New Democracy government and the longstanding anarchist movement, we present the following report, drawing on eyewitness accounts from street mobilizations and the defense of several squats. The Greek state continues to throw its full weight behind an all-out assault on refugees, anarchists, and student movements, encouraging gratuitous police brutality against both human beings and their animal companions while seeking to exonerate right-wing murderers including members of the Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn who faced conspiracy charges in the murder of Pavlos Fyssas and the police officer who murdered the 15-year-old anarchist Alexis Grigoropoulos 11 years ago this month.
\n\nWe hope to inspire international solidarity actions with the movement in Greece and to equip readers for action and analysis in other contexts in an era in which state violence and grassroots resistance are escalating worldwide. The struggle continues.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/8.jpg\")
A police officer doused in paint during the eviction of the squats in Koukaki.
\nThis month the eviction of three inspiring squatted spaces in the Koukaki region of Athens has driven me to compose this urgent update. I aim to keep the struggle in Greece alive in international dialogue—not only in discussion but also in the actions taken to demonstrate international solidarity—in order to remind the Greek state that the foundation and spirit of our struggle goes beyond their borders and to keep this spirit strong and warm in such heinous and cold times.
\n\nMany things have happened since the last update; I will do my best to mention them. However, I want to start with the eviction of Koukaki.
\n\nAt dawn on the morning of December 18, dozens of police from various agencies attacked the three squats in the Koukaki neighborhood, employing weapons including stun grenades and rubber bullets. These three occupations—45 Matrouzou Street, 21 Panetoliou Avenue, and Arvalis 3—were well-known and widely loved spaces helping to preserve an anarchist presence in one of the most expensive and rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods in Athens. While some property owners in the neighborhood considered these spaces threatening, many Koukaki locals appreciated them for maintaining free clothing and food distribution projects and for maintaining a significant voice against Airbnb and similar capitalist efforts.
\n\nLocated very close to the Acropolis with a predominantly upper-middle-class population, Koukaki has been one of the neighborhoods most impacted by Airbnb. The squats evicted represent immediate opportunities in real estate speculation; this may have helped to push their eviction to the top of the state’s priorities.
\n\nPolice invaded the two smaller squats (21 Panetoliou Avenue and Arvalis 3) following a short but courageous defense effort ending in four arrests at Panetoliou and two arrests at Arvalis. The arrestees were later released pending trial on charges including damage to property, disobedience, resisting arrest, and assault on an officer; in addition, police are attempting to use the same laws typically applied to gun possession to prosecute the arrestees after finding ordinary kitchen knives, bits of rock, and a crossbow on the premises.
\n\nOne of the arrestees sustained a shot impact from a plastic bullet at close range and required two hospital visits during imprisonment. Despite this, the arrestees remain resilient. From inside the cells of Athens’ main pre-trial prison, they managed to send out the following statement:
\n\n\n\n\nToday, December 18, the state and its army attacked our community, evicting all three of our homes. Crowds of EKAM, Delta, and MAT scum assisted in the eviction of our homes. We were hit by a flash of lightning, and our companion was shot by a plastic bullet at close range. At the same time, neighbors of the M45 were beaten and tortured when they refused entry to the cops, as there was no public prosecutor. At the time of writing this text, we do not know where and how our companions from the occupation M45 are. This comes as part of a larger campaign to assault all those who resist power and fight for freedom. This is a time where the state is spreading its tentacles of repression against squats in order to meet the needs of tourists, replace permanent homes with Airbnb, and continue a violent campaign of gentrification. We do not recognize the notion of property and ownership that the state protects. We have used these empty buildings to foster a community of revolutionary desire, beauty, and the rejection of capitalism.
\n\nSolidarity to the squats!
\n\n
\nWe will spread across all the land!
\nPower to everyone who resists state violence!Repression does not scare us, it persuades us to continue our struggle for a world of solidarity, equality, and self-organization.
\n
[For background, Delta police are designated for beating demonstrators at close quarters; MAT police are riot squads; EKAM are Greece’s SWAT and the most “organized” police department.]
\n\nNearby, at 45 Matrouzou Street, a great battle took place in which people stood up to the state for an hour. Cops were covered in paint and faced a hailstorm of debris while blinded with the smoke of fire extinguishers. The police equate the protective measures those inside the squat took to defend themselves to attempts on the lives of the officers who attacked their home. These measures included reinforced doors, windows, and other typical security mechanisms. Any sensible person will recognize such measures as simple self-defense.
\n\nAmazingly, all the occupants of Matrouzou succeeded in escaping after this battle, despite all the forces and resources the state had mobilized against them. Embarrassed by this, the invaders punished the immediate neighbors.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/9.jpg\")
The consequences of the eviction of the squats in Koukaki.
\nHoping to capture the escaped squatters, officers knocked on a neighbor’s door, expecting to be welcomed. The mother of the household demanded that they present a warrant in order to enter; as she was requesting this, she heard other officers illegally entering her balcony and rooftop. When she and her husband demanded a warrant once again, the police beat her husband and their two sons, handcuffed them, put black bags over their heads, and detained them in the cold outside on their roof. While the police did not present a warrant, they claimed they had done this with the supervision of the prosecutor in charge of the raids. The sons and father of the family were both arrested alongside the squatters from the other two occupations.
\n\nThe police justified the brutality they inflicted on the family on the grounds that the family members were aiding the squatters in their escape. Yet in searching their home, the police found no evidence to support this claim. Grasping at straws, representatives of the state claim that they will test DNA found inside the squat and the DNA of the family members they arrested to prove there was a connection. An anonymous statement from Matrouzou following the raid claims that this family did not help them in any way. The father who was arrested also happens to be a prominent director who has received a lot of media attention. He has made his disdain for the police apparent, but his distance from the anarchist movement is also obvious.
\n\nThe family has no formal connection to the squat, though they had witnessed the brutality involved in prior evictions, as the squat was also evicted in 2018—under Syriza—only to be re-occupied shortly after. In view of what they had already seen police do, it is not surprising that the family did not feel comfortable allowing police officers into their home if they were not legally obliged to do so.
\n\nEvidence of torture and brutality against the family is widely available via the mainstream media. The police continue to make conflicting statements, even claiming that the family members went for a gun—a desperate lie which has slowly disappeared from their narrative. Despite this, the father and sons are facing charges of resisting arrest and disrupting a police operation.
\n\nThis assault on the neighbors has hit the mainstream press harder than the evictions themselves, in ways that are significant in light of Greek history and the current political polarization of Greece. Like police everywhere, Greek police perceive themselves to be heroes, regardless of how most people see them. Lacking maturity or self-awareness, they tend to lash out when rejected. So when a family that does not resemble the image of their target asserts that officers are not welcome without a warrant, they become aggressive. This incident has generated a dialogue reminiscent of the days of the Greek Junta.
\n\nPolice have gone so far as to argue that the family’s balconies and roof are public spaces, so they do not need to present a warrant to enter. Imagine what would happen if people tried to enter the pools on the roofs of the rich in the upscale neighborhood of Kolonaki! Much of the right-wing media is attempting to blame the woman for defying the police, regardless of the laws. We see this in a discussion between the mother and a condescending anchorman in which he explains that what the officers did was wrong, but it’s actually her fault for defying their demands.
\n\nThe polarization of Greece is playing out in the mainstream media. The proponents of the Junta whine that under the dictatorship “we slept with our doors open”—others joke that “we slept with our doors open because we didn’t want to have to wake up to open them for police raids.”
\n\nIn any case, the three evicted spaces that provided a voice for the residents of Koukaki who celebrated community over profit are now boarded up with bricks. It is fortunate that many of the occupiers escaped; all of them demonstrated remarkable courage. They published a statement which is available below.1
\n\nWhile many of the non-human animals residing at the three occupations in Koukaki were also able to escape, it is unclear whether some of the cats that lived at Matrouzou remain boarded up inside. The police have taken to intentionally trapping animals inside evicted squats as a way to terrorize squatters; they did this during the eviction of the Vancouver squat on November 2. Considering that the residents of Matrouzou escaped, it is not surprising that police would contain animals inside the building until they die of hunger in hopes of luring the escapees into a trap or, failing that, tormenting them.
\n\nWe should also mention that Dimitris Armakolas, the comrade who died in a tragic accident while raising a banner in solidarity with prisoner Marios Seisidis, was also a resident of the Koukaki squats before his passing.
\n\nImmediately after the eviction, a small solidarity demonstration took place. Police kettled the demonstrators, arresting five of them, then attacked the subsequent gathering at police headquarters to support the arrestees. That evening, after an emergency assembly, a surprise mob appeared in the heart of Athens’ shopping district in Monistraki, a well-known hang out of the rich and comfortable. While the beneficiaries of capital sipped their drinks, over 200 people marched disruptively through the area throwing flyers, painting graffiti on various stores, and smashing out the windows of a bank, a corporate grocery franchise, and a Starbucks. The police could not carry out any arrests and were forced to issue a public warning.
\n\nThis action demonstrated that the movement does not only exist in squats and in Exarchia; it can arise and strike anywhere.
\n\nSurprise action in Athens’ shopping district in Monistraki, December 18.
\nAs remarked, it is becoming a pattern for police to target the animal companions of squatters. This bears more comment.
\n\nIn the Vancouver squat, for example, the squatters kept dogs and cats carefully separated in order to avoid the possibility of a violent dispute between the creatures. Signs on doors informed people of the dangers of letting certain dogs or cats out of the rooms they lived in. When the police raided Vancouver, they handcuffed and beat those who were defending the squat. While in handcuffs, one of the detainees begged officers to keep the animals apart for their safety. The officer replied by elbowing this person in the face. In spite of this person’s requests, the cops intentionally placed the two dogs in the room occupied by four cats and closed the door—at a time when all of the animals were extremely distressed. One of the cats died as a consequence.
\n\nThe closest companion of the cat who died learned of the death while inside prison. Absurdly, the cops claimed that the cat had been dead for two weeks, alleging that the squatters were lying in order to gain access to the squat again in order to reoccupy it. This broke the heart of the cat’s closest companion, considering they had spent time together just recently.
\n\nFollowing the cat’s death, animal control took the two dogs; the police threw the deceased cat in a dumpster and denied that the surviving three cats remained inside, claiming that no animals were left on the premises. Only after a bricklayer who was sealing up the entrances of the building was attacked by a cat to such an extent that it necessitated a visit to the hospital was anyone permitted to enter to search for the remaining cats. Then the state allowed animal welfare officials in for one hour, but they found only one of the three remaining cats. Vancouver is a very large building and cats are highly skilled at hiding, especially from police that they recognize as lethal antagonists.
\n\nFinally, with two cats remaining inside, an animal liberationist conducted a hunger strike outside Vancouver. At first, police attacked and threatened the hunger striker; when a prosecutor sent an order to allow for a proper search for the remaining cats, the police chief denied the request, claiming there were not enough police to safeguard the search—the same day that hundreds of police poured into Exarchia following an attack on a motorcycle belonging to a Delta cop. After a week of hunger strike and the spreading public accusation of animal cruelty, the cops finally gave in and allowed people to find and release the remaining cats. According to comrades from Vancouver, if not for the mainstream attention resulting from a social media campaign to get the cats out, they are certain that the prosecutor would have never called for their release. It is all too easy to torture and kill the voiceless in order to torment those with more “rights.”
\n\nShortly after the raid of Vancouver, in the course a string of raids against the group Revolutionary Self-Defense, police raided a home in Exarchia. The cops found nothing to charge the residents with. The cops conducting the raid were the same ones who had attacked Vancouver. Leaving in frustration, they attacked a cat that lived there, breaking the cat’s front legs and smashing the cat’s jaw. When asked what they were doing, one responded, “Are you gonna do a hunger strike too?”
\n\nIn another home invasion in the same string of anti-terror raids, officers kidnapped all the dogs on the premises—apparently for no reason other than to cause pain to their human companions.
\n\nPolice in the United States often murder animals—for example, shooting dogs; maybe this news will not surprise many readers. But it is important to record the brutal cowardice of the police carrying out these evictions and to emphasize that the free hand that New Democracy has given them amplifies the cruelest and most sordid aspects of humanity.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/7.jpg\")
Two cats impacted by evictions in Athens. Kolonia, on the left, was intentionally murdered by police during the eviction of the squat Vancouver. They later threw her body in a dumpster and claimed she had been dead for two weeks already. Sara, on the right, is a blind cat who was found on the streets of Athens and given love and housing at a squat in Koukaki. She remains alive and well and among caring friends, but the police have stolen her home.
\nMeanwhile, the state prosecutor has suggested dismissing conspiracy charges against the Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn in the case of the 2013 murder of anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas, aka Killah P, while at the same time charging two individuals for alleged attacks against the offices of Golden Dawn. Such attacks have happened repeatedly in the last few years, usually claimed anonymously by communiqués signed with the names of victims of Golden Dawn—for example, the Pavlos Fyssas brigade and the Sahzat Luqman brigade. (Sahzat Luqman was a Pakistani laborer murdered by members of Golden Dawn.) According to corporate media, police allege the suspects to be linked to a November 1 attack on Golden Dawn’s office on Deligianni Street in downtown Athens as well as an earlier attack on May 23 in the West Attica area of Acharnes. Both attacks used makeshift explosives that damaged the premises but caused no injuries.
