Vandals attack thousands of London parking meters

Parking meters have been injected with superglue and expanding foam

Almost 90,000 parking meters have been vandalised in London in the last five years, new figures have revealed.

The statistics, obtained by a Freedom of Information request, show councils spent more than £360,000 in repairs.

Meters were destroyed with hammers, injected with superglue and removed completely by "mechanical means".

Barrie Segal, who campaigns against council-enforced parking, said motorists should not seek revenge on local authorities by illegal means.

Some 27 of the 32 London boroughs responded to the BBC Freedom of Information request.

In the borough of Lambeth more than 40,000 parking meters have been attacked over five years.

In Harrow, industrial expanding foam was injected into the coin mechanism of a meter.

Wires dangling

Every parking meter on one street in Enfield was daubed with red paint.

And in both Richmond and Croydon machines were wrenched out of the ground with wires left dangling, the latter authority blaming "mechanical means" for the destruction.

Barrie Segal, a parking expert who campaigns against the current system of parking enforcement, said: "If you think you have got an unfair ticket, it is far better to use legal means and appeal it than destroy the meter.

"I know people get frustrated, but that course of action does not help the motorist because we all end up paying for it."

He added: "I would like to say I have a wry smile hearing about that sort of destruction, but its not really on. It's better to defeat them at their own game."

Payment options

Only three boroughs, Tower Hamlets, Ealing and Brent, provided figures for the amount stolen from machines.

A total of £132,000 was taken over the period.

A London Councils spokeswoman said: "Vandalism to parking meters is an issue in London.

"Many boroughs are using different ways to tackle the problem including mobile phone parking schemes and offering drivers the option of paying for their parking using a credit card rather than cash."

Solidarity from Sweden to the greek people.

On May the 6th, action/expression of solidarity in Stockholm.

Another compa leaves the state’s death camps: Cristián Cancino on the streets!!

13 04 2010 From Liberación Total: April 12, 2010 Cristián Cancino’s plea hearing was held today at around 9:30 a.m. The object of the hearing was for Cristián to admit his guilt and thereby obtain some type of sentencing leniency. The filthy prosecutor explained all the incriminating evidence derived from the May 22, 2009 raid on La Idea Occupied Social Center, among which he singled out the planted explosive material and the fact that the black powder was located in Cristián’s room. After illustrating his facts, he requested a three-year prison sentence. The defense countered by asking for a suspended sentence (probation), which was accepted by the judge. Cristián is expected to be freed from the dungeons of Santiago 1 during the course of the afternoon. Although this type of plea admits guilt and accepts the evidence, these are strategies for the liberation of our comrade. Perhaps this means playing the game with power, but the focus will always be on our brother’s well-being. It pains us that our comrade is confessing to something he didn’t do, but we are wildly happy that he is on the streets. We hope he doesn’t back down from the struggle, and that everything he experienced in the jails of the rich can be used by all of us who keep fighting for the destruction of domination. —In Anonymous Solidarity We will continue spreading terror to clarify that we will not stop our offensive, every day, every month, and every year. Attacks will multiply until everything falls. Incendiary embraces.

POGROM VIOLENT AGAINST THE ANARCHISTS ANTITHATORIANS

IN GREECE 6/5 DONT GIVE UP COMRADES! The anarchist space should be taken to the streets and show what they really are.
To go out not to let all sorts of worms to "portrays us," who only have said is that raping virgins, Mommy and children.
All roads to turn the peaceful protests in fierce clashes and strikes.
Our location is on the road, along with those who have chosen conflict, rather than hiding in our homes and afraid. COMENT FROM ACTFORFREEDOMNOW!

Solidarity from Holland

On May the 6th, action/expression of solidarity in Den Haag -

DNA clue in sombrero raid 8/5

Police believe they have cracked who was behind a bizarre armed attack on a bus containing riot police officers in Exarchia, central Athens, in 2009, when a man wearing Bermuda shorts and a sombrero opened fire on the vehicle.

Sources said yesterday that DNA evidence taken from the 34-year-old, known only as A.S. for legal reasons, who was arrested with suspected “robber in black” Symon Seisidis on Monday following an armed robbery, matches that recovered from the scene of the July 2009 shooting.

In last year’s incident, the suspect allegedly approached the bus and opened fire with a handgun. None of the bullets hit their intended target and the assailant ran off. However, in his effort to evade arrest, he dropped a surgical mask he had been wearing to cover his face.

It appears that forensic experts have been able to match the DNA on the mask with that taken from the 34-year-old following his arrest.

this is bullshits from the greek media and the states!

aris is not alone!! more news later...

Argentina - the 5 comrades arrested for solidarity with Giannis Dimitrakis are FREE!

from argentinian comrades, via informa-azione
Today around 5am, the 5 comrades accused of the attack on the Greek embassy were released from prison. Opposite the Intendenza di Polizia Federale a large number of people in solidarity were present who greeted them with great affection, flags, hugs and fireworks.
Information about their judicial situation isn't clear yet, but we will keep you informed. We share with everybody the joy of being able to have them with us again after days of imprisonment.
MUERTE AL ESTADO!
VIVA LA ANARQUIA!!!
Sab, 08/05/2010 – 23:06

A DEMO IN ARGENTINA SOLIDARYTI TO THE 5

Argentina - the 5 comrades arrested for solidarity with Giannis Dimitrakis are FREE!

from argentinian comrades, via informa-azioneToday around 5am, the 5 comrades accused of the attack on the Greek embassy were released from prison. Opposite the Intendenza di Polizia Federale a large number of people in solidarity were present who greeted them with great affection, flags, hugs and fireworks.Information about their judicial situation isn't clear yet, but we will keep you informed. We share with everybody the joy of being able to have them with us again after days of imprisonment.MUERTE AL ESTADO!VIVA LA ANARQUIA!!!Sab, 08/05/2010 – 23:06

A DEMO IN ARGENTINA SOLIDARYTI TO THE 5

Argentina - the 5 comrades arrested for solidarity with Giannis Dimitrakis are FREE!

from argentinian comrades, via informa-azioneToday around 5am, the 5 comrades accused of the attack on the Greek embassy were released from prison. Opposite the Intendenza di Polizia Federale a large number of people in solidarity were present who greeted them with great affection, flags, hugs and fireworks.Information about their judicial situation isn't clear yet, but we will keep you informed. We share with everybody the joy of being able to have them with us again after days of imprisonment.MUERTE AL ESTADO!VIVA LA ANARQUIA!!!Sab, 08/05/2010 – 23:06

