Governments respect the life? Think about it
Governments respect the life? Think about it
In solidarity with the youth uprising in Greece
Friday, January 2, 2009
As already briefly reported, last Thursday a solidarity rally took place in front of the Greek embassy in Seoul, S. Korea.
Boston solidarity action with Greece Boston solidarity action with Greece
Monday, December 22 2008 @ 01:31 PM CST
On Saturday morning, December 20th, we gathered downtown Boston for a solidarity march with Greece. After the police, who were stationed a block away, figured out where we were, they came over and made a semi-circle surrounding us as we awaited people's arrival. At this point some people were passing out flyers, others just waiting, one planting a red and black flag on top of a huge snow pile, and two people standing with receptive tourists for a photo (who then proceeded to pose with two cops).Despite being buried under roughly a foot of snow, the event was well attended by the North East Anarchist Network and other anarchists in the area (roughly 20 people). Like other cities we had signs commenting on police brutality in Greece and around the country -including Boston- as well as anarchist flags, black masks, and tons of flyers about Greece and what anarchists are up to in Boston.
Unlike other cities, however, we held a "tour of structural violence" where we marched to different sites and used a megaphone to explain their role in the violent power structure. Stopping at the police station, Bank of America, Fox News, the Capitol building, military recruitment center, a college, and passing the courthouse and federal building, we engaged passerbys and even one receptive cop about how these institutions are tools of oppression for the rich.
We ended at the edge of the Boston Common. The entire time we were flanked by officers on foot, a police wagon and another cop car that circled the block, and at least one undercover car.
Comrades, please add to this reportback- I just wrote it up quickly so people had a rough idea of what we were up to. Also, there is a previous infoshop post about rad actions in Boston in solidarity with Greece so check those out
The whole statement from the solidarity in Ljubljana 20-12-08 Below we are publishing the statement that was distributed during the solidarity pr
GREECE TODAY – WHOLE EUROPE TOMORROW
On Saturday 6th December 2008 the police murdered 16 years old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. An uprising throughout Greece followed and two weeks after the crime was committed it has not ended. Once again a young life was killed by the state. The bullet that was fired did not only hit a heart of a sixteen years old comrade, it dispersed the fog curtain of democracy and we are at last compelled to face with sober senses, our real conditions of life. We live in a society that puts our lives at the mercy of forces that are beyond our control. At the heart of this society lies the production of alienation and simultaneous organization of images of success and satisfaction.
The bullet has triggered an uprising in cities across Greece and solidarity actions from Copenhagen and London to Madrid and Ljubljana. In actions of comrades in cities of Europe we recognize ourselves. We are united through our actions. Young people that are fighting with police for the control of their streets know that there is no future for them in this society, they know that slow death in working places, in hunting grounds of capital, is what is in store for them. Murder that was committed by the greek state is the truth of this society in an extremely concentrated form. Fire that consumes banks and police stations, shopping centers and insurance companies fuels our imagination and desire. “For in the destroyed and pillaged streets of our cities of light we see not only the obvious results of our rage, but the possibility of starting to live.”
Those who pulled the trigger are now commanding that we have to mourn rationally, with dignity and responsibility. But what is more dignified than total rejection of imposed silence? What is more responsible than recognition that a death of a comrade is a particular moment of general suppression? What is more rational than taking control of the street and expelling the servants of existing order – the police and it’s other lackays?
We have our eyes on the streets of Greece, we are listening carefully what comrades are communicating, we learn from them, as we learn from compañeros of Latin America, from the Balkans and Europe. Their radical rejection of state, capital and police is a rejection of world without future. We also want to live without constraints of everyday subjection; without humiliating cathedrals of stupidity and submission into which our universities were transformed; without totalitarian dictate of lies of individual realization that are being repeated hundred times a day; beyond virtual worlds into which we retreat in search of love and community, beyond modernized illiteracy and spectacular superstitions, that only make the power of masters bigger. We also want to become authors of our own history.
Greek uprising does not give any guarantees and does not lead anywhere just by itself. Yet it does once more remind to the power of negation, to the power of radical rejection. Greek youth knows that there is no place for police on their streets, it knows that every crime needs to be punished and it knows also that the trivial phrases about untouchability of private property have not use value for it. The only untouchability that greek insurgents are interested in is the untouchability of murderers and only in order to smash it.