\n\nIf the state allegations are pushed forward, it is likely that the prosecution will attempt to charge the two under new anti-terror measures, with the possible result that both of them could receive longer sentences than any of the murderers convicted for killings Golden Dawn has perpetrated, not to mention all the Golden Dawn murders that have never even been investigated. If Killah P had not been a white Greek citizen, his case likely would have never have made headlines—a tragic reality in Greece and around the world.
\n\nTo the surprise of many people, the two arrestees were not remanded into custody on the day of their arraignment. Typically in cases involving terrorism, the state will hold those accused until their trial. Most likely, they are being allowed to await trial outside of jail as a result of a calculated effort by the state to moderate outrage. In view of widespread domestic and even international outrage against police brutality in Greece and the outcome of the Golden Dawn conspiracy case, the theatre of Greek politics will appear to remain in accordance with the laws of neoliberal democracy. But despite the flimsy evidence, the two comrades still have to report to the police four times a month and pay 15,000 euro bail, and they cannot travel abroad until the trial begins. If their case proceeds as others have, their trial could be delayed for years—using bureaucracy to punish the unconvicted.
\n\nIt is not a coincidence that the state is dropping the conspiracy charges against Golden Dawn while cracking down on their enemies. New Democracy attempted to distance themselves from Golden Dawn during the elections, but they continue to make it clear that they are allies of the openly fascist group, even if somewhat wealthier and better mannered. When Killah P’s mother left the courtroom after the conclusion of the prosecution at the end of six years of traumatizing trial, she said “Today, you have stabbed Pavlos.”
\n\nNow Golden Dawn stands to be awarded 8 million euros as compensation for the case. This is a substantial amount of money in Greece for a political group. Political parties in Greece’s parliament are entitled to state funding. However, when the trial began six years ago, the state froze this funding. If Golden Dawn receives this large sum at once now, we will no doubt see them attempt to make up for their recent setbacks in the 2019 elections; it will also dramatically increase the resources available to support fascist street violence.
\n\nAs an anarchist, I never expect justice from the state. I won’t use my limited voice to demand that anyone be imprisoned, not even fascist murderers. However, it is necessary to point out that a great deal of evidence was presented in the case against Golden Dawn. Beyond the obvious evidence of their Nazi connections and politics, investigators presented an array of intercepted phone calls and messages in the court, as well as written instructions explicitly organizing fascist violence. In view of the hierarchical organization of Golden Dawn, it’s very difficult to imagine that autonomous actions would take place without the approval of higher party members. Despite this, all 65 accused members of the conspiracy were acquitted of their charges. Only the individuals accused of actually stabbing Killah P will face any punishment, despite the large number of Golden Dawn members who coordinated throughout the neighborhood to converge on him, threatened him, surrounded him, and attacked him on the night he was murdered.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/3.jpg\")
Graffiti on a state monument in Athens, December 6, 2019.
\nNow let’s back up and start earlier, to cover what else has happened this month.
\n\nFrom November 20, when the government announced that it would evict all squats, until the deadline of December 5 that they set for the occupiers to gain legalization or vacate, squats across Greece organized daily events and coordinated demonstrations across the country to show the strength of our movements and solidarity.
\n\nOn the day of the deadline, anonymous comrades reclaimed 15 new squats across Athens to be used if existing squats were evicted. Anarchists also boarded up an office of New Democracy with bricks the same way they have assaulted our spaces. This is one of many recent actions against the offices of New Democracy across the country.
\n\nOn December 6, demonstrations took place across Greece in memory of Alexis Grigoropoulos, the 15-year-old murdered by police in 2008, and the insurrection that followed; Greek anarchists have observed this date for ten years now. Clashes occurred in Patras and Thessaloniki.
\n\nIn the morning of December 6, an autonomous demonstration of anarchist students set out, surrounded on all sides by the police and isolated from other left demonstrators. This clearly illustrated which movement the state recognizes as a threat to its power. That night, a huge demonstration marking the anniversary of the murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos took place with thousands of anarchists attending.
\n\nAt the end of the demonstration, many took small actions, destroying advertisements on bus stations, pelting banks and state offices with paint bombs, and attempting to remove the barricades at universities, which are aimed at preventing public use of campuses. While these actions were fairly limited, once the demonstrators began to make their way back to Exarchia, where the memorial to Alexis is, without provocation or direct confrontation against the cops, police attacked brutally, beating people at random. Video footage shows the violence; even the state has been forced to pretend to investigate its own brutality, though we can be sure this will come to nothing.
\n\nOne of the important pieces of evidence is a video showing police beating an unarmed man screaming “I surrender.” While they beat many people that night, this video caught mass attention not only due to the cowardly assaults carried out by officers, but also because, intent on humiliating him, they were stripping him of his clothing. This, too, has become a common police tactic aimed at humiliating arrestees and detainees, reported by many individuals who have been kidnapped by the riot police around the center of Athens. It is reminiscent of the kidnappings and torture done under Greece’s Junta.
\n\nOne reporter from a mainstream television station was compelled to comment on the brutality live on the air on the night of December 6. A reporter from the mainstream channel Kontra couldn’t help reacting to the beating he witnessed of a person filming with a phone near the events. The reporter said, “People were beaten for truly doing nothing,” and that if he hadn’t had a professional camera crew, he would have been beaten as well. Shocking many people, he added that “While many take to the streets, we must chant the chant that unites us all: ‘cops, pigs, murderers.’”
\n\nDozens were arrested across the country on ridiculous allegations by the state. A deliveryman delivering food near the assault by police was beaten and arrested; while he was identifying himself, police asked him why he was running. All arrestees have been released and are currently awaiting trial.
\n\nAt the same time as the demonstration in Athens, people carried out clandestine actions outside of Exarchia in thirteen other Athenian neighborhoods. Communiqués claim that people attacked approximately thirty state and capitalist targets in solidarity with the spirit of the day and against new state measures.
\n\nAs of now, the deadline for squats to seek legalization has passed. All remaining squatted social centers and residences are in open war with the government. Yet our solidarity and the spirit of the anarchist movement here is rooted too deeply to be vulnerable to any material attack they could make on anarchist infrastructure.
\n\nNumerous counterattacks have taken place since the last update. People have targeted expensive cars specifically in affluent neighborhoods to remind those benefiting from the displacement of anarchists and immigrants that they are not safe. The movement is getting hit hard, but we are not out of action. On the contrary, many more people have passionately woken up.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/2.jpg\")
Demonstration in Athens, December 6, 2019.
\nOn December 17, 2019, police evicted the Villa Kouvelos squat in Marousi, a northern district of Athens, in the early morning hours.
\n\nThe empty and dilapidated building was occupied by anarchists in April 2010 and rapidly renovated into a regionally-known social center that enriched the district with concerts, lectures, discussions, and political events. The neighborhood of Marousi is known more as a bland middle-class district of Athens. Kouvelos was important to many youth as a safe place to explore revolutionary ideas.
\n\nBeing close to one of the offices of Golden Dawn, the squat was a frequent target of fascist attacks. However, many locals in the surrounding neighborhood appreciated Kouvelos as a friendly and safe space offering an alternative to Marousi’s bland normalcy. As of now, there remains no fabricated reason for the eviction—there are no plans to use the building or sell the land. The eviction was most likely prioritized because state officials perceived it to be an easy operation on account of its location.
\n\nWhen the cops began the evacuation, at 7:30 am, many local residents gathered outside to voice their opposition to the operation and solidarity for the occupation. Later that day, a demonstration of 300+ people took place in Marousi, smashing many banks and spraying graffiti for Kouvelos around the neighborhood.
\n\nThe weekend after the evacuation, a spontaneous demonstration of 300+ anarchists converged in Marousi to re-enter Kouvelos. They asserted the resilience of our movements, hung a banner, and reclaimed the squat for a period of time, during which they surveyed the damage done by the EKAM (Greek SWAT police), documented the investigations police were carrying out (such as marked DNA samples), and noted what will be needed in order to fully re-occupy the squat in the near future.
\n\nExiting the squat, the demonstration took the streets, attacking some local corporate franchises and the metro station of Marousi, where the glass turnstiles were smashed. While the participants had not intended to battle the police, riot police attacked the march, and demonstrators defended themselves against asphyxiating tear gas and riot police assaults. During the demonstration, some people identified an undercover police officer taking pictures and video of the demonstrators. A demonstrator confronted him and punched him.
\n\nIn response, corporate media outlets flexed their muscles of deception. Due to the perceived old age of the undercover officer, media claimed that anarchists attacked an old man wearing a hearing aid without reason. Quickly, it became clear that the hearing aid was actually a device to communicate with other officers and the supposedly old man was an active-duty police officer. However, the press turned this lie into prime time news, solely focusing on the footage, playing the attack on the cop over and over again and purposefully neglecting to remind viewers of the original point of the demonstration.
\n\nStill, an action like this occurring with so much strength in a neighborhood such as Marousi underscores the resilience of our movements. Those resisting on behalf of Kouvelos emphasize that the squat will be re-occupied, stating that their revolutionary desires will outweigh any campaign of repression.
\n\nLeading up to Christmas, the state has also targeted Exarchia Square with surreal efforts to “normalize” the area. Police raided and surrounded the square to hose down the sidewalk and install a Christmas tree. The tree was burned twice the first day. The police did the same thing the next day; the tree was burned again. These highly symbolic efforts to “clean up” the area indicate the way the state hopes to use Exarchia to send a message to its base. On top of this, the Mayor of Athens is discussing organizing state events in the square. If this happens, the festivities will only take place surrounded by the police who protect them; the real point is to provoke the defenders of Exarchia and to send a message to those who never go there that the state has recaptured it.
\n\nThe burning of the Christmas tree recalls the famous event during the 2008 insurrection when demonstrators burned the iconic Christmas tree in front of the Greek parliament to convey a willingness to continue fighting even as many Greeks returned to their villages for holiday festivities.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/th1an1/status/1208133100347305986\n\n\n
The Greek state is also continuing efforts to modernize its surveillance methods. While they have always been open about their ability to monitor classic phone and SMS conversations, they are looking to move forward in the digital world, openly mentioning their efforts to get consulting in the UK for the purposes of investigating Viber and Whatsapp users. This effort to collaborate with foreign tech-spy agencies follows the formal incorporation of drone technology into Greek policing.
\n\nWhile all this plays out, New Democracy is hurrying to meet its promise to relocate 20,000 refugees to mainland Greece. They aim to move refugees off islands such as Lesvos and further from the public eye. Over 50,000 refugees remain in camps on various Aegean islands across the water from Turkey, in conditions so appalling that NGOs and human rights groups have publicly called out the state for them. Local fascists frequently attack these camps. The numbers in these camps are slowly increasing again as more immigrants arrive in Greece. However, the government passed new laws to limit and deter asylum requests in November; they aim to define refugees as migrants in order to weaken the standards of protection that are due to them. Additional new measures to slow the already drawn-out asylum procedure have gone into effect in order to deter refugees from following proper procedure as a way to lower the acceptance rates of asylum requests.
\n\nAlongside all these measures, new cuts will go into effect in 2020 that will leave refugees without the support programs that have helped them to survive; they will be expected to fend for themselves during their application processing. The existing support programs were never enough to begin with; in many cases, a refugee awaiting asylum was expected to survive on 150 euros a month, while being unable to seek legal employment. Now they will face even worse challenges.
\n\nAll these measures are intended to deter refugees and immigrants from coming to Greece and to torture those who already live here, having made the daring journey across the Aegean Sea. If people are pushed to work illegally, or forced to steal to eat, or if they travel abroad hoping for better opportunities, all of these are grounds that can be used to reject their applications and deport them.
\n\nThis month, heinous overcrowding and institutional degradation set off an inspiring uprising on Samos Island, a short distance from Turkey. According to No Borders, a refugee camp on this island originally designed for 650 people is housing 8000. That means roughly one toilet per 300 people and one shower per 500 people. Camps like this are spread across other islands near Turkey. This month, residents of the camp came together to spark an uprising against the police. Facing tear gas and brutality by local riot forces, they demonstrated their humanity despite a terrible situation and harsh winter. This follows another uprising in October, when a massive fire necessitated the eviction of the over-crowded camp. Both uprisings have resulted in the shutting down of schools and other major institutions on the island. Riots and resistance in these camps are ongoing; they account for some of the reasons the new government prefers to move them out of sight rather than being forced to meet the demands of the migrants.
\n\nA tour of Samos camp by Euronews.
\nCorporate coverage of the December 2019 uprising in Samos.
\nEntering the holiday season, we wish to bring to mind the hunger strike of political prisoner Kostas Sakkas, a Greek anarchist charged with belonging to a terrorist group and with aggravated possession of weapons after his arrest at a warehouse. He is accused of participating in the Conspiracy of Cells of Fire, though both he and the CCF deny this. Throughout his imprisonment, he has conducted frequent hunger strikes. His hunger strikes became so frequent and so effective under the prior administration that they considered releasing him under the same bill that led to the release of anarchist prisoner Nikos Romanos. New Democracy has dismissed his struggle, suggesting that “the law should never apply to anarchist terrorists” while using that same law to release the murderer of Alexis Grigoropoulos as soon as they took power.