A DEMO IN ARGENTINA SOLIDARYTI TO THE 5

VIDEO FROM THESSALONIKI DEMO 5/5

New letter from Konstantina Karakatsani (plus Fire Cells Conspiracy case chronology)

7 05 2010

From Liberación Total:

April 30, 2010

Here is the new letter from Konstantina Karakatsani, now locked up in Eleona prison (as is Panagiota “Pola” Roupa, charged in the Revolutionary Struggle case):

On April 22, while I was talking on a payphone in the middle of Athens, they came and arrested me. It was bound to happen. I didn’t set a specific length of time to keep running, so I ran until they found me. Later they brought me to Police Headquarters, where you already know what happened. Certain pigs have an endless supply of bluster and insults. They were so descriptive, I still feel like throwing up! Anyway, I don’t expect anything better from them. After spending two days in the 12^th-floor “safe house,” and after the prosecutor finally decided to put me in prison, I was transferred to Eleona. Six or seven cars and three motorcycles escorted a lone criminal: me.

Of course, everyone defines “crime” in their own way. To them, consciousness and struggle are crimes. That’s exactly why the Minister of Snitch Protection crudely attempts to repress crime in the first place! The jailings, the neverending criminal prosecutions in the Fire Cells case, the assaults on political spaces, the scurrilous charges, and the recent murder of Lambros Foundas—shot in the back during what some miscreants don’t hesitate to call “the great success of the Greek police”: Their objective isn’t just to dismantle some organization, but to intimidate and paralyze all who struggle. They’ll take you away for mere intent.

It doesn’t matter whether there is evidence; you have to go to jail to learn to bow your head. Someone has to tell them, once and for all, that revolutionary consciousness knows no bars, cages, or handcuffs, and that it can’t be reformed.

Most people tend to tighten their chains by themselves. Each, in their way, is building their own imaginary prison. That’s how they were taught, and as long as it makes them happy, they feel secure.

In here and out there, now and forever, those who live freely never build their own prisons.

A huge embrace for all the imprisoned and persecuted victors. The vanquished are the ones who cower in surrender and submission.

“In the hushed silence of an impregnable slaughterhouse, the rage of a trapped animal is all the more terrifying.”

PS: When the comrades’ march reached the prison, the phone lines were cut to prevent me from communicating with them. Also, my cell window—by sheer coincidence!—doesn’t face the street. The march was received quite positively, and the prisoners talked about it all day.

—Konstantina Karakatsani, Eleona prison

_____

Short chronology of the Fire Cells Conspiracy case:

September 23, 2009: After raiding the supposed “safe house” in the Chalandri neighborhood, police arrest four people: Haris Hatzimikelakis, Panagiotis Masouras, Myrto Panteloglou, and Manolis Giospas. Two days later, on the basis of fingerprints found at the house, authorities issue six arrest warrants.

September 29 and 30, 2009: Three of the arrestees are placed in preventive detention, while Myrto is granted conditional liberty (he is prohibited from leaving the country and required to check in at his local police station every 15 days).

November 14, 2009: Another five arrest warrants are issued, resulting in the capture of comrade Antigoni H., who is granted conditional liberty after four days.

January 5, 2010: Nikos B. is arrested, then also granted conditional liberty.

February 1, 2010: A different Nikos is arrested and placed in preventive detention.

February 23, 2010: Prosecutor K. Baltas orders a freeze on the bank accounts of everyone charged in the case (the prisoners, those granted provisional liberty, and those still at large), and their families. While all the accused are very young, and therefore don’t have much money or even bank accounts, the measure is an extra outrage against their families. For example, Panagiotis Masouras’ parents (the father is a construction worker and the mother is unemployed) have serious problems accessing their meager savings, and are forced to show the bureaucracy that the sources of their deposits are legal.

March 3, 2010: After a month in prison, Nikos is granted conditional liberty.

March 23, 2010: Errikos Ralis, who had been on the run, is arrested in Volos on a warrant dating back to November 14, 2009. The evidence against him is a fingerprint found on a bathroom tile in the Chalandri “safe house.” The police—with unconditional support form the mass media, as usual—publish photos of the youth and ask the public to contribute information about him. They also insinuate that Errikos is “the most probable author of the first Fire Cells Conspiracy communiqués.” Nevertheless, judges grant him provisional liberty.

April 15, 2010: In accordance with Greek law, prosecutors meet with a committee of appellate judges six months after the initial arrests in order to decide whether to prolong the preventive detention of the accused. A demonstration is held outside the courthouse, and slogans are shouted to salute and encourage the comrades when they are brought in and later when they are taken away. Manolis Giospas is granted provisional liberty, while the rest have their imprisonment extended.

April 22, 2010: Nineteen-year-old Konstantina Karakatsani is arrested in the middle of Athens, having been on the run since late September 2009. Her first letter was published last November, and was followed in December by a letter from her mother.

---

"If i turned to robberys, it wasnt for the profit. It was a matter of principal, a matter of justice.
I prefered to maintain my freedom, my independence, my dignity as a human being, than to become a creator of wealth for my boss" Marius Jacob (French illegalist) There are people, that deny the capitalist ideology that has settled in most people's mind as a given characteristic of human nature, and look for ways to slip away from its everyday paranoia.
The robbing of a bank is a practice that cancels in the most immediate way, the relationship between boss and "slave", abuser and abused. Since it allows the subject to control in its own its time and appetite for creation, without dying slowly in the workcamps increasing the profits of the bosses (big and small).
It denys giving away this whole life to this unfair economic system, begging for crums in order to survive. It's a part of the generalized attack against the rotten world of submission and part of the plan for its destruction.
Of course, a robbery of a bank just to acquire more consumerist goods, is not an action against what exists but an action that conserves it. In the end it's the subject that defines the action.
[.....] On april 28th, G.Dimitrakis, who is accused of expropriating the National Bank of Greece on Solwnos Street in Athens on January 16/2006, passed again through the court desks to appeal against the first sentence and was sent away one more time to face the justice system. In an act of solidarity, we let the fire and not the court "judge" his life's choices.
So on the morning of April 27th, we put an explosive device in front of the door of the Emporiki Bank near the courts in Hania.
P.S. 1 : Solidarity to the 3 comrades wanted for the same case and to A. Bonnano, CH. Stratigopoulos, G.Voutsis-Vogiatzis and to all those who chose to attack the temples of money.
P.S. 2: We are waiting impatiently for the political tumble of the system and the radicalisation of society for a class, antistate war.
Defusion of Guerilla thought

Gathering demo today at 5.00 pm outside the Embassy of Argentina (opposite the Hilton)Athens.