In this very moment it is our imagination and theory, that is being realized on the streets, behind computers and at the assemblies, that is warding off the violence of the state. Today all over Greece 800 schools and faculties are occupied. Discussions in which people finally recognize each other as comrades last through the nights. In concreteness of the struggle a new theory is emerging. The future will be what we make it to be. In Greece as much as in our own neighbourhoods.
Instead of lights of consumerism greek cities are today being enlightened by the fire of history. An era of disturbances has begun. Finally a holiday worth celebrating.
RELEASE ALL DETAINED – NO PROSECUTION!
DON’T WATCH THE NEWS – CONSCIOUSNESS IS BORN ON THE STREET!
SOLIDARITY MUST BECOME PRACTICE!
Anarchist Initiative
Ljubljana, 20.12.2008
On Saturday 6th December 2008 the police murdered 16 years old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. An uprising throughout Greece followed and two weeks after the crime was committed it has not ended. Once again a young life was killed by the state. The bullet that was fired did not only hit a heart of a sixteen years old comrade, it dispersed the fog curtain of democracy and we are at last compelled to face with sober senses, our real conditions of life. We live in a society that puts our lives at the mercy of forces that are beyond our control. At the heart of this society lies the production of alienation and simultaneous organization of images of success and satisfaction.
The bullet has triggered an uprising in cities across Greece and solidarity actions from Copenhagen and London to Madrid and Ljubljana. In actions of comrades in cities of Europe we recognize ourselves. We are united through our actions. Young people that are fighting with police for the control of their streets know that there is no future for them in this society, they know that slow death in working places, in hunting grounds of capital, is what is in store for them. Murder that was committed by the greek state is the truth of this society in an extremely concentrated form. Fire that consumes banks and police stations, shopping centers and insurance companies fuels our imagination and desire. “For in the destroyed and pillaged streets of our cities of light we see not only the obvious results of our rage, but the possibility of starting to live.”
Those who pulled the trigger are now commanding that we have to mourn rationally, with dignity and responsibility. But what is more dignified than total rejection of imposed silence? What is more responsible than recognition that a death of a comrade is a particular moment of general suppression? What is more rational than taking control of the street and expelling the servants of existing order – the police and it’s other lackays?
We have our eyes on the streets of Greece, we are listening carefully what comrades are communicating, we learn from them, as we learn from compañeros of Latin America, from the Balkans and Europe. Their radical rejection of state, capital and police is a rejection of world without future. We also want to live without constraints of everyday subjection; without humiliating cathedrals of stupidity and submission into which our universities were transformed; without totalitarian dictate of lies of individual realization that are being repeated hundred times a day; beyond virtual worlds into which we retreat in search of love and community, beyond modernized illiteracy and spectacular superstitions, that only make the power of masters bigger. We also want to become authors of our own history.
Greek uprising does not give any guarantees and does not lead anywhere just by itself. Yet it does once more remind to the power of negation, to the power of radical rejection. Greek youth knows that there is no place for police on their streets, it knows that every crime needs to be punished and it knows also that the trivial phrases about untouchability of private property have not use value for it. The only untouchability that greek insurgents are interested in is the untouchability of murderers and only in order to smash it.
In this very moment it is our imagination and theory, that is being realized on the streets, behind computers and at the assemblies, that is warding off the violence of the state. Today all over Greece 800 schools and faculties are occupied. Discussions in which people finally recognize each other as comrades last through the nights. In concreteness of the struggle a new theory is emerging. The future will be what we make it to be. In Greece as much as in our own neighbourhoods.
Instead of lights of consumerism greek cities are today being enlightened by the fire of history. An era of disturbances has begun. Finally a holiday worth celebrating.
RELEASE ALL DETAINED – NO PROSECUTION!
DON’T WATCH THE NEWS – CONSCIOUSNESS IS BORN ON THE STREET!
SOLIDARITY MUST BECOME PRACTICE!
Anarchist Initiative
Ljubljana, 20.12.2008
Announcement of Dec.23
Announcement
During the course of the assembly of the occupied Polytechnic concerning the completion of the operation of the occupation, with criteria regarding the struggle and ways of its continuation, a new element was added: The demand of the Ministry of the Interior and the police, which was conveyed to us by numerous political and academic factors, that we withdraw immediately, or else the police will invade.
Based on this new element, the reply of those who remain is that the Polytechnic does not belong to ministry and the police, the murderers of Alexandros Grigoropoulos and so many others, for us to give it up to them.
