Sunday, August 22, 2010

More sweeps in central Athens from greek media....papers


Police arrest 37; squatters removed from buildings as capital awaits government’s regeneration plan
Authorities conducted a second day of controversial sweep operations in the center of Athens yesterday, leading to 37 arrests, as the city’s mayor, Nikitas Kaklamanis, called on the government to tackle the problem of rising crime in the downtown area.
Special police squads spent much of Thursday and yesterday stopping and searching people in central Athens. Officers stopped 181 people and 18 vehicles. Of those arrested, 27 were immigrants who did not have documents, six were in possession of drugs and four were suspected of being prostitutes.
Police also assisted workers from the City of Athens and Athens Prefecture in removing squatters from downtown buildings.
Local authorities had sealed off one of the properties on August 6, as it was deemed unhygienic and unsafe, but the doors had since been forced open and, according to officials, a number of people were living inside in squalid conditions.
A total of 44 people were removed from the buildings that were checked yesterday and authorities said they intend to continue such operations.
The practice of removing squatters, who are mostly immigrants, from abandoned buildings in central Athens was criticized earlier this month when it emerged that a 3-year-old Afghan boy had been raped while sleeping in a square just days after his family had been thrown out of one of these properties.
Immigrant rights groups accused authorities of not offering the evicted temporary accommodation and of failing to even record their details so that social services could follow up and check on the conditions in which they are living.
Yesterday’s operations came as Kaklamanis made it clear that he feels the municipality does not have the resources or the authority to tackle crime in the city center.
“Safety in the center of Athens is an issue for the government of the time to tackle,” he told Skai radio. “Unfortunately, the local government does not have the authority to do so.”
Authorities have been under pressure for some time to deal with rising crime and degradation in the area around Omonia Square. Following consultation with various bodies, including the City of Athens, the government is expected to present its plan for increasing safety and reviving the rundown parts of the city center later this month.

No comments:

Solidarity Poster for Polykarpos Georgiadis and Vaggelis Chrisohoidis (greece)



POSTER SAYS:
did anyone speak of a
KIDNAPPING?
“…A handful of capitalists
have organized a criminal gang
and have kidnapped the proletarians,
demanding for ransom
their labor force,
merchandising their human activity,
their time (which is turned into money),
their own being itself…”
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
to vaggelis Chrisohoidis and Polykarpos Georgiadis
who the persecuting authorities, exactly because they denied to betray values and people,
accuse them as participators in the kidnapping of industrialist Milonas
anarchists from Serres from north-greece


Anarchists solidarity protest outside Korydallos prison, the main prison in Athens, at the time of the change of the year. This protest happens every New Year's Eve for the past six years. This year more than 400 people took part in the protest that interacted with the prisoners inside through shouting mutual slogans and fireworks. The main slogan was "The passion for freedom is stronger that your prisons".
NEW YEAR OUTSIDE IN KORRIDALOS PRISON 2011
Watch live streaming video from agitprop at livestream.com
FIRE TO ALL PRISONS

A society that punishes/the condition of incarceration/the prison of the mind/the prison as punishment/the rage of the damned will sound on the ruins of prisons/those denying obedience and misery of our era even within its hellholes/will dance together on the ruins of every last prison/with the flame of rebellion avenging whatever creates prisons.

To the prisoners struggle already counting one dead and thousands in hunger strike across greece, we stand in solidarity and anger until the destruction of every last prison.


ARSON AND WILDFIRE FOR EVERY PRISON

SOLIDARITY TO ALL PRISONERS IN GREECE


Keny Arkana - La Rage English Subtitles

1976 - 2000 Greek Anarchists Fight for Freedom

(December Riots in Greece)