A group of anarhists hung banners in Greek and Spanish in solidarity with the five Argentinean anarchists who were arrested for solidarity action at the Greek embassy in Buenos Aires international solidarity campaign on 27 / 4 for the trial of John Dimitrakis.

Leaflets given to hundreds of passersby and cars around us
and there were several platoons of riotcops. The intervention
was completed at 7pm.
SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON

friday 7/5 athens!Law and order ..

Homo Neaterdals

Greek cops attacked a peaceful demonstration and a social centre for immigrants' rights at Tsamadou 13 street in Exarcheia, Athens, a self-organisation social centre at Zaimi street, and people's homes around the Exarcheia district.

Many people were attacked in their homes and the social centres, with the cops beating them up or breaking glasses on their arms and heads. Medical help to them was refused, and many people were arrested by the cops.

News break out quickly on the Athens Indymedia website, and the cops (who do watch Indymedia regularly) knew that comrades would quickly gather at the Police HQ Building in Alexandras street, were arrested people usually are taken at for interrogation. To avoid the incoming comrades, the cops decided to take the arrested people to the Petrou Ralli police station further south in the city, away from the comrades who were gathering outside the Police HQ Building in solidarity.

The cops also attacked private homes in Exarcheia district, beating up and injuring people living there. One of the injured was Ioanna Manousaka, who decided to give an interview to the Eleftherotypia daily newspaper. She says she participated peacefully in the march and went back to her home to have a rest, but after a few minutes she suddenly heard cops breaking her door. She went there to have a look and the cops went inside and started beating her up, injuring her severely on the head. They destroyed the lock on her door and broke it into pieces. After beating her up and injuring her severely inside her own home, the cops left without arresting her since an official record of arrest would reveal their behaviour to the media. They probably expected the victim to keep silent out of fear, but unfortunately for them she had the guts to go and report them to the media.

Later, the cops went to some coffee houses in Exarcheia and broke their glass windows, shouting against the people inside

1. marfin 6/5

2. greek telecommunications building damaged and slogans during 5/5 riot

3. 6/5 Left outside parliament

DSC00043.JPG

DSC00042.JPG

From Athens, from 2 of the 200.000 provocateurs

WITHOUT EMERGENCY EXIT

A note for May 5th demonstration and the three dead Marfin bank employees
To the strikers that are still smashing shit up
It is indeed inappropriate to "put the entire responsibility" and blame on Mr. Vgenopoulos for the depressing deaths of the three employees of the burnt Marfin bank. The fact that he forced his employees under threat of dismissal to remain locked in the upper floor offices of a seemingly empty and unprotected bank, without any fire protection or emergency exits, in the epicentre of the greatest strike demonstration of the last thirty years, was not yet another criminal negligence on the altar of profit [1], that his class has got us used to. This conscious use of workers as a human shield for banks and businesses [2] is one of the boss class's responses to December and the common violence of insurrection that spreads, de-legalising and destroying the circulation of commodities, breaking and torching vehicles, shops, its police guards and most of all its headquarters: the banks.
To be clear, the intention of Vgenopoulos and his class to sacrifice a few workers in order to block the process followed by insurrections up until now, must be answered as such. Legal points or leftist evasions such as: insurrection means storming the parliament and not the banks/shops, having no idea what they'd do there of course, do nothing more than refuse to address the issue.
You see, it is common for a boss to know better what his interests are and how to pursue them, than the workers do. And any boss always knows that "we're at war", even if they'll never cry it out openly, as these naive people that think that in a war it is ok to hit but once challenged one should rely on an intervention of an allegedly neutral justice. By setting ourselves under the tutelage of the state, we recuperate even the most extreme act into nothing more than violent reformism. The only justice in the streets, to the degree they are under our power, is us. The responsibility for whatever happens there, who lives and who dies, is ours: PROLETARIAN DICTATORSHIP period. If we lack -other than an effective guard of strikes that wouldn't leave any colleague in the hands of the bosses - an essential trust among us, a trust manufactured through our common experiences in struggles and meeting in the streets, then the next step will be to call ourselves police in our demonstrations, to be in charge and bear responsibility for whatever happens. WHOEVER BEARS VIOLENCE, FORCES JUSTICE. To perform violence, ignoring the "sense of right" it comes with, to bring - abstract - chaos, doesn't promote anything other than the highest organized structures, that come with their formed armed "justice" (the Stalinists, the police, the mafia, the parastate groups...). Victory belongs to those who bring chaos WITHOUT CARRYING IT INSIDE THEM.
Fetishising insurrection as the destructive act, that represented a past phase of our movement, weak and marginal at the time, after December, and the stripping of every fetish from violence with its simultaneous open communisation, must now be overcome. A second December would no longer be a victory but a defeat. Any related invocation, shows nothing more than a complete lack of any plan for afterwards. Our enemy has advanced, we are forced to do the same if we are not to disappear from the historical scene.
We must not sit home to be disciplined by their TV programs as if we were naughty children given too much leash. We must retake Logos (speech) back to the streets. Spit on the bourgeois and TV justice that "vindicates" the pain of one with the suffering of another, accumulating misery for all and socializing their cannibalism. The most retarded of these vultures, before they ascertained how the three employees' deaths would paralyze us, were trying to make us feel guilty for a bunch of ridiculous things, from the expected fall in the tourist trade to the country's image abroad. To make us feel guilty for fighting. To divide us into "peaceful workers" and "hooded criminals with molotovs", now that everyone knows (except of course the Communist Party that only saw provocateurs) that on 5/5 there were no peaceful workers that didn't stand up - with or without hoods and molotovs, no importance - to the State's last playing card: its police terror.
Their justice devours blood, the blood of the offenders, of anyone that resembles them, or most of all the anarchists, since it is they that generously have given their flag to any insurrectionary violence of even the most isolated elements of our class, globally [3]. But, it wants something more than that. It wants to open as a larger trauma to the social memory, that would break our familiarization with our own violence, with the violence of our struggle, with its subjects and the communication among them. Our justice will deal with nothing other than the healing. We don't know what kind of persons the dead were, if their sense of dignity would cope with the fascist scum and the TV vultures mongering their deaths or not, but we are sure that as workers their interests were with the victory of our struggle, with all the workers of Europe and the World. We won't drag one another down - we will rise together: GENERAL WILDCAT STRIKE!
Let's embrace the occupations!Let's stay to the streets!Let's talk!
2 of the 200.000 provocateurs
[1] For the time, let's bear this in mind : 36,1% pure rise in profits for Marfin bank this year, in the middle of the "most harsh crisis" to which every worker must reconcile working and obeying in the name of the nation.
[2] Similar incidents with that of Marfin bank on 23, Stadiou street, proceded to Bazaar supermarket behind Omonoia square, where a worker from inside put out the fire with an extinguisher, and Ianos bookstore that was open (as it is known, culture merchandising doesn't give a fuck about strikes).
[3] The night of 5/5, armed gangs of Delta, Zeta, plainclothe cops and riot police stormed the squat of "anarchists for a polymorphic movement" on Zaimi street, the Immigrants Haunt on Tsamadou street, and many houses and cafes at Exarchia, beating and intimidating people. In the same time on the TV, everyone was more or less asking for the anarchists' heads.