\n\nMany of Sakkas’s hunger strikes have been aimed at winning the option to work or gain access to education. His most recent hunger strike was intended to compel the government to transfer him from the Nigrita prison in northern Greece to Korydallos prison in Athens in order that he could be closer to his family. After going into a hypoglycemic shock and facing other life-threatening health issues, he won his demand and will be transferred to Korydallos prison. His courage should be an inspiration to us all.
\n\nMay the names of fallen comrades, such as Alexis Grigoropoulos, and those struggling behind bars, such as Kostas Sakkas, resound around the world during this cold time of the year. May our struggles demonstrate that our passion for freedom is stronger than any prison, inspiring others to connect their struggles with ours.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/11.jpg\")
Alexis Grigoropoulos.
\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/10.jpg\")
Kostas Sakkas.
\nFurther English coverage of some of the events described in this text can be found here.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/exiledarizona/status/1209066332953731079\n \n
![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/12/25/4.jpg\")
The famous burning of the Christmas tree in front of the Greek parliament in 2008.
\nThe following is an online statement of 45 Matrouzou St. regarding the escape and defense, entitled “From the Koukaki Occupation Community.”
\n\nThis is a statement by comrades who defended the Matrouzou 45 building and escaped the MAT, OPKE, and EKAM police forces of repression. While facing a police raid, we were informed to the fate of the other houses in our squatted community.
\n\nWe immediately fortified the house and entered conflict with the forces of repression. Furniture, electrical appliances, boilers, paint, fire extinguishers, everything and anything in the house fell upon their heads. They responded by shooting and injuring us with plastic bullets as well as with stun grenades thrown directly into our home. We shouted “Here we live, here is our home, here we will die!”—”Fuck your development and Airbnb.”
\n\nWhen they finally did get in, completely chaotic factors and a survival instinct offered an escape path. The memories that push us forward were awakened as inspiration by the forces of repression. These mercenaries could not accept that those who resisted them had escaped. We assume they were sad they couldn’t catch us to beat and torture us. In response to this embarrassment, they turned to accuse random neighbors of arranging our escape. Like true mercenaries, the cops targeted the first house they found in front of them. They carried out an armed invasion, beating and capturing an entire family, concluding by arresting the father and both sons.
\n\nThe state that claims to protect the institutionalized Greek family and the sanctity of private property lost their focused target. Not having captured those resisting, they took to beating people at random.
\n\nWe send our respect to the woman and her family who refused to let the cops enter their home illegally, paying the price for their choices.
\n\nWe send infinite love to our companions and to every person who supported us.
\n\nSolidarity with those arrested in the occupation of our community.
\n\nWe may have lost all our belongings, we remain without clothes and shelter, they may have temporarily erased from the map three houses and three years of continuous and painstaking work for social solidarity and resistance; but we know they are afraid, our momentum and power is uncontrollable.
\n\nSolidarity with the occupation of the Villa Kouvelos and all squats.
\n\nLet the evictions of squatters become the reason for the escalation of the struggle on every social front. ↩
\nThe neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens, Greece is known worldwide as an epicenter of combative anarchism. For many years, anarchists and refugees have worked together to occupy buildings, establishing housing collectives and social centers that provide a variety of services outside the control of the state. Starting in August, the new government has carried out a series of massive raids targeting immigrants, anarchists, and other rebels, while revoking the autonomy previously granted to universities and introducing a wide range of new repressive measures and technologies. Now the government has given all the remaining occupations in Greece two weeks to conclude lease agreements with the owners or face the same fate. This deadline coincides with December 6, a day that anarchists have observed for ten years as the anniversary of the police murder of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos and the uprising that followed it.
\n\nThe new governing party of Greece, aptly named New Democracy, is described by some media outlets as “center right,” in contrast to outright fascist parties like Golden Dawn; in fact, New Democracy has adopted much of its repressive and xenophobic agenda directly from the fascist right, while pursuing a neoliberal agenda in service of international finance capital. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mytsotakis, a hereditary representative of the capitalist class whose father was also prime minister, exemplifies the political caste that seeks to destroy the last safeguards protecting workers and poor people while scapegoating those who resist.
\n\nIn the following interview, an anarchist in Athens details the government crackdown that is unfolding and explores the stakes of the fight. This is nothing less than an attempt to erase and rewrite the history of resistance movements in Greece and around the world—so that the dates November 17 and December 6, on which demonstrators have memorialized those murdered by the police, will instead mark the triumphs of repression—so that the name Black Panthers will not call to mind the grassroots Black organization for self-defense and survival, but rather designate the blackshirts of the new police force tasked with patrolling the subways and tourist areas. Imitating protesters around the world, Greek police are now terrorizing pedestrians in Exarchia by shining lasers in their eyes. All of this underscores the extent to which the gloves have come off: from Chile to Hong Kong, open war is erupting between those who aspire to rule and those who aspire to freedom.
\n\nWe have anticipated this wave of reaction since the left party Syriza came to power in 2015. Something similar occurred not long ago in Brazil: the Workers’ Party (PT) maintained power for years by introducing minor social reforms while pursuing a neoliberal agenda and cracking down on movements for social change, ultimately creating the conditions for the far right to seize the government and take revenge on the general population, culminating in the electoral victory of Jair Bolsonaro. While some leftists see this as a reason to remain loyal to left parties no matter what they do, we see the events in Brazil and Greece as a reminder that no electoral strategy can stand in for the sort of collective horizontal organizing that could one day make us capable of facing down the state.
\n\nThe repression in Greece gives us an opportunity to reevaluate the effectiveness of current anarchist tactics and strategies in a context where many thousands of people are employing them. We should not blame Greek anarchists for experiencing this repression; the story is not over yet, and as in Chile, this crackdown may ultimately broaden and deepen the movement against the state. At the most, we might hypothesize that this wave of repression illustrates the difficulties of maintaining fixed territory today, when governments fearing for their stability are striking out as hard as they can. The age of ceasefires is over. In the coming years, it will be impossible to defend zones of autonomy without precipitating ever wider uprisings against authority.
\n\nInternational solidarity is an essential aspect of this. We urge everyone to stay abreast of the events in Greece, to support arrestees there, and to carry out solidarity actions at Greek embassies and elsewhere.
\n\nThe interview follows.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/11/23/6.jpg\")
Riot police guard the US embassy and enclose anarchist demonstrators in Athens on November 17.
\nWe last spoke in August. What has happened since then?
\n\nSince August, the Greek state has exceeded general expectations. It’s hard to know where to begin in listing the incidents of brutality and terror it has visited upon the anarchist movement, targeted minorities, and all those excluded or at odds with the new administration over the past three months.
\n\nWhat happens next will surely overshadow the intense repression that has already occurred. Every morning I wake up to news of another squat evicted, another person beaten or arrested. We are seeing a new campaign of repression in which an emboldened right wing seeks revenge for the years under a left government, ironically focusing on those who were outside and against the Syriza administration. Syriza also carried out repression, but it utilized a more complex, deceptive, and indirect strategy.
\n\nSome older anarchists describe what is happening now as nothing more than a return to the days before Syriza. Yet confronting the swift and relentless assault on our movement and infrastructure, even those who have been around since the resurgence of the anarchist movement in Greece in the 1980s admit that this may exceed all the previous waves of repression since the far-right military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974.
\n\nThe state is hitting from every angle. It is attempting to destroy the anarchist movement, but it is also attempting to revoke the remaining freedoms that have made Greece unique relative to other western nation-states. “Law and order” is the banner beneath which this administration is carrying out this campaign of revenge.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/11/23/3.jpg\")
Police beating and detaining youths.
\nThings could be worse. This sort of state violence is the norm in the United States; far more brutal repression is taking place elsewhere in the world. I simply aim to report on the situation in Greece during these dark days, particularly in Athens. I affirm my solidarity with the struggles unfolding from Chile to Hong Kong in response to capitalist restructuring across the world. I hope to inspire more solidarity and to make sure that the story of what is happening here does not go untold.
\n\nAs of November 20, the so-called “Ministry of Citizen Protection” has officially given all squats remaining in Greece fifteen days’ notice to vacate or face forceful eviction. [Today, the media has published a map of the squats under threat here.] In the statement, they exhort occupiers to contact the owners to make lease agreements and allege that immigrants will be moved to “inland accommodations.” While most squatted buildings are owned by the state, even in cases in which the owners have not made moves to evict squatters, government officials have pressured them or fabricated justifications for eviction such as accusations of drug dealing or weapons-making. Considering that most squats maintain strict anti-drug policies and are clearly aware enough of the risk of imminent raids to know the risks of manufacturing weapons, these accusations are blatantly dishonest. Fabrications like this also provide excuses to evict squats like Lelas that have been occupied for over 20 years, regardless of whether there is pressure from their owners or precise evidence of illegal activity. Under the prosecutors appointed by New Democracy, housing protection laws no longer pose any obstacle to the current regime.
\n\nAs for the “inland accommodations” for immigrants, this is clearly a reference to concentration camps. When we completed the last interview in August, only about 150 immigrants were reported to have been evicted during the raids of August 26. Today, well over 500 immigrants have been evicted, according to the official numbers. The squats housing refugees that have been evicted since August 26 include the fifth high school of Athens in Neapoli, an unnamed squat on the outskirts of Omonia, Hotel Oneiro squat in Exarchia, and the Clandestina squat in Exarchia.
\n\nThe people who have been kidnapped from these squats by the state were transferred to detention centers or taken to concentration camps far from the public eye. Many people have been turned away from these camps due to overcrowding, leaving them homeless and vulnerable to human trafficking and attacks from fascists and police. The housing inside these camps is reportedly little better. Many stories have gone unheard; communication has been lost with many of those taken.
\n\nSome of those evicted from Clandestina refused to board a bus to one of these camps; the police stole their papers and forced them to walk back 10 miles in the pouring rain without knowing where they would go. It is becoming common for police to steal the documents of refugees or immigrants who resist, which complicates future police encounters. Conditions in the camps are overcrowded and unhygienic; fascist groups have pelted refugees and immigrants with rocks and organized pork barbecues outside the camps in hopes of offending those they assume to be Muslims. This week, the government released a plan to further curtail procedures that welcome refugees while funding new concentration camps in abandoned schools or unused land far from cities and tourist destinations.
\n\nOn November 2, police raided and evicted the 14-year-old squat known as Vancouver located near the Economics School of Athens, arresting four people, planting drugs on the premises, destroying the interior, kidnapping several dogs, and boarding up the building with cats trapped inside it. Following a hunger strike by a member of an animal liberation group and legal pressure, officials permitted a person to scale the bricks of the building and release the cats that the police had intended to starve to death as a form of punishment. Vancouver was beloved by a variety of anarchists, transcending some of the divisions that have plagued the movement here. It was also the first formally anarchist squat to be evicted.
\n\nA response to the eviction of the squat Vancouver.
\nOutside of Athens, in Larisa, the Palmares squat was evicted. In Thessaloniki, where fascists had burned down the squat Libertatia during nationalist demonstrations regarding the name of Macedonia in January 2018, the squatters had almost finished reconstructing the building; police attacked them, arresting four people and forcing the occupants to break off reconstruction on the absurd grounds that they were “destroying” a historic site.
\n\nOriginally, the government declared that all occupations were to be evicted by November 17, the anniversary of the day in 1973 when the Greek military junta attacked the Polytechnic University in Exarchia with a tank, murdering dozens. Now that this deadline has passed, the new statement from the government announces that all occupations will be evicted by December 5, one day before the anniversary of the day Greek police officers murdered Alexis Grigoropoulos, an unarmed 15-year-old, in Exarchia. Both dates were clearly chosen as provocations, explicitly affirming the murders of young civilians that the Greek state has carried out and aiming to suppress the movements that memorialize them.
\n\nThe government has rapidly channeled a great deal of additional resources to the police specifically for the purpose of attacking immigrant communities in Athens and crushing the anarchist and squatter movements. Syriza had suspended the Delta police, the roving motorbike force used to beat and terrify demonstrators in Exarchia, relying instead on MAT police. Now 300 new Delta police have been established under a new name, OPKE, which can be translated as “crime prevention and repression teams.” They are officially in the streets again.
\n\nNew Democracy has also created a new police force inside the subways and tourist areas of Athens, embarrassingly called the Black Panthers on account of their black uniforms. Transportation regulation and fare enforcement have already become stricter; now there is a police force for this reason alone. The MAT police, the riot police units that repress demonstrations, stand guard to prevent people from reoccupying evicted squats, attack demonstrations, and surround the neighborhood of Exarchia every day, have also been increased by an additional 1500 members. These increased numbers were first visible on November 17.
\n\nPolice officers on the streets are visibly emboldened. I have seen officers openly harassing women; they threaten anyone they suspect might be their enemy. Their brutality is intense and amazingly random. In grotesque appropriation of the tactic protesters have used in Hong Kong and Chile to keep riot police at a distance, officers have been using laser pointers to point out targets in the streets; when they have nothing better to do, they sometimes simply point them at people’s eyes. This has happened to me and to other people I know.