The Polytechnic belongs to those who struggle and we will withdraw from it when we decide, not with blackmails and deadlines, but exclusively with criteria of the movement, criteria of the social struggle.
NO PASARAN!
-We call to the gathering of solidarity to the prisoners of the rebellion,
Dec. 24th at 4:00pm at Monastiraki,
which is called by the comrades who participated in the open event of Sunday Dec.21 within the occupied headquarters of the workers union, concerning the organization of solidarity to the arrested.
-Meeting point: 3:00pm Polytechnic, gate of Stournari.
-We call to assembly at the occupied Polytechnic, Wednesday Dec.24, 8:00pm.
Occupation of the
Dec.23, 2008
The Occupation of the Polytechnic ended at midnight of the 24th of December – The struggle continues…
ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE POLYTECHNIC OCCUPATION
Immediately after the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos by the special police guard Ep. Korkoneas and the first clashes in the streets of Exarchia, the Polytechnic university gets occupied and is turned into a focus for the expression of social rage. Being a space historically and symbolically connected in the living memory of the rebels and of a big part of society with the struggle against Authority -from the period of dictatorship until today’s modern totalitarian democracy-, the Polytechnic becomes the place where hundreds of people gather spontaneously: comrades, youth and workers, jobless, pupils, immigrants, students…
The fights with the forces of repression and the flaming barricades in the surrounding streets become the spark of a revolt that spreads with spontaneous demonstrations in the city, the occupation of the
The following days, with demonstrations of thousands of people ending up in riots and attacks against banks, ministries and big department stores, with occupations of schools and public buildings, with young children besieging and assaulting police stations, the riot police guarding Koridallos prison and the Parliament, the revolt becomes generalized; this revolt that was triggered by the murder of A. Grigoropoulos and exploded by the immediate reaction of hundreds of comrades to that event of the widespread state violence, inspiring actions of rage and solidarity beyond the borders, all over the world.
This revolt that was simmering in the conditions of a generalized attack by the state and the bosses against society, growing in the reality of the everyday death of freedom and dignity that is reserved for the oppressed people by the increasing exclusion, poverty, exploitation, repression and control. This revolt that was persistently being “prepared”, even in the darkest times of state and fascist terrorism, through every small or big gesture of resistance against submission and surrender, keeping open the way for many more people to meet in the streets of revolt, just like it happened these days.
In this explosive social reality, the occupied Polytechnic became a point of reference for a direct confrontation with the state, in all forms and with all possible means, through consecutive insurrectionary events that burned down the order and security of the bosses, smashing the fake image of social consent to their murderous intentions. It became a place where rebellious social and political subjects met and influenced each other, through the general assemblies and the daily presence in the occupation. It functioned as a base for counter-information, through communiqués and posters, its blog and radio station, and with the PA system sending the messages and the news of the ongoing revolt. And it also gave life to political initiatives of resistance, like the call made by the Polytechnic occupation assembly for a global day of action in the 20th of December –which resulted in coordinated mobilizations in more than 50 cities in different countries, and in which the Polytechnic occupiers participated by calling for a gathering in the place where A. Grigoropoulos was murdered-, like the concert held in the 22nd of December for solidarity and financial support to the hostages of the revolt, and the call for participation in the prisoner solidarity demonstration that was organized by comrades who took part in the open assembly of the occupied GSEE (General Workers’ Confederation).
As a stable, for 18 days, point of the revolt that expanded, the occupied Polytechnic was a continuous call of insubordination to the people resisting all over the world, and a permanent sign of solidarity to the hostages taken by the state from within this struggle.
It became the territory we used in order to diffuse the message of solidarity between the oppressed, of self-organisation and of a social and class counter-attack against the world of Authority, its mechanisms and its symbols. These elements and values of the struggle created the ground for the oppressed to meet in rebellion, armed our consciences and, for the first time maybe, became so widely impropriated by so many people of different age and different nationalities; people with whom anarchists and anti-authoritarians shared the same slogans against the police, the same words, the same practices of struggle, the same rage against those who are looting our lives, and, many times, the same vision for a world of freedom, equality and solidarity.
For this reason, repression was not only expressed in the form of police brutality, arrests and imprisonment of demonstrators, but also with an intense ideological attack launched by all sides of the political system which saw its foundations trembling when repression, in which it is based, not only was unable to restrain the waves of revolt, but, contrary, it was the one that caused them in the first place.