An article published at the Rioters Agency on the May 5th events

Defense excerpts from six arrested in Revolutionary Struggle case (plus update and chronology)
6 05 2010

From Liberación Total:

April 30, 2010

Nikos Maziotis
Responding to the question “Do you accept or deny the charges?”:
“I am a revolutionary, and I am fighting an unjust, criminal regime known as the state and capitalism. If anyone should make a plea in defense, it is not me but those who are accusing me: the police and judges who serve the rich. I, for my part, am in the right, and I will not apologize for myself.”

Panagiota “Pola” Roupa
Responding to the same question:
“I am a revolutionary, and I do not recognize your proceedings. The criminals and terrorists are you and the system you serve: the state and capitalism.”

Sarandos Nikitopoulos
“I am being singled out for my political activity. I have been politically active in the anarchist and antiauthoritarian milieu ever since I was very little, and I can assure you that I as well as hundreds of others before me were already in the authorities’ sights, and that will continue. I consider the legal persecution against me to be based on and a product of my own political activity, as well as that of the entire anarchist milieu. Cases like Thessaloniki—in which even video recordings show police planting bags containing “illegal” items near people in order to charge them—or the imprisonment of demonstrator Mario Z. in Athens, and many others, must put an end to this blind faith in police accusations.”

Kostas Gournas
The prosecutor: “What do you say in your defense? Do you accept or deny the charges?”
Kostas: “I am not going to answer. I do not recognize these proceedings. Since the age of 20, I have been a worker and have taken part in the social and class struggle in Greece. I am against the regime, the political system, and the economic system. I am not a terrorist. The terrorists are the ones on the 12th floor of police headquarters who gave me a beating and threatened to kill my children.”

Vaggelis Stathopoulos
“Mixing me up in the Revolutionary Struggle case is a consequence of my political convictions. I do not condemn any type or method of struggle. My political activity has always taken place in broad daylight.”

Christoforos Kortesis
Through his lawyers, he said that he will testify alone under certain specific conditions. He demanded in writing that “they have to clearly specify the charge common to all six of us that refers to my involvement in specific actions claimed by Revolutionary Struggle.” He also demanded an itemization of the evidence for each action.

_____

Our comrades were quickly transferred to different prisons: Kostas Gournas and Vaggelis Stathopoulos to Trikala, Christoforos Kortesis to Corinth, Panagiota “Pola” Roupa to Eleona womens’ prison near Thebes (let’s remember that our comrade is seven months pregnant), and Nikos Maziotis and Sarandos Nikitopoulos to Korydallos prison in Athens. On Sunday, April 25, simultaneous solidarity demonstrations and marches took place outside Trikala, Corinth, and Eleona prisons (where, apart from Pola, Konstantina Karakatsani is also locked up after her arrest in the Fire Cells Conspiracy case).

On April 29, three of the charged comrades (Maziotis, Roupa, and Gournas) published a statement in which they proudly claim their participation in the actions of Revolutionary Struggle (Epanastatikos Agonas) and recognize that comrade Lambros Foundas, who was murdered by police bullets over a month ago, was part of the group. The letter is very long (11 pages; excerpts here), and a translation will be attempted in the coming days.

_____

Revolutionary Struggle are thought to be responsible for the following attacks, all in Athens:

* September 5, 2003: Bombing at courthouse.
* March 14, 2004: Bombing at Citibank subsidiary in Psychico neighborhood.
* May 5, 2004: Bombing at police station in Perissos neighborhood.
* October 29, 2004: Bombing of police buses.
* June 2, 2005: Bombing at Labor Ministry.
* December 12, 2005: Bombing at Finance Ministry in Syntagma Square, near Parliament.
* May 30, 2006: Attempted assassination of Georgios Voulgarakis, former Minister of Public Order, now Minister of Culture.
* January 12, 2007: Wasp 58 LAW rocket attack on United States Embassy.
* April 30, 2007: Shots fired at police station in Nea Ionia neighborhood.
* October 24, 2008: Bombing at Shell offices in Palaio Faliro neighborhood.
* December 23, 2008: Shots fired at riot police bus near Athens University in Goudi neighborhood.
* January 5, 2009: Shots fired at police guarding Culture Ministry in Exarcheia neighborhood. One riot cop critically wounded.
* February 18, 2009: Car bombing at Citibank headquarters in Kifissia neighborhood. Bomb fails to detonate.
* March 9, 2009: Bombing at Citibank subsidiary in Nea Ionia neighborhood.
* May 12, 2009: Bombing at Eurobank subsidiary in Argyroupoli neighborhood.
* September 2, 2009: Car bombing causes serious damage to Stock Exchange building.

Related: Two open letters to Michalis Chrisochoidis from Kostas Gournas and his comrades and relatives

Athens - anarchist Simos Seisidis fights for his life in hospital cage 6/5

A climate of terror reigns in KAT hospital where comrade Simos Seisidis has been transported and hospitalized.

At noon they did a second operation, while doctors are afraid not only about whether they can revert his foot that suffered serious injuries, but also for his life.