\n\nBeing near a clash, regardless of your participation in it, is justification enough for officers to attack you with physical force; facing no legal risk, they are seeking to exert maximum force against the general population. Individual officers take pride in the power that has been vested in them to do this. A well-known anarchist was recently arrested in the square of Exarchia for simply sitting. The police pulled his clothing down and sexually assaulted him while telling him “the junta is back.”
\n\nSignificant changes in repression have also been made into policy. For example, the government has extended the minimum sentence for those convicted on terrorism charges from 17 years to 22, while stiffening the conditions of release and intensifying the penalties for probation violations. The penalties for rioting and the use of Molotov cocktails have been increased; expanded trespassing laws specifically target protests that enter buildings “unlawfully,” an attack aimed at groups like Rouvikonas who enter buildings when protesting conditions or exploitation by bosses or employers. There are efforts to punish those advocating or reporting on resistance, essentially criminalizing radical content itself. The new government aims to modernize the apparatus and practices of state repression in Greece so they will compare with those of the United States. The officials appointed to the Ministry of Civilian Protection have consulted with various foreign agencies, including the FBI. They are investing in new technologies including drones and cyber-surveillance.
\n\nPolice have brought back additional methods of intimidation and surveillance at full force. Officers have shown up at the homes of accused anarchists before demonstrations to intimidate them—a tactic they employed under Syriza, but less often and less intensely. Anarchists have found GPS tracking equipment attached to their vehicles and seen cameras stationed in cars outside their homes. Two nights ago in Exarchia, anarchists noticed a vehicle containing badly camouflaged surveillance equipment parked outside the offices of Class Counterattack and the Mikro cafe. When they went to photograph the car, dozens of riot police swarmed the area, escorting two undercover officers as they moved the vehicle.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/11/23/5.jpg\")
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis gloating about new repressive measures.
\nOn November 8, police carried out anti-terror raids targeting over a dozen houses alleged to be the residences of anarchists connected to the group Revolutionary Self-Defense. The authorities claim to have seized an array of weapons including guns used in prior attacks against the Mexican embassy and the headquarters of PASOK, the socialist party, which is the location of one of the main stations of the MAT riot police in Exarchia. Police arrested three people in these raids; it’s likely that they will experiment with the new punitive measures in prosecuting them. The new prime minister has bragged about these arrests as a victory for the state.
\n\nFollowing the formal abolition of the university asylum policy, police have entered universities such as the School of Economics in Kipseli to evict the occupied social centers knows as stekis. Police are threatening the stekis they have not evicted yet and pressuring university administrators to let them invade the campuses. Inside the universities, right-wing groups such as the Youth Party of the ruling New Democracy party have been emboldened to attack anti-fascists and anarchists, assaulting individuals pasting flyers and openly marching against immigrants.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/11/23/1.jpg\")
Riot police entering the Economics School in Athens.
\nDemonstrations continue to occur, with small clashes erupting despite the unrelenting assault from all sides. Many anticipated that November 17 would indicate the future of important anniversaries revolutionaries and anarchists have used to foster a tradition of resistance and riot.
\n\nNovember 17, 1973 marked the resurgence of the anarchist movement in the 20th century and the emergence of Exarchia as a zone of anti-police and anti-fascist activity. Most anarchists have observed the anniversary of November 17 by occupying the Polytechnic and honoring the legacy of those murdered by the police. This year, the daytime demonstration that went to the US embassy—since the USA supported the junta in order to keep Greece a right-wing stronghold following a civil war between the left and right—saw one of the largest presences of anarchists in its history. Thousands of anarchists participated in the march in two blocs. Police isolated the larger of the blocs from the rest of the march, with lines of 500 or more riot police walking on both sides of the demonstrators.
\n\nIn anticipation of the traditional night riots around the Polytechnic in Exarchia, police completely militarized the neighborhood. Roving groups of Delta police operated in groups of ten, while hundreds—if not thousands—of riot police surrounded the neighborhood. In the past, when operations like this took place, anarchists took to the roofs of Exarchia to fight the police. This year, equipped with drones and new anti-terror measures that enable police to enter buildings without regard for the law, police arrested six individuals and accused them of planning attacks from the roofs.
\n\nAmid all this terrifying posturing from the state, despite the odds against them, a few hundred courageous individuals still took the square of Exarchia to try to fight their way through the police to access the blocked off Polytechnic. Additional massive numbers of riot police and Delta police bombarded them with tear gas and stun grenades. An array of videos show officers inflicting heinous beatings to people at random. Many people were seriously injured and currently face weighty charges. We know of 28 arrests in Athens on November 17—six during preemptive daytime measures and 22 during night clashes. At least 31 more people were arrested across Greece as demonstrations involving anarchists occurred in Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion, and other cities. The following day, police brutally attacked a march organized in solidarity with the arrestees.
\n\n\nhttps://twitter.com/anthony_pls/status/1196140163736449024\n\n\n
Following an attack on a motorbike belonging to a Delta cop two weeks ago, police attacked a bar frequented by anarchists; failing to enter the bar, they turned on the crowd that had gathered to observe, then roved the neighborhood arresting and beating people at random. The state specifically tasks the most reactionary police with terrorizing Exarchia, usually insecure men from outside Athens—many of whom are involved with the neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn. For them, this is a personal grudge match.
\n\nWhat other factors are shaping the situation besides outright government repression?
\n\nWhile the new administration is playing to its base by using anarchists and immigrants as scapegoats for the anger and misery of post-crisis Greece, capitalists are carrying out an assault on the whole country under the cover of “law and order.” The Orthodox Church and the proponents of the junta have been forces in Greek society for a long time; but thanks to new opportunities for capitalists, technological advancements, and the exodus of youth abroad looking for work, the reactionaries have gained the upper hand.
\n\nAs a result of the golden passport policy of the Greek state, in which investing $250,000 or more automatically obtains the investor citizenship, wealthy Americans, Chinese, Israelis, and Russians seeking EU citizenship are buying up a great deal of Greek real estate. This has been unfolding since the crisis in 2008, but it has accelerated in response to the arrival of the business-friendly New Democracy.
\n\nAs we discussed in the previous interview, the invasion of Airbnb and ex-pat tech workers able to work remotely has sent rents soaring through the roof and inflated real estate value everywhere. Just as it has in London, Berlin, San Francisco, New York, and Hong Kong, this has driven out or impoverished those who define the very reputation of these renowned cities. Especially in Athens, the culture of the center—including graffiti, cafés, food, and other customs—is being commodified alongside the process of gentrification. We are being turned into a zoo for those who can afford to pay for the “Athens experience.” Exarchia is just one instance of a much more widespread phenomenon.
\n\nIn this context, the evictions of squats and the efforts to pacify neighborhoods are not just a matter of reasserting “law and order”—they are also an essential part of capitalist restructuring. In the past, evicted buildings would sit empty for years, but now there are gentrifiers waiting to take control of them. The police are just the point at the end of the spear; the thrust behind it is the pressure to auction Greece off to the global capitalist class, further impoverishing many locals while rewarding the necessary accomplices.
\n\nThe new government has hastened to cut taxes for the wealthy and cater to their interests. They recently sold a large portion of the biggest port in Athens to the Chinese government and agreed to build a new American military base in the city of Alexanderpouli on the border with Turkey. Everything is for sale in Greece as they look to privatize and modernize.
\n\nIronically, while targeting anarchists and immigrants in the name of “law and order,” the state continues to channel the drug epidemic into neighborhoods like Exarchia and the immigrant-dominated Omonia neighborhood. In part, this helps them to maintain the illusion that anarchist and immigrant squats are connected with drug dealing and general criminality, when in fact they represent one of the chief alternatives to them. In this regard, the drug epidemic serves to maintain the status quo. Because it provides a pretext for scapegoating and repression, the government has no real incentive to suppress it. As New Democracy member of Parliament Thanos Plevris1 said on television, explaining their policing strategy,
\n\n\n\n\n“We want Exarchia to return to normal criminality.”
\n
Despite widespread nationalism and racism, Greece has long been known as a lax society compared to Northern Europe or North America. It is famous for drinking outside, smoking inside, and inconsistent law enforcement. European Union standards ban smoking inside; around the country, you can see “no smoking” signs beside tables with ashtrays. Now the authorities are ticketing businesses and threatening their licenses for allowing smoking inside; presumably, the state will use this to target businesses hostile to police or suspected to regularly host anarchists and immigrants.
\n\nFor the first time in five years, police arrested a person for not paying the fare on the metro. Police raided a nightclub in the Gazi neighborhood of Athens in a sort of vice-style police operation in which 300 partygoers were held at gunpoint by black-clad police looking for drugs. What is going on is not just a political war on immigrants and anarchists; it is also a cultural war on the sort of “Mediterranean” freedom that has come to define Greece as a result of slower processes of modernization.2 The rigid enforcement of sterile order that defines countries like the USA is the standard that New Democracy hopes to impose on Greece.
\n\nIn short: neoliberalism at the end of a gun, along with technocracy, church, and tradition. This is what New Democracy means by “law and order.”
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/11/23/8.jpg\")
Greek police confiscating a container of books in Exarchia square.
\nHow effective has state repression been so far?
\n\nGreek anarchists have earned many things with blood. Both Exarchia as we know it and the Greek anarchist movement of today have their origins in blood and courage. Anarchism is a staple of Greek society that will never be eradicated. Proportionate to the population, I don’t think there is a larger anarchist movement anywhere in the world. While the numbers of anarchists, anti-authoritarians, and autonomists are at an all-time high, repression is taking aim at movement infrastructure, effectively and rapidly changing the game.
\n\nA word about the different forms of repression here: what is new here is the technological advances in policing in Greece including surveillance, harsher anti-terror measures, and harsher punishments. The police and court system in the United States are ruthless in their relentless investigations, premeditated repression, and judicial punishment; likewise, US police kill far more people then Greek police—specifically people of color and poor people. On the other hand, police are able to beat people more freely here in response to demonstrations.3 Both systems are brutal; but until now, the Greek police have been more heavy-handed and arguably less systematic.
\n\nIt’s important to remember the history of Greece to understand how the state functions here. Since the fall of the junta, the anarchist movement in Greece has not faced the extreme degrees of repression seen in the US in the McCarthy era, when the FBI cracked down on everyone with left or anarchist views. The abandoning of any pretense of democracy and legal rights is taking place suddenly and swiftly. It has surprised many people here.
\n\nYet when we consider everything that has happened elsewhere over the past two decades, from the militarization of police to the dismantling of the safety nets that formed the basis of the previous social contract, it seems inevitable that this was going to happen—especially taking into account how rapidly changes go global these days. In any case, we can hope that the fighting spirit here, which has emerged from so many experiences of struggle, will ultimately adapt, grow, and overcome.
\n\nWhy do you think it has been possible for the state to carry out this repression? Is the anarchist movement isolated? What are other people in Greece doing right now? What are people outside the anarchist movement focusing on?
\n\nThe anarchist movement was prepared for a big shift to come when ND was elected. However, few anticipated such a scorched earth approach. The movement is very different here than it is in the US. Proportionate to the population, it is huge, as I’ve said; however, it is isolated in some ways that may be unhelpful to our struggles.
\n\nAnarchists and the left have a tense relationship. The left here is openly authoritarian and complicit in many aspects of the current system. Although in theory, the repeal of the asylum laws on the universities could offer grounds for anarchists and leftists to unite against a common enemy, it is very hard to imagine the left and anarchists unifying against the right wing and the institutions of the state. On the contrary, the left wants to reclaim the state, not to destroy it. The problem with this was evident when many people stopped participating in mass mobilizations at the high point of their potential in 2012, anticipating that Syriza would come to power and fix things; as a consequence of this demobilization, people were not prepared to compel Syriza to follow through on its promises, which contributed to the disillusionment that enabled New Democracy to come to power.
\n\nAt the same time, there are other issues relating to the isolation of the movement, and the gulfs between groups within the movement itself.
\n\nOne issue is that the movement has been able to count on large enough numbers to be self-sufficient, with the consequence that it can also be insular. Additionally, while people have built a great deal of infrastructure over the past several years, a lot of division has also resulted as a consequence of infighting, as people have remained loyal to their chosen assembly, crew, or team in disputes without finding ways to resolve them. This happens everywhere in the world; unfortunately, in Greece, it has enabled the state to skip directly to the “conquer” phase of their “divide and conquer” strategy, seeing how much division already exists.
\n\nIn the United States, due to the diversity of the society and the comparatively small proportion of self-proclaimed anarchists in the population, it appears that anarchists are forced to discover affinities with other angry people or struggling communities who may not claim precisely the same identity or political affiliation. This is a good thing.
\n\nOf course, in Greece, there are efforts that involve collaborating with refugees, immigrants, and working-class or excluded Greek people, and these have created beautiful relationships and projects. Still, some anarchists tend to approach them as distinct subjects rather than as comrades with whom to build something collectively. There are exceptions to this—for example, in the participation of immigrants who made connections with anarchists who set out to support them during the so-called “refugee crisis.” Still, lines of separation remain that may hinder revolt from spreading further.