This ideological attack selectively targeted anarchists, as a political and not mediated part of the revolted, exactly because of the impact their words and actions had, and because of the danger that is presented for the state when they communicate and coordinate with the thousands of the oppressed.
In this context, there was an hysterical effort to divide the revolted in “good pupils” on one hand, “evil hooded anarchists – ‘koukouloforoi’” or “immigrant-looters” on the other, as well as the good old myth about provocateurs, in order to manipulate the anger for the assassination, to exhaust the social explosion, to criminalize, isolate and crush the steady points of reference of this revolt.
[This is, by the way, the same rhetoric of repression that led to the murder of A. Grigoropoulos, as it is responsible for recognizing specific political-social milieus, spaces and people as the “internal enemy” on which state violence should be “legitimately” enforced.]
In this effort made by the state, the continuous targeting of the Polytechnic was included on a daily basis, with statements made by politicians and a slandering campaign by the mass media. After the hours of clashes in Exarchia and around the Polytechnic during the night of December 20, the state, in the face of the public prosecutor, threatened to proceed to a police raid, after suspending the academic asylum in the campus, despite the disagreement of the university authorities, in order to suppress the revolt by attacking one of the first places where it had started.
Their intentions were defeated because of the refusal of the occupiers to obey to any ultimatum, their decisiveness to defend this political and social territory as a part of the revolt, their open call to people to come and support the occupation with their presence and by proceeding to the planned prisoner solidarity gig in the 22th of December which gathered hundreds of people in the Polytechnic.
The threats for an immediate eviction returned stronger the following day, December 23, when, while the assembly was discussing the end of the occupation, we were informed by political and academic figures that the ministry of Interior and the police are demanding our immediate exit from the campus otherwise the cops would invade. The reply of the occupiers was that the Polytechnic does not belong either to the ministry either to police for us to surrender to them; it belongs to the people of the struggle who decide on what to do based exclusively on criteria of the movement and do not accept blackmails and ultimatums by the assassins. This way the Polytechnic occupation was prolonged for one more day, and called to the demo which was realized in the center of Athens for solidarity with the arrested.
No repressive project and no ideological attack managed or will manage to blackmail the return to normality and to impose social and class pacification. Nothing is the same any more! The surpassing of fear, of isolation and of the dominant social divisions, led thousands of young people, together with women and men of every age, refugees and migrants, workers and jobless to stand together in the streets and behind barricades fighting the tyrants of our life, our dignity and freedom. And this is a reality lighting with its flames the future of revolt, both its intensification and deepening, until the absolute subversion of the world of the bosses.
Because we shouted in all ways that those days belong to Alexis, to Michalis Kaltezas, to Carlo Giuliani, to Christoforos Marinos, to Michalis Prekas, to Maria Koulouri and to all comrades murdered by the uniformed assassins of the state; they aren’t though days that belong to death, but to LIFE! To life that blossoms in the struggles, in the barricades, in the revolt that continues.
Ending the Polytechnic occupation after 18 days, we send our warmest solidarity to all people who became part of this revolt in their many ways, not only in Greece but also in numerous countries of Europe, of South and North America, Asia and Australia-N.Zealand. To all those with whom we met and we will stay together, fighting for the liberation of the prisoners of this revolt, but also for its continuing until global social liberation. For a world without masters and slaves, without police and armies, without borders and prisons.
DEATH TO THE STATE – LONG LIVE ANARCHY!
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL THE ARRESTED IN THE REVOLT!
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
- We call to the open assembly that will take place in the Polytechnic, on Saturday, December 27 at 16.00, concerning the organization of solidarity to the arrested, which was called by comrades in the assembly of the occupied GSEE.
The Polytechnic Occupation
One from short movies from solidarity demonstartion with fighting in Greece
You can watch on :
http://ourmediaindymedia.blogspot.com/2008/12/solidarity-with-rebels-in-greece.htmlThats short first movie from solidarity demonstration in Amsterdam.18.12.08.Shows mainly police trying to provoke.