That is because at the Hippocratic hospital was he was transferred from he was clinically dead and brought back to life, and because he is still at risk.The situation is deemed very serious, in the words of doctors.

He is not hospitalized in intensive care, but in a specially designed room/cage, which gets very hot and there is only one old-fashioned air conditioner that does not actually do anything.In the room, as throughout the hospital, police are on permanent guard.

The lawyer was prevented from seeing him, and up until yesterday afternoon, his family were also prevented from entering.The assisting doctor, at the strong protests of the mother said "Well don't you worry, I'll take care of him"! Fortunately, with the help of another doctor and head nurse, who honor their functions, they succeeded in doing so.

The police presence is massive, and during yesterday's demonstration, EKAM special cops with guns and balaclavas are patrolling the hospital! While current security measures are even greater, with body checks on the family and his companion locked inside the walk-in cage!The comrade will remain for a long time in hospital and will undergo surgery again.

For four years a myth has been formed around his name, and since the situation there is now explosive with ever greater repression, and with memories fresh from the "treatment" of Savvas Xiros [imprisoned 17 November member who was severely wounded and 'visited' by the CIA while semi-conscious due to special drug administration], we intend to monitor closely.

SIMOS IS NOT ALONE.

After the tragic death of the three workers made the round of Athens, new clashes started to spread in the Greek capital, with a large crowd gathered outside the burned bank when Marfin's boss tried to visit the site. Clashes broke out between the crowd and police when the former attacked the bank magnate accusing him of forcing the dead workers to scab on a general strike and locking them in the building despite them demanding to evacuate it since 12:00.

In Parliament the Communist Party of Greece has accused the government for the deaths, claiming it was a result of agents provocateur fascist groups. The claims of the Communist Party are based on the fact that 50 fascists tried to enter the PAME demo bearing the flags of the union earlier in the morning. The fascists were spotted, chased and sought refuge behind riot police lines. Accusing the extreme-right as being behind the deaths, the Coalition of Radical Left has declared in Parliament that the government cannot pretend to be in grief for the loss of life, as it has been attacking human life by all means possible.

Meanwhile, extended clashes broke out in Salonika where approximately 50,000 people marched destroying dozens of banks and corporate shops in Greece’s second largest city. Clashes with the police continued for several hours. According to news broadcasts anarchist have occupied the Labour Center of the city.

In Patras, around 20,000 protesters were joined by tractor drivers and garbage truck drivers on their vehicles, as flaming barricades were erected along central streets of the city and clashes developed between protestors and the police.

In Ioannina the protesters attacked banks and corporate shops leading to extended use of chemicals by the police. In Heraklion, 10,000 people are reported as marching against the measures. In Corfu, protesters taking part in the anti-measures march occupied the County Headquarters. Protesters have occupied the Administrative Headquarters of Naxos and the City Hall of Naoussa.

As a result of the Athens riots, the police have cordoned off the entire center of the city, erecting check points of entry and exit, while all police work permits have been recalled. At the time of writing battles continue to rage in the inner city, while news broadcasts claim the police is mobilising its forces to storm an anarchist squat in Exarcheia.

| Statement by the Skaramanga squat in Athens regarding today’s events: The murderers “mourn” their victims

The statement below was issued a few hours ago by the anarchist squat of Skaramanga and Patision in Athens.

The murderers “mourn” their victims

(Regarding today’s tragic death of 3 people)

The enormous strike demonstration which took place today, 5th of May turned into a social outflow of rage. At least 200,000 people of all ages took to the streets (employees and unemployed, in the public and private sector, locals and migrants) attempting, over many hours and in consecutive waves, to surround and to take over the Parliament. The forces of repression came out in full force, to play their familiar role – that is, of the protection of the political and financial authorities. The clashes were hours long and extensive. The political system and its institutions reached a nadir.

However, in the midst of all this, a tragic event that no words can possibly describe took place: 3 people died from infusions at the branch of Marfin Bank on Stadiou Avenue, which was set ablaze.

The state and the entire journalistic riff-raff, without any shame toward the dead or their close ones, spoke from the very first moment about some “murderer-hooded up youths”, trying to take advantage of the event, in order to calm the wave of social rage that had erupted and to recover their authority that had been torn apart; to impose once again a police occupation of the streets, to wipe out sources of social resistance and disobedience against state terrorism and capitalist barbarity. For this reason, during the last few hours the police forces have been marching through the center of Athens, they have conducted hundreds of detentions and they raided – with shootings and stun-grenades – the anarchist occupation “space of united multiform action” on Zaimi street and the “migrant haunt” on Tsamadou Street, causing extensive damage (both these places are in the Exarcheia neighbourhood of Athens). At the same time the threat of a violent police eviction is hanging over the rest of the self-organised spaces (occupations and haunts) after the Prime-ministerial speech which referred to soon-to-come raids for the arrest of the “murderers”.

The governors, governmental officials, their political personnel, the TV-mouthpieces and the salaried hack writers attempt in this way to purify their regime and the criminalise the anarchists and every unpatronised voice of struggle. As if there would ever be the slightest of chances that whoever attacked the bank (provided the official scenario stands) would possibly know there were people inside, and that they would torch it alight regardless. They seem to confuse the people in struggle for themselves: them who without any hesitation hand over the entire society to the deepest pillage and enslaving, who order their praetorians to attack without hesitation and to aim and shoot to kill, them who have lead three people to suicide in the past week alone, due to financial debts.

The truth is that the real murderer, the real instigator of today’s tragic death of 3 people is “mister” Vgenopoulos, who used the usual employers’ blackmailing (the threat of sacking) and forced his employees to work in the branches of his bank during a day of strike – and even in a branch like the one of Stadiou Avenue, where the strike’s demonstration would pass through. Such blackmailing is known only too well by anyone experiencing the terrorism of salaried slavery on an everyday level. We are awaiting to see what excuses Vgenopoulos will come up with for the relatives of the victims and for the society as a whole – this ultra-capitalist now hinted by some centers of power as the next prime minister in a future “national unity government” that could follow the expected, complete collapse of the political system.