\n\nDespite these issues, the anarchist movement is very strong. People are nervous at this moment, but fear is an obstacle that every struggle must overcome. Regardless of this fear, people are continuing to organize, trying to overcome divisions and external obstacles bit by bit. Exhaustion and cynicism can be inevitable when the state hits you hard and takes everything from you, but the anarchist communities of Greece will never be eradicated. Too many people here have struggled, suffered, and found safety and community in anarchy.
\n\nAlso, while we should identify our weaknesses and errors and the ways we can improve, the blame for this repression rests on the state and its puppets. At the moment, the police and their masters have all the cards in their favor; they are cowards who can flaunt their expensive weapons in public with no risk of legal repercussions. Our response, our resistance, is grounded in the strength of our spines and the courage of our hearts. The state currently has the advantage, but I don’t think we should blame ourselves for this; as conflict is intensifying around the world, it is to be expected that the state strategy will escalate here. In Greece, new elements of revolt will emerge as we are pushed into a corner.
\n\nThe repression that is taking place now is unique in our experience, but they can never crush our spirit. They are punching a lion inside a cage; eventually, the lion will break out.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/11/23/7.jpg\")
The anarchist steki in the Economics School.
\nWhat is at stake going into December? What are the dangers? And are there any new opportunities, if people could shift strategies?
\n\nAnticipating the anniversary of the murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos on December 6, I expect the police will attempt to a inflict a bloodbath. At a dinner party in a village prior to November 17, a police commissioner was heard to say that he would be surprised if the police didn’t kill anyone that day. They didn’t get to kill anyone on November 17, though video footage of beatings shows their readiness to do so—so who knows what they will attempt on December 6.
\n\nFrom what I saw on November 17, I think they will double down on violent repression. They will be out in full force; they will make preemptive arrests and beat anyone on the streets of Exarchia that night. I think they will permit a daytime demonstration in memory of Alexis to maintain the façade of democracy, but, as they did on November 17, they will surround all the anarchists and respond brutally if anyone tries to get out of line.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/11/23/4.jpg\")
Bloodstains on the streets of Exarchia on the night of November 17.
\nI don’t know what December 6 will bring, but I know that the memory of Alexis and the way his death touched the lives of so many generations is far more powerful than the self-interested agendas of politicians like Mytsotakis who were born with silver spoons in their mouths.
\n\nOverall, I think that the purpose of the resources that they are investing in repression is chiefly to keep the base of New Democracy voters distracted from the broader economic and social issues at play in Greece today. I think the state’s resources will be focused so much on crushing the anarchist movement and torturing immigrants that eventually Greek civilians will realize once again that the precarity they are subjected to has not changed. This is by no means guaranteed—as you see with Trump supporters in the states, outright fascism offers some very efficient methods of deception and control.
\n\nI think the movement will have to struggle harder in these dark days, but I believe that in the long run, we will grow stronger as a result of these challenges. People continue to organize and act; despite the fear, we are still in the streets. The hundred or so people sparking small clashes inside the square of Exarchia on November 17 were like a David without a slingshot facing a Goliath in a tank. Yet while they could have kept to the safety of their couches, they chose to stand up in the street.
\n\nFor context, we should recall that in 1995, the police arrested everyone; almost nothing occurred in 1996. At that time, no one could anticipate the explosions that would take place during the Olympic Games in 2004 and on a much bigger scale in December 2008, nor what is to come now.
\n\nThe wave of repression in 1995.
\nAgain, what can people outside Greece to do support the struggle there?
\n\nThe neoliberal nation-states and the profiteers they benefit are staying their post-industrial course while forcing a feudal vision on humanity. This is taking place globally—from Greece to Chile, from the United States to China. More than ever in these dark days, solidarity must be our weapon.
\n\nIf you can come here to help refugees and immigrants, that will be very important, as resources will be stretched ever thinner and the government will intentionally make the conditions that are imposed on them worse. Even if you come simply to do volunteer work, any help to people in these dire conditions is an important act of solidarity; it will also show that people have not forgotten them.
\n\nFundraising will be needed as new measures of repression and punishment here hit home. Please continue to pay attention to what is happening here; don’t allow the state to isolate us from our comrades around the world. Demonstrations at embassies—or inside them—will also help.
\n\nAbove all, as I said in August, the best thing you can do to support the movement in Greece is to organize and fight the state and capitalism wherever you are, regardless of the odds. The anarchist movement has no borders. Learn from our losses and grow stronger. We call on those across the world who share our discontent and our commitment to solidarity to take action. We maintain that their repression, alienation, and prisons can never kill this spirit.
\n\nOur passion for freedom is the core of our solidarity and the foundation of our struggle.
\n\nPlevris is a classic example of how the politics of the fascist Golden Dawn party have become mainstream in New Democracy. In 2011, he claimed that Greece should use deadly force against refugees trying to cross into Greece and deny immigrants access to food, water, and healthcare. ↩
\nBelieve it or not, when the Joker film came out, police raided cinemas to check IDs, threatening parents who brought their children to see it that someday they might lose custody of their children as a consequence. ↩
\nThis is not because police in the US are more ethical; rather, it is a traditional aspect of police conduct in Greece, in part as a result of Greek police not facing the same lawsuit system that exists in the USA. It is very uncommon to sue here, and it would be unlikely that such a charge would be taken seriously if the beating occurred during a demonstration. Even if a lawsuit succeeded, the compensation would be much smaller than what one might win in a lawsuit against police in the United States. ↩
\nFilled with squatted social centers and characterized by a combative anti-authoritarian spirit, the neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens, Greece has long been an important reference point for autonomous movements around the world. The new right-wing government that has come to power in Greece has pledged to crush this experiment in inclusivity and self-determination. On August 26, massive police raids evicted four occupations, including some hosting refugee families, many of whom have been sent to concentration camps; at this moment, riot police surround Exarchia, preparing their next attacks. In response, demonstrations have been called for August 31 and September 14. We interviewed a resident of Exarchia about the context of this new chapter of struggle and the prospects ahead for those who seek a world without capitalism or state oppression.
\n\nIn January 2015, as the global wave of right-wing electoral victories was picking up momentum, the new left party Syriza won the Greek elections. At the time, this inspired a lot of enthusiasm from leftists and socialists in Greece and elsewhere around the world; yet we argued that Syriza would draw movements out of the streets, re-legitimize the institutions of the state without changing their essentially repressive character, and ultimately fail to address the consequences of capitalism, polarizing Greek voters to the right. As we anticipated, Syriza did not follow through on their promises to defend Greece from the austerity measures demanded by the European Union. Instead, they imposed austerity measures themselves, further polarizing Greece and confirming that there is no viable electoral solution to the crises imposed by capitalism.
\n\nConsequently, in July 2019, the longstanding right-wing party New Democracy won the national elections by a clear majority. Some corporate media journalists celebrated the victory of New Democracy as a return to business as usual, a rejection of the supposed “extremism” of both Syriza and the fascist Golden Dawn party. But the victory of New Democracy is also a victory for the far right, who have seen their racist, nationalist agenda become mainstream. They took office with the intention of scapegoating immigrants and anarchists for the failures of neoliberal capitalism and the betrayals of left politicians. Taking advantage of the summer holidays to strike, they have already begun violently evicting anarchist social centers and self-organized refugee housing in Athens, openly declaring war on all who stand in the way of their oppressive vision of order.
\n\nWe conducted the following interview with an anonymous black flag anarchist resident of Exarchia three blocks from Exarchia Square following a small riot in the early hours of August 28.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/08/29/2.jpg\")
\nNew Democracy began by declaring war on anarchists, specifically on the neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens. We have seen a series of poorly-written articles from the yellow press spreading fear about “anarchist violence” and promising major government crackdowns. Why have they prioritized focusing on anarchists and specifically Exarchia as the chief enemy of the state? How much of the population do you think agrees with this characterization of anarchists?
\n\nNew Democracy has shown a sort of delusional obsession with Exarchia. They refer to it as if it were the basis of the crisis here, as if it were the foundation of all of Greece’s problems. As a resident of Exarchia and an active anarchist, I can confirm that the language they use to describe my neighborhood is ridiculously overstated.
\n\nSure, there are some issues with drug dealing and predatory mafia practices in Exarchia. The mafia recruits refugees, taking advantage of their desperate need for employment, hoping that anarchists who oppose opportunistic attempts to establish a drug market in the police-free zone of Exarchia will hesitate before hitting a refugee. This situation is the result of the poverty refugees face as they wait to receive asylum or struggle to make their home in Athens, trying to avoid harassment from police or fascists.
\n\nThis is tragic, but it is nothing compared to a typical ghetto in the United States; it’s the inevitable result of the combination of the economic crisis and the so-called refugee crisis. The image of a refugee dealing drugs in Exarchia is an easy scapegoat for the right, and New Democracy has used this over and over in a cowardly manner to rally reactionary support.
\n\nMost people outside of Greece don’t understand that Exarchia is a very large neighborhood. It is only a five-minute walk from the most expensive part of the city center, Colonaki, a middle-to-upper-class neighborhood comparable to Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The anarchist movement emerged in the early 1970s out of student resistance to the Junta, which was concentrated at the nearby Polytechnio, the architectural university of Athens. Until then, Exarchia was a sort of extension of Colonaki. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has become a gathering place for anarchists and squatters, but also for the theater community, leftists, intellectuals, artists, and the clients of an array of alternative bars. It is known locally as a nightlife destination on the weekends for students and partygoers as much as it is known for riots and squats.
\n\nWhile all of these elements coexist in a sort of chaotic equilibrium, the old inhabitants of Exarchia still complain. Unless you are one of the lucky few who have found an apartment here owned by an old person unaware of its Airbnb potential and the erupting real estate market in central Athens, or you are living in a squat or in a home owned by family, it is unlikely that a typical working-class Greek person could afford to live here. The wealthy residents of Exarchia complain to the municipal authorities. They have been doing so for years. New Democracy is responding in a way that may go beyond their whining.
\n\nFor example, there is famous hill called Streffi where youth and anarchist-friendly folks go to chill with their friends and comrades. It is also a beautiful park that used to house parties and gatherings to celebrate and benefit the punk and hip-hop counter-cultures and anarchist and anti-fascist movements. Because it has a view of the Acropolis and some of the most expensive houses in Exarchia, a brutal initiative began in the summer 2018 to crush the cop-free-zone culture of Streffi. Riot police surrounded the hill before any announced event, and completely demolished the only squat in the area shortly after it declared solidarity with those trying to reclaim Streffi.
\n\nIn short, Exarchia is not a beautiful utopia in which anarchists live in harmony together and with other locals. There are snitches and “good citizens” here who applaud the police.
\n\nNew Democracy has been in power before; they are not something new. But after five years in exile under Syriza, they are declaring revenge on the left. Unlike Syriza, which has a realistic understanding of Exarchia, New Democracy members have a childish image of it. They mystify it as the enemy of all Greek civility and as the epicenter of all things left or anarchist.
\n\nWhile Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the new prime minister, is a rich kid who has probably never set foot in the neighborhood, the police are even more obsessed with Exarchia. On the morning of August 26, when four squats were evacuated, a police spokesperson went on national television to say “One finger launched a silent new vacuum cleaner which is the police, which will slowly suck all the garbage from Exarchia progressively, democratically, with a plan by police officers.” He went on to describe the 143 refugees who were detained as “dust with an annoying character.”
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/08/29/4.jpg\")
A police officer wearing a patch identifying his fascist politics during the evictions. It says “Come and Get It,” a slogan of the fascist party Golden Dawn.
\nThe police felt betrayed by Syriza. They think that for the past five years, the government condoned the weekly actions against the riot police that surround Exarchia. Now the police are ready for war. As soon as New Democracy was elected, riot police guarding the old PASOK political headquarters in Exarchia beat a homeless man nearly to death. When a local journalist tried to intervene, the police made threats; one cop was quoted as saying “this is how things will be for now on.” They are emboldened now in the same way that American police and fascists were when Trump was elected. I couldn’t make a more precise comparison.
\n\nThus emboldened, they await the next battle with great anticipation. The riot police they station in Exarchia are typically not from Athens; they choose officers with extreme right-wing attitudes specifically for that role. This is a longstanding precedent for riot police. In some ways, they enjoy the riots as much as anarchists do; they too believe that they are fighting a war. New Democracy has handed them a clear mandate to restore order in Exarchia.
\n\nWe can also see that Exarchia has become the highest priority target as a consequence of the decline of more radical action from the anarchist movement. After a period of many surprise attacks and bombings following the upheaval of December 2008, many members of the anarchist groups Conspiracy Cells of Fire and Revolutionary Struggle have been captured and imprisoned, and there has been a significant decrease in so-called political terrorism. Such actions still happen, but not at the same frequency and intensity as before.
\n\nThis is similar to what happened to US anarchists following Operation Backfire as a result of the FBI declaring the Animal and Earth Liberation Fronts to be the number one domestic “terror” threat in the United States. After a wave of infiltration, repression, and inflated sentences targeting clandestine direct action, the US anarchist movement shifted towards mass street action. The state shifted its strategy, as well, using grand juries to harass people, demonizing classic forms of protest, and militarizing police departments.