Spirit Of Squatters
E-Mail: mgriks@gmail.com 
Website: http://www.ourmediaindymediaThursday, January 1, 2009
ARRESTS (from 06/12/08 to 21/12/08)
ARRESTS (from 06/12/08 to 21/12/08)
Arrests: 246 - detained/ pretrial custody: 66
Arrests: 246 - detained/ pretrial custody: 66
ATHENS: 50 immigrants arrested in the first three days of the uprising sentenced to 18-month imprisonment in trials without interpreters and may be deportated, (every other day arrests are occuring, the picture is still blurry). Also on 7/12, 7 arrests were made for misdemeanors [one minor will be judged on 29/01 and 6 adults on the 26/06] on the 9/12 2 arrests were made and a regular trial date was set, on 11/12 5 people were imprisoned [ 3 Greek citizens and 2 immigrants] and 15/12 they imprisoned another 4 people (according to the blog for the ASOEE squat). On 18/12 they arrested 8 persons accused of crimes (according to word from comrades).
THESSALONIKI: 21 Arrests (3 minors will go to court on 13 February 2009 - the others, mostly foreigners are convicted and none are in custody, but the number is most likely higher - according to the blog of the ASOEE Squat).
KOZANI: 34 Arrests (the 3 in custody are: Ziampras, Papadimitriou, Mark - in Grevena prison - is seriously injured with a burn to the nose from teargas, and was transferred to hospital in Athens - according to lawyers, comrades and the blog of ASOEE Squat).
PTOLEMAIDA: 7 Arrests (according to lawyers and comrades).
LARISA: 25 Arrests under terror laws [i think!] (17 students - 4 adults in custody - Koridalos prison- according to lawyers and comrades).
PATRA: 21 Arrests (9 minors, no one in custody - according to word from comrades).
CHANIA: 6 Arrests (no one in custody - according to word from comrades).
IRAKLION: 22 Arrests [11 parents for child neglect (!!!!!), 7 minors (with 4 being required to see the commissioner for minors once a month), and 4 adults of which 2 convicted have restrictive bail conditions (1500 euro guarantee for each, with fees that amounts to approximately 2200 and mandatorily seeing the police twice a month) - in accordance with word from comrades).
VOLOS: 6 Arrests (5 minors to be tried on 26 February - the adult sentenced to 2 years and 10 months suspended sentence, released on bail for Euro 1000 - according to media).
RETHYMNO: 1 Arrest (on 15/12, a minor was arrested and his father was prosecuted for child neglect - neither are in custody - according to media).
Kavala: 2 Arrests (one on 8 / 12 and one on the 10/12 - no one detained - according to word from comrades).
KASTORIA: 1 Arrest of a minor (fined 4,500 euros for damage - not detained - according to media).
ZAKYNTHOS: 6 Arrests (5 minors released under restrictive conditions and will be tried on the 19 March - no one detained - according to word from comrades and the media).
RHODES: 18 Arrests [7 were arrested 08/12 (on bail), 10 on the 09/12 (two minors, three high school students, three uni students and two workers, free on bail ? 5,000 and the adults showing up once a month to [the department], the minors to turn up once a month to the commission for minors) and on Thursday 10/12 they caught a 17 year old for throwing a Molotov at the court house, he was held until yesterday (Wednesday 17/10) when he was freed (the arrest was based on video from the mobile phone of the witness). Prosecutions also made by the city of Rhodes, with allegations of child neglect against the parents of minors - according to the media].
No arrests were made in the following cities where clashes took place, marches/rallies or simple protests:
Serres, Chalkis, Ioannina, Veria, Xanthi, Komotini, Alexandroupolis [according to comrades of those cities].
Drama, Trikala, Karditsa, Florina, Chios, Mytilene, Corinth, Kefalonia, Lamia, Agrinio, Nafpaktos, Naousa, Syros, Amfissa, Samos, Corfu, Arta, Kalamata, Sparta, Tripoli, Missolonghi, Tower, Igoumenitsa. [according to the (local) media and indymedia].
The presentations were several thousand and are therefore impossible to calculate, thats why they're not reported.
This is an update on the most critical events of the past two weeks in Greece
It is true, I haven't made any posts for a long time now, but that doesn't mean that things in Greece are dead. On the contrary. I will try to give you an update on the most critical events on the past two weeks.
Attack against Konstantina Kuneva:
On the 23rd of December, Konstantina Kuneva, a Bulgarian migrant worker in Athens and the secretary of the Union of Housekeepres and Cleaners, was attacked with sulfuric acid in front of her home by two men. She was admitted to a hospital in a critical condition. She has burns on her face, head, hands and back and there is a possibility that she will lose her sight. The events before the attack and the testimonies of her fellow unionists and workers show clearly this is an act of punishing her for her involvement in the union.