If an unprecedented strike can ever be a murderer…

If an unprecedented demonstration, in an unprecedented crisis, can ever be a murderer…

If open social spaces that are alive and public can ever be murderers…

If the state can impose a curfew and attack demonstrators under the pretext of arresting murderers…

If Vgenopoulos can detain his employees inside a bank – that is, a primary social enemy and target for demonstrators…

…it is because authority, this serial murderer, wants to slaughter upon its birth a revolt which questions the supposed solution of an even harsher attack on society, of an even larger pillage by capital, of an even thirstier sucking of our blood.

…it is because the future of the revolt does not include politicians and bosses, police and mass media.

… it is because behind their much-advertised “only” solution, there is a solution that does not speak of development rates and unemployment but rather, it speaks of solidarity, self-organising and human relationships.

When asking who are the murderers of life, of freedom, of dignity, the ferments of authority and capital, they and their tuft hunters only need to take a look at their own selves. Today and every day.

HANDS OFF FREE SOCIAL SPACES

IT IS THE STATE AND THE CAPITALISTS WHO ARE THE MURDERERS, TERRORISTS AND CRIMINALS

EVERYONE TO THE STREETS

REVOLT

from the open assembly of the evening of 5/5/2010

An employee of the burnt bank speaks out on tonight’s tragic deaths in Athens – please spread

Tonight’s tragic deaths in Athens leave little space for comments – we are all very shocked and deeply saddened by the events. To those (on the “Occupied London” blog even) who speculate that the deaths might have been caused purposefully by anarchists, we can only reply the following: we do not take to the streets, we do not risk our freedom and our lives confronting the greek police in order to kill other people. Anarchists are not murderers, and no brainwashing attempted by Greek PM Papandreou, the national or the international media should convince anyone otherwise.

That being said, and with developments still running frantically, we want to publish a rough translation of a statement by an employee of Marfin Bank – the bank whose branch was set alight in Athens today, where the three employees found a tragic death.

Read the letter, translate it, spread it around to your networks; grassroots counter-information has a crucial role to play at a moment when the greek state and corporate media are leashing out on the anarchist movement over here in Greece.

I feel an obligation toward my co-workers who have so unjustly died today to speak out and to say some objective truths. I am sending this message to all media outlets. Anyone who still bares some consciousness should publish it. The rest can continue to play the government’s game.

The fire brigade had never issued an operating license to the building in question. The agreement for it to operate was under the table, as it practically happens with all businesses and companies in Greece.

The building in question has no fire safety mechanisms in place, neither planned nor installed ones – that is, it has no ceiling sprinklers, fire exits or fire hoses. There are only some portable fire extinguishers which, of course, cannot help in dealing with extensive fire in a building that is built with long-outdated security standards.

No branch of Marfin bank has had any member of staff trained in dealing with fire, not even in the use of the few fire extinguishers. The management also uses the high costs of such training as a pretext and will not take even the most basic measures to protect its staff.

There has never been a single evacuation exercise in any building by staff members, nor have there been any training sessions by the fire-brigade, to give instructions for situations like this. The only training sessions that have taken place at Marfin Bank concern terrorist action scenarios and specifically planning the escape of the banks’ “big heads” from their offices in such a situation.

The building in question had no special accommodation for the case of fire, even though its construction is very sensitive under such circumstances and even though it was filled with materials from floor to ceiling. Materials which are very inflammable, such as paper, plastics, wires, furniture. The building is objectively unsuitable for use as a bank due to its construction.

No member of security has any knowledge of first aid or fire extinguishing, even though they are every time practically charged with securing the building. The bank employees have to turn into firemen or security staff according to the appetite of Mr Vgenopoulos [owner of Marfin Bank].

The management of the bank strictly bared the employees from leaving today, even though they had persistently asked so themselves from very early this morning – while they also forced the employees to lock up the doors and repeatedly confirmed that the building remained locked up throughout the day, over the phone. They even blocked off their internet access so as to prevent the employees from communicating with the outside world.

For many days now there has been some complete terrorisation of the bank’s employees in regard to the mobilisations of these days, with the verbal “offer”: you either work, or you get fired.

The two undercover police who are dispatched at the branch in question for robbery prevention did not show up today, even though the bank’s management had verbally promised to the employees that they would be there.

At last, gentlemen, make your self-criticism and stop wandering around pretending to be shocked. You are responsible for what happened today and in any rightful state (like the ones you like to use from time to time as leading examples on your TV shows) you would have already been arrested for the above actions. My co-workers lost their lives today by malice: the malice of Marfin Bank and Mr. Vgenopoulos personally who explicitly stated that whoever didin’t come to work today [May 5th, a day of a general strike!] should not bother showing up for work tomorrow [as they would get fired].

- An employee of Marfin Bank [greek original]

Cops break windows of shop, threaten residents athens exarxia area...

MORE FOTOS FROM RIOTS TODAY IN ATHENS 5/5

DIRECT NEWS FROM A COMRADE IN ATHENS TODAY 5/5

1) Police attack social spaces:

More than 60 abducted to GADA police headquarters and at least 6 confirmed arrests up to now. Motorbike police gangs of Delta, Zeta and plain clothes cops holding a siege at the offices of the "anarchists for a polymorphic movement" and of the "cooks and waitreses' base union" at Exarchia. They invaded the "polymorphic" space, beating their way in, injuring heavily one girl and arresting many others. Also many cops are moving to Patision and Skaramanga str. squat. Some arrests and many beatings near the self managed park of Navarinou and on Tsamadou street, at Exarchia. There is also information they invaded "Diktyo" social rights network space at Tsamadou. Some people are still inside Polytechnic uni maintaining minor clashes with the cops. There are talk about a new march during the night, and many workers claimed another strike for tomorrow.

Police checkpoints around the whole city center. The cops are playing nervous, threatening to use their guns.

2) Indeed, the three employees of Marfin bank are announced dead by the fire brigade service. Their boss (mr Vgenopoulos, owner of Olympic air and MIG business corporation) made them work on a strike day, locked in the upper floors of a seemingly empty bank building with no exit doors available nor fire extinguishers! The fire brigade issued a complaint to the police, for not letting them approach the building in time, but after some time the media say they changed their evaluation to the police cooperation as "good" and said it was the rioters that didn't let them approach instead.

Some more info: A Bazaar supermarket was expropriated during the riots and stuff were distributed to the people. One minister was dressed up as protestor with helmet to enter the parliament during the demonstrations! A mercedes was set on fire near the polytechnic university and many other luxurious cars during the riots near Syntagma square. Also a jewelery and few banks, and the offices were the state keeps the taxes record! If the back up are harmed or not found, many people's owing to the state will be virtually evaporated! The president of GSEE was once again kicked out of the marches...