\n\nIn a similar way, owing to the drop in clandestine attacks, the Greek right was forced to construct a new enemy. This is likely why they chose the neighborhood of Exarchia and focused on the local anarchist group Rouvikonas (Rubicon). Rouvikonas has quite a reputation in Athens and the media love them. Essentially, they are an anarcho-communist group that engages in civil disobedience with an aggressive edge. They intimidate bosses, throw paint on buildings, smash turnstiles at subway entrances, and organize various other actions that are inspiring and courageous but deliberately restrained in order to avoid the risk of long prison terms.
\n\nRegardless of their restraint and the fact that they are just one of many groups in the Greek anarchist movement, Rouvikonas has become the new government’s public enemy number one alongside the anarchists in Exarchia as a whole and the specter of drug dealing in the square. Unless some more pressing concern arises, New Democracy will focus on this constructed threat, striving to present themselves as the saviors of the Hellenic people, while doing nothing to truly improve people’s lives—a classic fascist strategy.
\n\nIt is hard to know how many people buy into the narrative of the new Greek right. About 39 percent of Greek voters cast ballots for New Democracy, with another 31 percent voting for Syriza, 5 percent for the Communist Party, and 3 percent for Golden Dawn. It is hard to tell how much of the population believes this administration’s nonsense about Exarchia. Greece is a very polarized society, notorious for a popular skepticism of politicians of all stripes. But the residents of the countryside and the suburbs of Athens, the super-rich, and the isolated poor people who voted for New Democracy certainly subscribe to their agenda.
\n\n“Good morning from Exarchia square. On July 8, we are giving the square to its residents. The lawlessness is finished. The prohibition on entering is finished. With New Democracy, this square will be a normal square again.” After hastily recording this video, this right-wing politician fled Exarchia as fast as he could.
\nOf the first wave of police raids, in which four squats were evicted and 143 people arrested, the vast majority of the arrestees were immigrants, who are being moved to concentration camps. How do the crackdowns promised by New Democracy relate to continued scapegoating and repression of immigrants? How do anarchist strategies for defense against the government crackdown address the targeting of immigrants?
\n\nOf the four squats evicted, only two were housing refugees. The other two were anarchist spaces that did not serve this function. It is not easy to put all the squats that were targeted in any one category, as they are associated with different groups and different objectives. One of these squats, named Gare, has been evicted—and reoccupied—several times already under Syriza.
\n\nIt’s also important to emphasize that the squats Spirou Trikopi 17 and Transito were providing housing and support to refugees in a completely self-determined manner independent of the state. Syriza never targeted this occupation, from what I understand—and this is where a new policy shift is obvious. These squats, along with several others nearby, have been providing free spaces for refugee families in conditions that are far superior to those in the state-funded detention facilities. Even if we consider the subject from a statist point of view, it actually saves the state money for refugees to be self-organizing their housing in this way with support from anarchists.
\n\nSo this is an explicitly racist and fascistic act of symbolic revenge from the new government: a statement to refugees and other immigrants that they are no longer safe in Exarchia’s asylum. Many of the refugees who were arrested will probably be moved to Petrou Ralli detention center, a volatile place located in the middle of an industrial zone in Athens. Others have reportedly been dispersed to various refugee concentration camps around Athens and Greece. We hope that many of those detained will be released following investigation, but some may be deported or else remain in overcrowded detention centers in Greece.
\n\nLet me repeat this: even from a state perspective, the spaces that the police evicted were saving Greek taxpayers money and alleviating some of the impact of the so-called refugee crisis. However, just as the US government spends more money capturing and imprisoning immigrants and homeless people than it would spend simply helping or housing them, the point is to set a political precedent for society at any cost. Immigrants and refugees are not welcome here, law and order above all else, and, like all the other right-wing governments reigning over various parts of the earth today, the Greek government aims to encourage their base to blame the desperate and excluded for their suffering, rather than the prevailing order or the elites that benefit from it.
\n\nSyriza evicted plenty of squats during their time in power. But they targeted the immigrant squats that they alleged were housing people involved in drug dealing and the anarchist squats that they claimed were being used to manufacture Molotov cocktails. In both cases, they attempted to frame an ethical narrative, trying to draw a line between “good” and “bad” squats.
\n\nBy contrast, New Democracy has made it clear that they have a long-term plan to eradicate not only the existing squats in Exarchia but squatting itself, along with all the refugees, immigrants, anarchists, youth, and other people who give the neighborhood its world-famous character. They aim to destroy the culture that has come to define Exarchia. This will not be a quick procedure; they have a long-term plan, likely concluding with the creation of a subway stop in Exarchia Square and a return to the good old days when Exarchia had more in common with Colonaki.
\n\nBesides the government imprisoning families who had been living self-determined, peaceful lives in Exarchia, the most striking element of the eviction of August 26 was its timing. In late July 2019, around the same time they officially lifted the university asylum, New Democracy released the police officer who murdered the teenage anarchist Alexis Grigoropoulous; these were two dramatic provocations aimed at the anarchist and autonomous movements. Typically, the state has evicted squats between the beginning of July and the middle of August. While squats both inside and outside Exarchia—for example, in the neighborhoods of Kipseli and Koukaki—have been repeatedly harassed throughout the summer and continue to experience harassment at this moment, the operation of August 26 was timed to occur immediately before many people are returning from summer vacations. Carrying out these attacks at this time is meant to send the message that war has been declared on Exarchia and those who support the cop-free and anti-fascist social experiment that it represents.
\n\nTo bring this back to the situation for immigrants, they are having their lives ruined once again. People are concerned about refugees committing suicide. We may see an escalation of violence on the part of desperate refugees. Many people who have faced and escaped the direst circumstances of our century have found Exarchia to be a safe place they could call home. The trauma that New Democracy aims to inflict with its reign of terror may produce unexpected results. This is a sad reality that we have to discuss. We should take seriously the severity of the emotional damage that the raids of August 26 inflicted, as well as the raids likely to come.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/08/29/3.jpg\")
\nWe hear that the Greek government has repealed the “sanctuary law” maintaining university asylum, prohibiting police from entering the universities except in emergencies. How will this effect the anarchist movement in Greece and the social context as a whole?
\n\nSo far, the end of university asylum has taken place in words alone. Cops already often raided universities during riots or in pursuit of so-called criminals. Now they have changed the law so police will not need the formal permission of a university dean to enter. But it remains to be seen what this will mean in practice. University asylum is a hard-won victory cherished by a substantial part of the movement in Greece. Many people are deeply invested in it. It is not simply a matter of people sometimes running to the Polytechnic in Exarchia to avoid arrest during riots. This is a very small aspect of how the end of university autonomy will effect the movement.
\n\nUniversities are important rallying points for assemblies and organizing in Greece. There are occupied spaces inside many universities that house social centers (steki) and anarchist groups. Above all, universities have served as a recruiting space for anarchists and as a venue for events. Parties and events at universities throughout Greece, from the hip-hop shows at the economics school in Kipseli to the punk shows at the law school in Neapoli, have provided important infrastructure to challenge repression and raise funds, as well as a safe and affordable space for people to gather and connect politically.
\n\nNew Democracy has been obsessed with drug users and drug dealing, but no informed person would deny that the police have been intentionally pushing addicts and dealers into the universities. In most cases, drug use and dealing has not interrupted the ordinary function of the universities. But drug addiction is a major problem in Greece, where there is intense poverty by European standards and the port of Piraeus serves as a hub for heroin entering Europe. I do not blame people for their addictions; I blame capitalism. At the same time, the police have used the epidemic to target universities and Exarchia. For a long time, now, they have pushed addicts to the peripheries of the universities in hopes of delegitimizing the asylum law and undermining student autonomy. And while the drug dealing situation in Exarchia has become sad and confusing, it originated with a huge police effort in 2010 to push addicts into Exarchia.
\n\nIncidentally, in addition to pushing the drug trade into universities, police have also sought to push it into neighborhoods inhabited by (largely legal) immigrants. This is a way to consolidate drugs and crime in non-white or immigrant communities. In Athens, the neighborhood of Omonia experiences some of the most devastating heroin and meth use I have seen in this city. It also happens to be one of the largest concentrations of Pakistani and Bangladeshi business owners.
\n\nTime will tell whether the police can take control of the universities in practice. If they begin patrolling campuses, evicting occupied centers in the universities, and shutting down parties, this would put a damper on the movement. At the same time, it would probably ignite a forceful reaction from the movement that would backfire against New Democracy.
\n\nNew Democracy may be poking the wrong beast. If they push harder, rather than sticking to the slow, patient strategy of repression Syriza employed, there will be a broader backlash extending far beyond Exarchia. The asylum law is not only cherished by anarchists, but also autonomists, communists, leftists of all kinds, and, to put it simply, kids who like to party. The reaction to this clampdown has yet to be seen.
\n\nHow does the state attack on Exarchia relate to the capitalist assault on the neighborhood that has been taking place through gentrification and urban displacement? What is the relationship between Airbnb and urban development initiatives and riot police?
\n\nExarchia has always been a sort of obsession for people from the conservative suburbs and for fascists in the countryside. Since the 1970s, there have been efforts to mess with Exarchia time and time again. After the 2008 insurrection, the Delta police would raid the neighborhood at random, attacking and beating people. Syriza formally eliminated the force; now New Democracy plans to reestablish it.
\n\nBut Airbnb is the invisible enemy everyone is at a loss to deal with. Exarchia is becoming one of the most expensive places to live in the center of Athens, and Airbnb is almost 100 percent responsible for this sudden spike in real estate value and short-term rent hikes. Prior to Airbnb, a three-bedroom apartment could cost you 250 euros a month; now, that same apartment could generate well over 1800 euros a month if used for Airbnb.
\n\nThis has drawn the attention of property owners and investors. New Democracy has been promising a new prosperity for Greece following years of recession. Yet in the melodramatic television coverage of Exarchia here, it is rarely mentioned that all these demonized alternative and deviant criminal elements are actually entertaining a huge market of alternative tourism.
\n\nIn Exarchia, German, American, and Chinese tourists walk side by side the same immigrants and anarchists that the police refer to as trash. There is even a tour available as an “Airbnb Experience” called “Sweet Anarchy” describing Exarchia and its street inhabitants as if we are animals in a zoo.
\n\nWhat has changed in the war on Exarchia since the days before Syriza? Chiefly, this: if New Democracy is able to succeed in its long-term effort to eradicate those who defend the neighborhood’s character, Airbnb and foreign investors have created a new market that will be ready to redefine Exarchia swiftly.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/08/29/1.jpg\")
\nHow will anarchists respond to the attacks promised by the state? Are there divisions over issues of strategy?
\n\nI don’t think there are very many divisions over issues of strategy. Compared to the US, there are fewer bourgeois voices demanding pacifism in the movements here. Any strategy for the self-defense of Exarchia and the movements that define it will be welcome, whatever form it takes. Some groups are more open to using force than others are, but it’s rare to hear the sort of debate about violence and nonviolence that often takes place in the US.
\n\nBut the challenge isn’t division over strategy so much as it is division itself. I think most people in the movement would say that morale is at a low point in recent memory. There are more anarchists, autonomists, and anti-fascists then ever before, but division is rampant. Many groups have a competitive attitude towards each other, nurse personal disputes, experience infighting, or refuse to work together at all. Still, I believe this will change quickly.
\n\nMany would say that 2008 to 2012 saw the peak of anarchist activity in Greece thus far for the 21st century. There were many challenges following mass police operations against the groups Conspiracy Cells of Fire and Revolutionary Struggle, not to mention the tragic deaths of three bank employees during a general strike in 2010.1 Many people experienced an insurrection, a generalized revolt that people can only dream of in the current anarchist movement in the United States. Rioting and organizing both took place on a massive scale. However, following those years of struggle, very little actually changed. Austerity and poverty remained the norm, as Greece became the scapegoat for failed European policies and the new generation was forced to bear the consequences of the economic crisis.
\n\nWhen Syriza came to power, many anarchists fought with each other about whether to vote for them. Some argued that a Syriza government would make it easier to defend Exarchia and alleviate the suffering of those in prison, as well as mitigating the stress caused by state forces such as the Delta police. This created a great deal of division between anarchists, showing how confusing things became as what had seemed to be a social revolution quickly turned to the left, taking the stage in the theater of Greek politics.
\n\nSyriza was strategic like a snake. The party leaders knew Exarchia; many of them were leftist intellectuals and academics who used to come to Exarchia to debate over coffee or beer. They knew how to quell the movement, how to turn people against each other. They knew how to give people just enough room to breathe so they wouldn’t feel strangled. But they had their hands around our necks the whole time.
\n\nMany people from the prior generation became depressed or moved on. It was sad to see what many had thought of as a leftist government with all the right answers imposing austerity measures. It was a sad conclusion to the peak years of resistance.
\n\nHowever, the number of participants in anarchist, autonomist, and anti-authoritarian movements has not decreased. On the contrary, it has dramatically increased. Anarchism exists on a massive scale in Greece. It is hard to describe the extent of the movement and its diversity to an American audience.