After the attack, there has been a series of acts of solidarity with Konstantina and against the cleaning company she works for (OIKOMET). OIKOMET is known for sub-letting workers (mostly migrants), who have to work under terrible conditions, paid less than agreed etc. One of the big customers of the company is ISAP (the public rail transport system of Athens) so some of the actions were against ISAP as well. Here is a list (not complete) of the actions:
12/26 Athens: Gathering outside the hospital.
12/27 Athens: Occupation of the offices of ISAP (read:
12/28 Athens: Demonstration to the hospital
12/29 Athens: Action in a central ISAP station, demonstration and clashes with the police guarding the company's office.
12/30 Thessaloniki: Occupation of the offices of the Trade Unions Center
12/30 Thessaloniki: Demonstration
12/31 Athens: Action in central ISAP station
1/3 Athens: Demonstration in Petralona, ticket canceling machines and cameras were smashed (photos: http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=960766 )
1/5 Thessaloniki: Demonstration (Photos: http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=962264 )
Israeli attack in Gaza
On the 26th of December, as you all know, the Israeli army started a full scale attack on Gaza and protests against the war were triggered all over the world. Same in Greece.
Again, here are some (not all) actions that took place against the war so far:
12/29 Athens: Gathering outside the Israeli embassy. The protesters (500-1000) were attacked by the riot cops guarding the embassy using tear gas. They made some arrests, including one of a young migrant from Syria who broke the police lines and got the Israeli flag down.
12/31-1/1 Athens: Gathering at Sintagma square against the war minutes before the new year's.
1/3 Athens: Demonstration of 5000people. Protesters threw rocks to the embassy and the to the cops guarding it. The cops fired tear gas.
1/4 Athens: Demonstration of 4000people. Clashes with the cops and some banks smashed (Photos: http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=961117#961401 )
Smaller scale protests took place in other cities.
Prisoners support and actions on new year's
Gatherings outside prisons across the country just before the new year in solidarity with the prisoners. Many banks, cars and party offices were attacked and there were some clashes with the police.
Actions against consumerism and capitalism
Christmas trees placed in central squares across the country for Chritmas celebration were burned as symbolic acts against the apathy and so that people won't forget the murder of young Alexandros.
12/29 Athens: Protest inside the biggest and illegally built mall. 150 protesters with banners took the isles of the shopping mall and shouted slogans.
Photos: http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=959200
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=959215
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=959228
The slogans on the banners read: “what will be the next sale on our lives”, “work, vote, and shut up”, “shut up and shop”, “I shop therefor I exist”, “work, buy, consume, die” and more.
28/12 Athens: On Sundays the stores are closed in Greece but since it was the last Sunday of the year, some shop owners decided to keep them open, demanding their employees to go to work. Some hundreds of anarchists and leftists gathered outside stores in downtown Athens to keep the stores, if not closed, then with no customers. They shouted slogans and prevented people from going in.
1/3 Xanthi and Kavala: Big chain grocery shops were attacked by anarchists who filled carts with food, cooking oil and other goods, left and gave them away to people shopping in nearby people's markets (farmers markets)
More actions that took place during the 2 last weeks for the murder of Alexandros and in solidarity with the arrestees:
Arson attack against a minister's car.
Soundsystem set up to transmit messages and read communiques and demands in Holargos (Athens), Larisa and Kozani
Occupation of the townhalls in Nauplio and Agrinio, the municipal radio station in Xanthi and Poligiros and of a central cultural space in Athens (Irida).
Gatherings or demonstrations in Ptolemaida, Larisa (300 people), Kalamaria, Arta and Xanthi.
There have been also some attacks/arsons against banks and luxurious cars.
On the night of 1/2, 50 or so people attacked the riot squads guarding the PASOK's offices in Exarhia with molotov coctails. The cops threw tear gas.
A small group threw molotov coctails against the police station in Gianena. Three people were arrested.
More arrests took place in Prolemaida, when the cops detained 12 people gathering to demonstrate. Four people were arrested later when they went to the police station to demand their release, 2 are parents of people initially detained.
Shots against riot police and police state in Athens
In the small hours of 1/5, around 3am, there were shots fired in Exarhia. Shortly afterwards it was made known that there was an attack against members of a riot squad guarding the ministry of culture and that a cop was seriously injured. Immediately after the attack, Exarhia were turned into a police state. Hundreds of riot and plain cops were all around the area, detaining anybody who was on the streets. They drag people out of bars and detained. They even detained people who worked at the bars at that time! The cops were very provocative, making people to strip down to search them and they beat up some. All detained, were transferred to police stations, held there for several hours and most of them were released later that morning. The media says 72 people were detained but they might be more that 100.