Now the despicable media say "when some people asked the rioters why are they burning a building with employees inside the rioters replied they deserve to burn because they re working for the bank" which is ofcourse yet another hideous lie. We weren't actually near the Marfin bank fire, but we were in front of another bank being burnt on Stadiou street a few minutes earlier, and again an employee let us know there are people inside, and right after that the people starting the fire helped put it out...

This kind of manipulation is typical for our pathetic and incompetent bourgeois scum.

more info maybe later.

Dim.

up day from comrades in athens 5/5

Tens of thousands demonstrators on the streets, more than 2000 with the anarchist blocks, not well organized though. Massive clashes around Syntagma and throughout central Athens. Few cops had their shields taken, and some cops in plain clothes were beaten. Some slogans were also spray painted in solidarity to the Buenos Aires comrades.

Delta and Zeta motorbike cops attacked people leaving the march at Syggrou-Fix metro station with batton charges, light-bang grenades and massive tear gas use leading to one elder person with resporatory problems, sitting at a nearby cafe, heavily injured.

The police used tear gas canisters even inside metro stations (Syntagma).

Also full police cordon around Exarchia. Dozens taken to GADA police headquarters. Many people are still out on the streets.

Ministry of economy in Athens in flames!

POSTER FROM ARGENTINA

Three dead as Greece protest turns violent

WHY?? ARE THE BANK WORKERS WORKING TODAY IN THE GENERAL
STRIKE IN GREECE?? SOMEBODY FUCKING EXPLAIN TO ME!! PLEASE???

Fire brigade statement: three dead in Athens protest

According to a statement issued by the fire brigade in Athens, three bank employees suffocated and died in a private bank torched alight on Stadiou Street in Athens.

The ambulance service (EKAV) is so far (16.41 GMT+2) not confirming the news.

More info as it comes.

athens video today...

FOTOS NOW FROM THE CENTER ATHENS!

Protests in Greek general strike turn violent

Trouble erupted as a group of protesters tried to storm the Greek parliament

Protests in Athens have turned violent amid a general strike over planned austerity measures that has brought the country to a standstill.

Petrol bombs have been thrown at police who responded with pepper spray, tear gas and stun grenades.

A building in the city has also been set on fire and people are being evacuated, reports say.

Protesters are angered by spending cuts and tax rises planned in return for a 110bn euro (£95bn) bail-out for Greece.

Parliament is to vote on the measures by the end of the week.

Measures include wage freezes, pension cuts and tax rises. They aim to achieve fresh budget cuts of 30bn euros over three years, with the goal of cutting Greece's public deficit to less than 3% of GDP by 2014. It currently stands at 13.6%.

A mass rally attended by thousands of people took place in central Athens before some protests began to turn violent

Outside parliament, a group of protesters rushed up a flight of steps, taunting MPs to come out and calling them "thieves".

Riot police forced them back with pepper spray, tear gas and stun grenades.

COMRADE IN GREECE BADLY WOUNDED FROM POLICE BULLETS AND NEEDS BLOOD

Two people were arrested yesterday in Athens. One of them, anarchist Simeon Seisidis, accused of being the "mastermind" behind the "robbers in black" (G.Dimitrakis case) and who has been on the wanted list since 2006, was arrested accidently last night as police were looking for robbers that had just robbed a supermarket in Athens.



The comrade of G.Dimitrakis is also accused of being part of the "Revolutionary Struggle" group.



Simeon is in hospital now, because of his serious leg injury.

He was with another person near the area of the robbery and as soon as they realized there were cop cars in the area, they tried to run away. After a shoot out, Simeon was badly injured in the leg.

According to the doctors, a bullet went through his hip, ripping arteries. He has lost a lot of blood and is now in a critical condition.

The police say that he first gave the name Giorgos Nikolopoulos (who has a warrant out for his arrest for the "conspiracy cells of fire" case), but after fingerprinting him they found out he was Simeon.

The other person arrested shortly after is Aris Seirinidis, also a known anarchist who has been persecuted before for the "robbers in black" case.

The police say the two men were not involved in the supermarket robbery.

They say they found weapons, a grenade and some ammo on them. The guns are being analysed but so far they say they haven't been used in "terrorist" actions.

EVERYBODY TO THE STREETS IN GREECE! INSURRECTION NOW!!

Actions this week against the cuts greece

• Monday 3/5 6.30 pm – blocking off of the ministry of Finance by Sintagma square with banners and sound-systems. Also, commencing of the hygiene workers’ strike; they are gathering at noon at Karaiskaki square in Athens; their strike is likely to turn into an indefinite one.
• Tuesday 4/5 the 48-hour general strike called by the union umbrella ADEDY commences. Teachers are also on strike and grassroots trade unions call for demonstrations across the country. Blocking off of the parliament building in the evening
• Wednesday 5/5 general strike called by GSEE and ADEDY
  
• Saturday 8/5 demonstrations by the grassroots trade unions across the country
• A fresh general strike will be called for early next week

  Occupations…

  Today the 48 hours strike started. Tonight, Agios Dimitrios’ and Vyrona’s town halls were occupied in the two Athens’ suburbs, by the unions of the municipal employees, while preparations for the tomorrow demonstration take place.

  Teachers clash with police in Greek State TV Headquarters

  
  

  • 
    

  Clashes erupted between teachers and riot police inside the Headquarters of the Greek State TV after the former entered the building trying to interrupt the speech of the Minister of Education

  On Monday 4 May evening teachers invaded the Greek State TV (ERT) Headquarters in order to interrupt the interview of the Minister of Education Mrs Diamadopoulou concerning the new educational reform which is expected to lead to a radical devaluation of the greek educational system. Ms Diamandopoulou was rescued by a back door of the building, while ERT interrupted its main news broadcast refusing to let the teachers present their demands live. At the same time, strong police forces surrounded the building which they entered attacking the teachers. During the clashes within the building many people were reported as wounded. Soon hundreds of protesters gathered in solidarity outside the ERT Mansion forcing the riot police to allow the exit of the teachers. After their exit representatives of the teachers have gone public calling the PASOK government a "quisling government" comparing it to the Tsolakoglou Nazi-collaborator government of the 1940s. The teachers and solidarity protesters formed a demo and marched down Mesogeion Avenue.