\n\nDuring the Syriza years, there was a considerable amount of repression. The police attacked squats, but did so in a very calculated manner, so that people would target their anger internally, emphasizing small conflicts and political distinctions. The Syriza government helped to fan the flames of sectarianism in the movement by containing the movement rather than trying to suppress it.
\n\nNow, there are signs that people are coming together. A new poster is circulating calling for a mobilization on September 14 under the banner “No Pasaran.” Many groups in Exarchia that were at odds during the Syriza years are calling for this mobilization together. The assemblies that have taken place in the last 48 hours were not characterized by the infighting many of us are used to, and the number of participants has been high. People feel the pressure. They know they have to choose their battles. They have learned from the deceptions of Syriza that there is no such thing as a victory for our movements in the theater of state politics.
\n\nI think many people expected this. Some are depressed and divided, but prepared to transcend these issues collectively. Since its inception in the 1970s, the Greek anarchist movement as we know it has always been characterized by waves. As summer is ending, we see people coming together, opening their minds, and realizing the seriousness of the battle ahead.
\n\nI should note that the four squats evicted on August 26 were associated with groups that are at odds. But the dialogue that has followed has expressed unity and solidarity. Things are bad and they will definitely get worse. But I believe that people will come together. This is already happening.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2019/08/29/6.jpg\")
\nWhat can we do outside Greece to support the anarchist movement and the freedom of immigrants there? What are the most effective ways we can act in solidarity?
\n\nFor better or worse, Exarchia has been portrayed as the mecca of global anarchism. Sometimes I laugh about this, but then I remind myself to not take for granted the beautiful elements of this neighborhood.
\n\nMany would say that the answer to your question is to go to Greek embassies and let the Greek state know that Exarchia will not be isolated, that it is loved from across the world. But I would say, in the spirit of revolutionary solidarity, that the most important thing that those who read this text can do is to continue building spaces and community wherever you are.
\n\nExarchia has its fair share of issues, but it is generally a safe place. Considering its size, the fact that it functions so well without policing—despite so much diversity and internal differences and external pressure—attests to the viability of anarchism. Exarchia confirms that even without a police force, a major metropolitan area can function peacefully. So one way you could demonstrate your solidarity is to work towards creating more communities that celebrate self-determination, that do not welcome the police.
\n\nThis year will see the first observances of important annual events under New Democracy, including November 17, the anniversary of the day 23 students were killed by the Junta at the Polytechnio in Exarchia, and December 6, the anniversary of the murder of Alexis Grigoropolous that sparked the 2008 insurrection. New Democracy has used both days to rally their supporters and argue that they must lift the asylum laws. While the movement has generally been critical of what is called anarcho-tourism, I think the attitude around this is changing. If people come to Greece for these days, they could help to protect Exarchia.
\n\nOutside supporters can also come to Greece to help immigrants independent of the state and NGOs, inside and outside of Athens. This has been going on for a long time.
\n\nIt is not easy to say exactly what you should do. As I write this, I still don’t know what New Democracy has planned, nor how anarchists here will respond. But there are cops in riot gear surrounding the neighborhood, undercover cops roaming the streets, and tension everywhere. I am equally afraid and excited to see what is to come.
\n\nFor perspectives in English from other anarchists organizing in Athens right now, you could begin with these starting places:
\n\nExarchia: Solidarity to Squats and All Spaces of Struggle—Assembly Announcement
\nStatement of the Anarchist Political Organization against the Repressive Campaign of the State
\nMany attribute these three deaths to the boss refusing to let the employees leave during the general strike and the riot that predictably accompanied it. ↩
\nOn December 6, 2008, in Athens, Greece, police murdered 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos in the neighborhood of Exarchia. In response, anarchists, young people, and other rebels from targeted populations rose in revolt, organizing countrywide riots and occupations that lasted for weeks. Arguably, this was the first of the waves of rebellion that culminated with the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. This year, as they have for a decade, people observed the murder of Alexandros and the insurrection of 2008 with a day of demonstrations and direct action. This is a report from December 6, 2018 in Athens, including some of the solidarity actions that preceded it.
\n\nYou can download a print-ready PDF of this text in zine form here.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2018/12/17/3.jpg\")
Welcome to Exarchia.
\nI remember the 6th of December 2008. I remember some friends of mine quit their jobs and flew to Greece to participate in what we thought of as the first anarchist insurrection in our lifetimes. I remember the beautiful images of revolt in the streets of Athens and Thessaloniki, spreading across Greece and inspiring acts of solidarity around the world.
\n\nHere, in Athens, many locals are all too familiar with the phenomenon of foreigners coming here to riot. Such visitors are called anarcho-tourists; many of them come for the bahala [the riots] in the same way that other tourists come here for their summer vacations. It takes a great deal of time for an anarcho-tourist to warrant respect and trust among the locals.
\n\nWhile I admit to my status as an anarcho-tourist, I have built close relationships and shared unforgettable experiences in this country. I feel obliged to share some thoughts and to help paint a picture of this year’s much-hyped ten-year anniversary of the 2008 insurrection.
\n\nFor years, when I saw photographs of demonstrators clashing with police in Greece or Chile, it was easy to feel that my own efforts at resistance were insignificant. After spending time outside the United States, however, I have lost my illusions and gained some useful perspective. The tolerance that the Greek state is compelled to exercise towards such activities is the result of a long history of resistance. As things stand today, it is impossible to imagine such conditions existing in North America.
\n\nThe history that gave the neighborhood of Exarchia its character has been bloody indeed. That goes double for the university asylum laws of Greece and Chile. Pinochet in Chile and the junta in Greece slaughtered anarchists, leftists, and radical students in considerable numbers. We have to understand how those tragedies contributed to the conditions in which political movements have been able to establish annual days of action such as December 6 in Greece or March 29, the Day of the Young Combatant in Chile.
\n\nThings are different in the United States. Greece experiences brutal police violence and repression, but the repressive apparatus of the United States is far more invasive, pervasive, and complex. The sentences are not the same. The surveillance before and after actions is not the same. Above all, the society itself is completely different. People have an entirely different relationship to the state and to conflict with it.
\n\nWhen we set out to learn from other struggles and draw inspiration from them, we have to bear the differences in mind. We should prioritize a revolutionary introspection that takes safety and risk into account. Courage and passion are indispensable, but if we don’t account for context, we might sell our own struggles short.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2018/12/17/7.jpg\")
A banner on December 6, 2018 reading “Money in the banks, bullets in the youth—Against the disintegration of our future prospects, against the state / fascist murders—As the people and youth, we’re not terrified, we’ll smash them (i.e., the fascists and state murderers)—Our time has come.”
\nThe Greek financial crisis began in 2008. It’s probably what Greece is best known for these days besides its islands. Alexis’s generation has suffered severe austerity measures and poverty. Unemployment is rampant, especially among young people. For a part time job in Greece, you might make 390 euros a month. The standard for decent survival is 600 euros a month. Beyond merely economic factors, many anarchists remain imprisoned who were radicalized from the events in 2008.
\n\nIn May 2010, three workers were killed in the burning of a bank; the last major countrywide rioting took place in early 2012, before the left party Syriza came to power. Some say that since then, the anti-state and anti-capitalist movements of Greece have been experiencing a slump. Many are ambivalent about the tactic of rioting. Most are over the bahala (the riot for the sake of riot), including even the so-called insurrectionary anarchists of the movement. The reality of 2008 is that it was one of the most remarkable uprisings in contemporary anarchist history. Cities were burning, revolt had generalized, strikes were spreading, and people were ungovernable together in the street. Today, many people wonder how we started there and ended up here.
\n\nThe Greek anarchist movement has fluctuated ever since it reemerged in the 1970s. It involves a tremendous number of people, especially in relation to the population of Greece as a whole, and has developed resources and infrastructure we couldn’t imagine in North America. But with fluctuation there are up and down moments.
\n\nMany here have seen the years that Syriza has been in power as a stagnant, confusing, and futile time in the Greek anarchist movement. Yet there is no shortage of anarchists, autonomists, and other rebels. The anti-state movement in Greece is a recognized part of society; it is not even considered marginal or fringe. For this reason, as someone who is generally seen to be too old for the bahala, I can appreciate annual days of action like December 6—not necessarily as a means of accomplishing any immediate objective, but for the role they play in reproducing the movement and preserving certain social tensions.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2018/12/17/2.jpg\")
Militants launch fireworks at riot police.
\nExarchia has a reputation as an anarchist mecca, but it is no such thing, and this reputation is dangerous to everything that is beautiful about it. It is undergoing brutal gentrification as a consequence of Airbnb, the scourge of neighborhoods worldwide.
\n\nThe trepidation with which police approach the neighborhood of Exarchia was earned through years of struggle and the extension of rebellious culture that erupted around the Polytechnic University as a result of the resistance to the military dictatorship. Yet in the absence of police—or, rather, as a result of police measures to concentrate dealers and junkies in rebellious neighborhoods and universities—opportunistic drug dealers have established themselves in Exarchia. They have used refugees—who are forced to sell drugs as a consequence of having no other options—in order to deter anarchist efforts to discourage dealing.
\n\nThere are also undercover police everywhere. When you are standing in the center of Exarchia square, you can be sure that riot police are prepared within one kilometer of you to the north, south, east, or west.
\n\nMany people living in Exarchia are not anarchists. With the refugee crisis and the tolerance of the state due to the political calculations of Syriza, there are many squats in Exarchia; generally speaking, it is easier to defend them here than it is in other parts of the city. But they, too, are frequently evicted and, in some cases, demolished so they will not be reoccupied. Most young Greek people cannot afford the rent that it costs to live legally in Exarchia.
\n\nIn short, it’s a beautiful neighborhood, like nothing I’ve seen anywhere else in the world, but it’s a huge neighborhood in a metropolis and there are plenty of locals who are not part of the movement and have little in common with the reputation many associate with Exarchia.
\n\nFinally, in looking at events in Exarchia, it’s important to understand that in the movement here, there is understood to be a difference between a bahala and a riot. A bahala, literally translated, is a sort of mess or disaster. In the movement, bahala often refers to a worthless sort of riot, or more specifically, to the small groups of kids who come from the outskirts of Athens to throw Molotov cocktails at the police who stand guard around the borders of Exarchia. By contrast, the weeks of insurrection that followed the murder of Alexis ten years ago would be considered true riots.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2018/12/17/1.jpg\")
Riot police amid petrol bombs in Exarchia.
\nAt this point, the actions every 6th of December serve as a reminder that not only is Alexis not forgotten, but that the generalized revolt that engulfed Greece in December 2008 lives on as well.
\n\nDecember 6 is a sort of traditional day of rioting. There is also November 17, which commemorates the day in 1973 when the military junta invaded the grounds of the Polytechnio (the architectural school) in Exarchia, killing at least 23 people who were occupying the grounds or otherwise resisting the dictatorship. More recently, there is also the anniversary of the killing of anti-fascist rapper Killah P (Pavlos Fyssas) in the Keratsini neighborhood of Athens on September 18, 2013. Both of those dates draw out considerable anarchist contingents and involve night-time bahala, but there is no other day like December 6 for the black flag anarchist. It is truly our day.
\n\nIt’s important that we show solidarity on December 6 because it is a celebration of anarchist insurrection. It is also an impressive demonstration of informal and borderless solidarity against the police. In some ways, it gets the extra push it needs each year from internationals; much as locals can be frustrated by anarcho-tourists, outsiders can be helpful when the Greek movement is at a lower ebb. It is also a beautiful display of contempt for the state on the part of both organized and non-organized anarchists, hooligans, students, immigrants, refugees, and teenagers. At its core, December 6 offers an opportunity to express and fortify the passions that give strength to the worldwide anarchist movement.
\n\nUsually on December 6, there are two demonstrations. In the morning, there is the student demonstration; it meets around the Propylaea, a university building located between Exarchia and Parliament. This year, the student march involved nearly a thousand people. After the police attacked the march, a conflict broke out involving some property destruction and people throwing Molotovs at police.
\n\nIn the evening, from the same location, there is usually another demonstration that makes its way from the Propylaea to the memorial of Alexis near the heart of Exarchia. Ten meters in one direction from the memorial is a place that students hang out; ten meters in the other direction is the club of AEK, a soccer team comprised primarily of anti-fascist soccer hooligans. While many who support AEK are not political, this particular club based in Exarchia is notoriously anti-fascist and opposed to police; they hung a banner in memory of Alexis this year.
\n\nThis year, the demonstration was mostly peaceful. It consisted of around 2000 people, surrounded by an estimated 2500 police. It is still not clear how much of the demonstration was successfully able to reach the memorial.
\n\nAround the time that the nighttime actions begin, there are usually hundreds of black-clad folks wandering the streets of Exarchia, working together to erect barricades in anticipation of the return of the final night demonstration, so as to be prepared to fight the police as they enter the neighborhood. Imagine entering a city center and seeing hundreds upon hundreds of people dressed in black casually preparing to defend the area. How beautiful and exciting it is to walk through the neighborhood then! Breathing the pungent scent of petrol, hearing voices and languages from across the world and the constant clacking of hammers breaking up the sidewalk to make huge piles of projectiles with which to greet the riot police. There is no elaborate concrete objective, simply to erect huge barricades around the perimeter of the central square of Exarchia and keep the authorities away from every entrance for as long as possible.