When the day came, cops invaded into 10 or so houses to search and detain the residents. All the people detained are “usual suspects” since they are active in the anarchistic movement or had previous arrests.
During the whole day, every street in Exarhia was full of cops and riot cops, like an occupation army, provoking and threating people. At night, the social space Nosotros was blockaded by riot cops but they didn't raid. Around 150 people gathered to protest and protect those inside.
The raids were carried on on Tuesday. Of all the people detained there have been 8 arrests. It's not yet clear but apparently some of the arrested on the first night and some after searching their houses the next day. None of the arrests is related to the shooting. They are charged with weapon possession for items like gas cans, sledgehammer, gas masks, knives, fireworks. In one of the houses they said they found a bullet and in the attic of cafe an old pistol.
The police uses “leaks” towards the media to associate the attack with anarchists of the Exarhia area and to justify the raids, the attacks and the arrests against the movement.
the idea that whoever shot the cop would chose to hide in Eksarhia, or would be active in one of the most public and well-known anarchist groups in the city is absurd, to say the least. What is happening in Athens and Eksarhia in particular at this moment is an obvious attempt by the police to predetermine a connection between the shooting and the movement that has been confronting them en mass for the past few weeks
During the day, the police claimed that 31 shots were fired against the cops and that there were two guns used: an AK-47 and an MP-5. The AK-47 said is the same that fired against a riot police van on 12/24th and the MP-5 was used in 2007 by the revolutionary organization “Revolutionary Struggle”. The cop that was hurt is recovering. It is odd however that right after the attack it was said that the cop had died, they later said he was critically injured and in the end that he had two wounds, one in his leg and one in his armpit. A revolutionary organization fires 31 bullets against a bunch of cops and hit one of them in the leg and armpit? There was a comment in the greek indymedia saying “it seems like they were trying to miss”...
Oh and the ballistic tests came out in half a day, when in the case of the murder of Alexandros it took 2 weeks.
It is greatly believed that whoever fired those shots against the cops, is not from inside the movement, since an act like this can only harm it.
“Was the riot cop shooting orchestrated by the state?”
1/6 A month after the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos
Residents of Exarhia had called a gathering at the place Alexandros was shot a month ago, demanding the police to leave. More than 1000 people gathered and after the cops retreated towards the police station there was a small demonstration on the streets of the neighborhood.
At the late hours there was a series of attacks:
The police station of Patisia (Athens) was attacked with rocks and molotov coctails. Two banks, a Starbucks and some offices of the ruling party were also attacked.
Protest at greek embassy in NYC, 18/12/2008
Image scaled down
On the 18th of December (a day of massive strikes and protests in Greece) at about 2:30 pm local time we, 2 greek graduate students in a small town of Ohio and upon our first visit to New York, we decided to visit the Greek embassy to express our support for the riots currently taking place all over in Greece.
The Police was not happy to see us there and at first they ordered us to stay at the edge of the sidewalk to not disturb the operation of the embassy. after less than one hour 3 more police men came and they ordered us to move to the opposite side of the street where the so called "designated protest area" was assigned by the NYPD. The reason was, they said, security measures due to events of the previous week. They did not want to talk more about this with us and they said the order came from the police head-quarters after a call from inside the embassy. I guess our "co-citizens" at the greek embassy were concerned about 2 students destroying the image of the country...
Solidarity to the greek RIOTS!!! Keep fighting! The fight against capitalist opression is global!
Some 40 people took part this lunchtime in the march from the top of Grafton street to the Greek embassy as part of the International Day of Resistance and Solidarity. Leaflets proclaiming that ;Our lives do not belong to the state' were distributed and the banners unfurled. On arrival at the Greek embassy we observed that the frontage had been splattered with red paint and at least one window had been broken sometime previously. A greek comrade gave a short speech on what was happening in Greece and the we dispersed.