  The teachers have declared a 48h strike for the 4th and 5th of May in opposition to the educational reform which is believed will lead to a sharp devaluation of the educational system.

Anarchists throw down on May Day -- United States

Santa Cruz, CA

Tons of windows smashed and Cafe Pergolesi, which supplied information to the government concerning those being charged with the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (see: Support the AETA4,) had their porch set on fire. Only one arrest. Well done, Santa Cruz!

Riot breaks out in downtown Santa Cruz; windows broken on dozens of businesses, porch of cafe set on fire

May 2nd, 2010

SANTA CRUZ – A group of protesters demonstrating at a May Day rally for worker’s and immigrant rights downtown broke off into a riot vandalizing about a dozen businesses around 10:30 p.m. Saturday, police said.

Windows were left shattered and graffiti including anarchy signs were tagged onto buildings. The Rittenhouse Building, Urban Outfitters, Jamba Juice and Velvet Underground all had windows broken, according to Capt. Steve Clark.

Santa Cruz police asked for help from all agencies in the county to break up the riot. At one point, protesters lit a fire on the porch of Caffe Pergolesi and blocked access to firefighters, officers said. Police were able to clear out the demonstrators before more damage was caused.

A large rock sat outside Verizon Wireless on the 100 block of Cooper Street, where vandals tried to break the window twice, according to Clark.

“The damage that was caused was without purpose,” Clark said. “It was senseless violence that victimized a community who cannot afford to be victimized in this manner. This did nothing to add credit to whatever they believed their cause was.”

One person was arrested for damaging a window. Police are searching for others responsible for the damage. Protesters cleared the downtown area around midnight.

“Our entire team of investigators are processing the scene of violence for evidence,” Clark said. “We will be looking at video available to try to ID who’s responsible.”

Vandals destroy downtown Asheville storefronts, car windows

May 4, 2010

ASHEVILLE — Most of those arrested for a rash of vandalism Saturday night in downtown Asheville listed addresses in Eastern North Carolina and out of state, according to arrest warrants.

Only two listed an Asheville address. At least five of the suspects appear to be students at colleges including UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Asheville, Alamance Community College and Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt. The suspects ages ranged from 17-26.

All but one of the 11 suspects arrested were each charged with seven counts of misdemeanor injury to personal property and three counts of injury to real property. Each was being held under $10,000 bond. One man was charged with 11 counts and had an $11,000 bond. All are scheduled to appear in court on the charges Monday morning.

Those charged include:
- Randall Duncan Stezer, 17, of Graham, N.C.
- Wyatt Sherman Allgeier, 19, of Mount Pleasant, N.C.
- Karen Leigh Alderser, 19, of Carrboro.
-Alissa Marie Batzold, 18, of Carrboro.
-Havely Carolyn Carsky, 23, of Meadow Lake Road, Asheville.
-Nicholas Ryan Entwistle, 19, of Kansas City, Mo.
-Naomi Rachel Ullian, 26, of West Chestnut St., Asheville.
-Marshall Rogers Tingler, 24, of Oklahoma City, Okla.
- Daniel Heinz Regenfcheit, 26, of Carrboro.
-Cailin Elizabth Major, 25, of Milwaukee, Wis.
-Jordan M. Ferrand-Sapsis, 24, of Oklahoma City, Okla.

About 10:45 p.m. Saturday, a group of between 20-30 people wearing dark clothing, some wearing masks and carrying backpacks, threw items, including newspaper boxes, through windows of several businesses along O’Henry Avenue. A front window of the Asheville Citizen-Times was shattered, as were multiple storefronts at the Grove Arcade. An ATM was smashed at the RBC on O’Henry.

Multiple cars parked on Battery Park had their windows smashed.

The violence is likely linked to the observance of May Day, a day for marking worker solidarity that has been seized upon for anti-capitalism displays of violence, especially by self-proclaimed anarchist groups in Europe.
Several in the group yelled unintelligably as they vandalized. The group walked south on O’Henry Avenue and turned left on Battery Park Avenue. Some walked through the alley beside the Citizen-Times, where several employees of the paper had rushed to ensure the safety of their cars.

Carmel’s chef Mary Scherger said she was having a shift drink at the Page Avenue restaurant when she saw the group smash out a window on a BMW parked along Battery Park Avenue.

“That’s when I yelled for my manager to come out,” she said.

Scherger said she saw some of them run toward Haywood Street and a few run up the stairwell from Wall Street parking garage ditching their garb as police moved in.

Scherger said she recalled a similar act of group vandalism last year, but the group did far less damage.

Diana Kostigen, of Hendersonville, was visiting downtown with a friend from Charlotte, whose car was damaged.

“I just feel really disappointed because it’s always felt like a really safe town,” she said

“With people coming from out of town, it might be their first experience in Asheville and they have this happen. It’s really heartbreaking to see that they might have damage to their car to such great extent.”

“I’ve never seen any kind of violence like this in Asheville at all. I’m very shocked, very disappointed, and feeling like I wouldn’t even want to come downtown after 9 o’clock.”

When asked if she might feel unsafe in downtown now, Kostigen said yes.

Christina Williams said she was with friends at Carmel’s when the cacophony of smashing glass, yelling and tumult erupted.

She watched as a bewildered man talked to a Police Department officer beside his seriously damaged car.

“Violence and cowardice,” Williams said, noting that several of the vandals removed their masks and black outer clothing and tossed it away after committing their crimes.

86 Arrested After May Day Demonstrations in Chile

May 2nd, 2010

SANTIAGO – At least 86 people were arrested in Chile on Saturday following demonstrations called by the CUT labor federation on International Workers’ Day, police said.

According to police Col. Miguel Angel Castro, his men had to use tear gas and a cistern truck to disperse a group of people bent on creating disturbances.

“During the event there were no great complications, but when it was over, a large group of people began to cover their faces to cause disorder, so we intervened and arrested 86 people,” he said.

Castro also said that before the ceremony began, seven people were arrested for carrying knives, another three for having Molotov cocktails and nine for drugs.

Though the event organizers had estimated a turnout of some 40,000 people, only about 8,000 attended the ceremony, according to police estimates.

International Workers’ Day was celebrated in a number of cities around Chile, though attendance was not massive and no incidents were reported.

Big May Day demonstrations were held across Latin America on Saturday.