\n\nAs simple as this sounds, it is not simple to accomplish. The tear gas used in Greece is like nowhere else in the world except Palestine; it is asphyxiating tear gas that comes from Israel and the US. It is the most asphyxiating and debilitating tear gas you could imagine. You cannot participate in the festivities unless you have a gas mask; and unless you spend real money on your equipment, the gas can still inflict significant effects on you through even a decent mask.
\n\nThis year, the barricades were sizeable and our numbers grew quite fast. As we waited, hoping for the demonstration to return, we had roughly four hours to prepare for the fight. When it seemed that the demonstration might not return, the behalakis (the children of the bahala) lost patience and sent an invitation of fire to the riot police.
\n\nSeveral hours of intense fighting ensued. A thousand or more people roamed the neighborhood hurling Molotovs, rocks, and everything else necessary to keep the police at bay. This involves considerable risk, giving a literal meaning to the term friendly fire. The police are equipped with gear that protects them from fire, but it is horrifying to see a human being beside you injured by flames. The police throw rocks no less than the demonstrators. If they catch you, they will beat you, especially if the situation makes it too difficult for them to arrest you.
\n\nThis year, cops also brought in new equipment I’ve never seen before. There were rumors of plastic bullets and strange dispersal missiles like some kind of fireworks. Even though it’s not the United States, and the police are less likely to shoot you, it’s still terrifying and dangerous. It’s an intense, chaotic battle that requires quick decision-making within mingling clouds of burning debris and unbearable tear gas.
\n\nThe barricades lasted a couple of hours. Considering how aggressively the police attacked, this is remarkable. In light of all the measures taken by the state to contain it, it was a proper celebration of the anarchist spark that lit the prairie fire of 2008.
\n\nBetween the scuffles during the morning student demonstration and the nighttime fight in Exarchia, about 66 people were detained in Athens, with 13 receiving formal charges. The arrestees, some of whom are international, are facing charges of arson, possession of explosives, weapons possession, disturbing the peace, and resisting arrest.
\n\nPeople organize parties at universities and an array of local fundraising efforts in order to maintain a constant war chest to offer financial support to arrested anarchist fighters. One of the most trusted and consistent prisoner support projects here is called Tameio: fund for imprisoned and persecuted fighters. The literal translation of Tameio is cash register. This group maintains donation boxes at bars across Athens; it functions in a similar way to the Anarchist Black Cross elsewhere in the world. If you are interested in organizing a solidarity event or donating money to comrades facing repression in Greece, please contact Tameio for more details at: tameio@espiv.net.
\n\n![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2018/12/17/5.jpg\")
Riot police beneath the fireworks in Athens.
\nIn Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece, a massive demonstration also took place, which also concluded in rioting. Two construction sites for new subway projects in the city were completely destroyed. People occupied the theological department at Aristotle university. Despite the asylum almost unconditionally observed by the state in Greece, which forbids police from entering universities, a request was made to evacuate the occupation. In retaliation for this threat, the occupiers almost completely destroyed the theological department’s facilities. Scuffles with the police took place throughout the city streets. In the course of the day, approximately 52 people were detained in Thessaloniki, with 13 charged with offenses similar to those in Athens.
\n\nIn both cities, people have reported large numbers of injuries. It’s important to note that it is difficult to know the extent of injuries because not all of the participants are formally involved in the movement; some likely do not choose to use public forums related to the movement. Likewise, most people are hesitant to go to the hospital and formally request treatment for wounds inflicted by the police—especially on December 6—lest they face reprisals or be arrested inside of the hospitals.
\n\nIn Athens, there is a volunteer medical crew called the Solidarity Health Workers. They have written a statement regarding injuries inflicted by the police:
\n\n\n\n\n“Ten years after the murder of the 15-year-old anarchist student, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, things remain the same. The repression is an objective scale of application of the doctrine of order of submission and security that does not vary between left and right governance. Once again, we witnessed a lasting and merciless chemical war by the police forces… In addition to carrying out provocative attacks and using chemical projectiles, civil protection forces have prevented people from receiving medical assistance several times by refusing access to Exarchia Square, blocking members of Solidarity Health Workers in order to prevent them from witnessing the incredible barbarity.
\n\nDuring the night, due to the extensive use of chemicals, there were dozens of cases of people with respiratory problems and a multitude of minor injuries, while, more severely, there were 16 cases of head and face injuries with hematomas, bruises and scratches on the scalp, all of which we treated directly and effectively. To convey the seriousness of the situation, it is worth mentioning the case of a young person with left foot trauma from a shot from a high-energy firearm that inflicted a large permanent cavity and extensive damage to the soft tissues. After we stabilized the wounded person’s condition, an ambulance was called and the injured person was transported to a hospital. We want to draw attention once again to the fact that when the police aim directly at people, this not only poses the risk of severe injuries but can also cause death.
\n\nThe fact that people were not killed or more seriously injured by the number of direct shots the police took yesterday night is the result of good luck and not of police accountability.”
\n\nDecember 7, 2018 / Solidarity Health Workers
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![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2018/12/17/6.jpg\")
Police protect the Christmas tree in Syntagma Square. The Christmas tree there was burned on December 6, 2008.
\nActions also took place in small towns across the country. Student walkouts, occupations, and street battles erupted on much smaller levels outside the major cities. It’s not easy to learn the details about subsequent injuries and arrests, but it’s important to emphasize that the events were not confined to Athens and Thessaloniki. The name of Alexis is still known to youth throughout Greece.
\n\nIt is worth noting some actions in addition to the demonstrations and bahala.
\n\nIn the Elliniko suburb of Athens on the night of December 6, an anonymous crew of anarchists blockaded a central street. The windows and ATMs of three major banks were all destroyed, as was the office façade belonging to the right-wing mayor.
\n\nSome days prior, on the evening of December 2, a group of approximately twenty dressed in black attacked the headquarters of the MAT (the riot police force) in the Kesariani neighborhood of Athens. Cars and motorcycles belonging to the police were set ablaze as the guards were taken by surprise. Participants withdrew to the asylum of a nearby university, according to corporate media; unfortunately, the police claim to have arrested two. Corporate news sources claim that flyers were scattered at the scene of the attack claiming solidarity with Alexis on the 10-year anniversary of his murder. Here is an excerpt from the communiqué claiming the attack:
\n\n\n\n\n“The 2008 Greek uprising was one of the strongest in the modern world. It has demonstrated the magnitude of the power and creativity that can arise against state mechanisms and how small and weak they looked like in those days. The murder of the anarchist student Grigoropoulos by the Greek police will always be a part of memory and will feed our actions. However, we want to note that this murder caused a rebellion from society and the political spectrum of the left—and because it was a 15-year-old white-Greek student (while attempting to silence his political identity). But we, from our own position, see the state murder various subjects on a daily basis, as well as seeing prisons and domination on the ground. That is why our struggles are violent and lasting. Our insurgency does not depend on social legitimacy. Society is an abstract concept that probably has more to do with what is visible and has the approval to exist. Our struggles are linked to our experiences. We do not struggle to save people, we fight to survive and give solidarity to them and those who resist in order to draw closer to more individuals and groups who want to join this honest anarchist struggle.
\n\nLet’s create a rebellious movement without frontiers, capable of spreading anarchist ideas and practices.
\n\nOur attack is a contribution to the internationalist call and a fiery signal to the comrades and comrades from Chile for a black December. A message to the insurgents and insurgents around the world. In the battered memory of all the friends, companions of companions, and unknown murder victims and prisoners of the state.”
\n\n-Anarchists / Anarchists Against Oblivion
\n
Two more actions in Athens that happened during the month preceding December 6 were finally claimed in solidarity online shortly before that day. In the gaudily wealthy neighborhood of Kolonaki, all the windows of a jewelry store were smashed in the night, leaving the goods on display for anyone walking by to take. People also attacked a bank in the Ilisia neighborhood of Athens. This is an excerpt from the communiqué:
\n\n\n\n\n“During the early hours of Tuesday, November 6, we attacked by hit-and-run the Tahidromiko Tamieftirio of Eurobank, in Afxentiou street in Ilisia, destroying the cameras, breaking all of the windows and the ATM.
\n\nAlso, during the early hours of Sunday, November 11, we attacked by hit-and-run a jewelry shop in Kolonaki, at the corner of Skoufa and Massalias street, breaking the windows and the entrance to the store.
\n\nAll these gems and golden jewelry that were not meant for any of us were exposed to the night in the metropolitan center. They reminded us of the exposure we feel when we walk alone in the streets, they reminded us of the exposure that each one of us feels towards the social prescriptions and proscriptions. That is for all of you—fathers, bosses, pimps, Greeks, and those of your people. We collected our pains, our suppressions, our angers, our complaints, our sex drive, and here we are; we acted out. If only time were always as unimportant yet at the same time as extremely important as it was during the moment in which the windows of the bank were melodiously and chaotically broken. We synchronized the one for the other to steal back some seconds of life. Let’s take back our joy—even for a little bit—for those hands that were vigorously laid on us, for those stares that still hunt us, for those university desks and the labor-hours that suck us dry, for the skirts that we would like to wear but never dared to, for our perverted thoughts, for our unfulfilled desires, for our unexpressed values.
\n\nWe live in the rat race, in the disgusting smell of the metropolitan gutter that sucks us in and throws us out as machines, as roles, as executions of those that were inflicted on us from the day we were born. And, according to ethical norms, we chose the total submission to the aggressive barking of those who dominate this world. With some exceptions, these are the choices of those faced with suppression, violence, and death. To reinforce the anti-authoritarian struggle, we would like to mention some who have fallen in the social war, to dedicate to them the lines above and the action. Not to honor them as holy totems, as untouchable memories, only as historical saints, but as living howlings of war, as those who overcame social and personal doubt, as points of rising and expansion of insurrectional consciousness, as the starting point of the creation and strengthening of relations, and also as the production of radical forms and content.
\n\n\n
\n\n- \n
\nAlexis Grigoropoulos, killed by a cop’s bullet in Exarchia, on December 6, 2008.
\n- \n
\nSebastian Oversluij, killed by security guard’s bullets during a robbery of a bank in Chile, on December 11, 2013.
\n- \n
\nZack Kostopoulos / Zackie Oh, lynched to death by a crowd of bosses, Greek property owners and cops, on September 21, 2018.
\n- \n
\nMikhail Zhlobitskiy, who ended his life in a bombing attack in the Secret Agencies of Russia (FSB), on October 31, 2018.
\nPS: Comrade Dimitris, have a nice journey. You will live forever in our struggles.”
\n
The comrade Dimitris referred to in this piece is a comrade who recently passed away while hanging a banner in solidarity with political prisoner Marios Seisidis.
\n\nFinally, two days before December 6, an anonymous group claimed responsibility for an attack on a MAT police checkpoint on the border of Exarchia. Here are two excerpts from their published communiqué:
\n\n\n\n\nOn the evening of December 4, we made our attack upon the police border control of Exarchia on Voulgaroktonou street. We arrived with sticks and bottles flaming, and when they saw us they immediately started to panic and run shouting for help. We struck fear into their hearts and sticks onto their heads, fire engulfed at least two policemen and at least one patrol car was burned. We hunted them and made sure it was a night to remember. We also stole some of their equipment (clubs, shields, helmets). When we left, the street had changed its character, transformed from a quiet suburban street with a police checkpoint to a battleground, a site of victory. They also bleed, and we can make them.
\n\nWe are everywhere there is a fight against authority, we are the seed in the burning forest. In our hearts are the insurrections that followed the revolt of Alexis, which spread throughout North Africa and the Middle East. These revolts were subdued by dictatorships, theocracy, and the military power of capital, but we still feel their pulse every time we take revolt into our hands.
\n\nIn our hearts are those who fight in the USA, revolting inside and outside of the mass prison system. In our hearts are those who combat the rise of fascism globally (US, Europe, Brazil, etc.). In our hearts are the migrants and those in solidarity who destroy these recent national lines which attempt to divide our struggle in Greece and everywhere. In our hearts are the anarchists fighting the state in Russia, including Mikhail Zhlobitsky, who bombed the FSB office in Archangelsk on October 31. In our hearts are those building and defending the free spaces in France. In our hearts is the Algerian woman murdered in Paris by a gas grenade. In our hearts are the indigenous struggles and assassinated comrades in Latin America.
\n\nAlexis lives in all these struggles, as long as we fight he will never die. We humbly add one more attack to the list.
\n\nDeath to the bosses, death to the police, death to capital.
\n\nAnarchy lives.”
\n\n-From some of those who participated in the attack
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![](\"https://cdn.crimethinc.com/assets/articles/2018/12/17/4.jpg\")
Anniversaries marked with fire.
\nThe Exarcheia Commune Rises and Defends Itself, a Review of the Battle—A personal account of the events of December 6, 2016 in Athens recorded by Paul Z. Simons (RIP). Although it, too, is an account by a foreigner, and less informed than the above, it is valuable above all as a document illustrating the character and enthusiasm of Paul Simons, a longtime participant in the anarchist movement who passed away earlier this year.
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