Image scaled down
Whilst this demos was been called in solidarity with the popular up rising in Greece, in the context of cops killing an 15 yeare old boy, by shooting him at point blank range in the chest, it should be remembers that many families in Ireland have had to deal with deaths of their children is less than clear circumstances
It should also be obvious that many deaths wiill result form the service cutbacks no proposed by our government. These clearly are a capitalist attack on ordinary people, as global capitalist seek to prop up a global finacial system which has injustice and inequality as one of its core principles
We will not forget this, nor will we forget that the police forces of the state have, as a primary concern, the continuation of the status quo, at all cost. One need only look to Rossport, or the disgusting treatment at the hands of the Guards, to families looking clear and honest answers, and justice, for the death of their loved ones, that in many circumstances, at the very least deserve full and independant public inquiries
This is a list of deaths in Guards custody since 1997 to march 2006 Derek Lehane, aged 19, was taken by ambulance to hospital from Midleton Garda station, Cork in January 1997.
He was pronounced dead in hospital the same day. An inquest gave a verdict of accidental death arising from the ingestion of a controlled drug.
In December 1997, Norman McGrath, aged 48, from Ballyfermot collapsed in Pearse St Garda station and was pronounced dead at hospital. A post mortem found he had had a heart attack.
In January 1998, David O'Connor, aged 34, died at Wexford Garda Station.
Peter Williams, aged 33, from Thurles, collapsed in Kilmainham Garda Station in Dublin on 7 September 1998 and died in hospital. The inquest held that his was death by misadventure arising from the ingestion of prescribed drugs.
On 18 September 1998, Francis Brooks, aged 23, of Rathfarnham, was found dead in Tallaght Garda Station.
On 26 May 1999, Martin Hickey was found dead from strangulation at Trim Station.
On 22 August 1999, a 52 year old man died in Rathmines Garda Station. The Inquest recorded a verdict of death by misadventure, due to vomit inhalation as a result of acute alcohol intake.
On May 10 2000, Derek Cooper from Southill, Limerick was found hanging in a cell in Roxboro Garda station. he had been arrested inder the public order act.
In October 2000, Walter Kells, aged 26, was found collapsed in Drogheda Garda station and later pronounced dead. He had been arrested for an alleged breach of the peace.
On 4 June 2001, an unnamed man was found dead in Store Street Garda station.
On 13 September 2001, Thomas Mongan, from Westside, Galway, died in hospital shortly after having been arrested.
On 3 May 2001, Patrick Hayes hung himself in a cell at Dungarvan Garda station, Waterford. He had been arrested under Section 17 of the Domestic Violence Act 1996 following an alleged incident involving his former partner.
In December 2002, 19-year-old Paul Magee died in hospital after being found unconscious in Kilmainham Garda Station. A postmortem concluded his death was consistent with cocaine-related collapse
On 12 September 2002, Brian Rossiter was found unconscious in Clonmel Garda station, and died later in hospital.
On 17 June 2003, an unnamed man died in custody in Tallaght Garda station.
On 21 December 2003, John Delaney died in Kilkenny Garda station.
On 3 January 2004, William Haugh, aged 48, from Donaghmede, Dublin died in Clontarf Garda station.
On 13 January 2004, Peter Skelly, aged 25, died in Youghal Garda station.
Also in January 2004, Thomas Campion, aged 23, died in Store Street Garda station.
On 2 June 2005, Terence Wheelock was arrested and brought to Store Street Garda station, and later died in hospital.
(Sources: The Garda Siochana Annual Reports and media reports)
Against Police Brutality
Against Capitalist inequality
For a society of direct democracy, justice ands equality
solidarity action from Leiden, the Netherlands, on Saturday 20th December
Our goal had two main directions: 1. to provide non-commercial, grassroots information on the Greek riots, the socio-political background behind the uprising and the demands of the revolted 2. to emphasize the need for a common struggle worldwide, against all forms of state violence and suppression, for freedom and direct democracy. Obviously, the second goal is the most difficult. In order to explore the characteristics which link together the situation in In my view, the struggle in Who, if not us – When, if not now? everything has just begun... someone from “ |
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On the 20th of November there were at least 10 actions in solidarity with Greek protesters in ex-USSR countries
Barnaul, Siberia (Ru) - small anarchist demonstration disrupted by cops, some people detained
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/21344/index.phpErevan, Armenia - a small picket near Greek embassy
http://khosq.com/ru/article/2008/12/23/aktsiya_solidarnosti_s_grecheskimi_tovarishchamiIrkutsk, Siberia - a small picket with leaflets. The banner destroyed by Siberian frost (lower than 30 degrees Celsius)
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/21345/index.phpKiyv, Ukraine - a banner "Cop means legal murderer" hanged in the center of the city; a picket near Ministry of interior
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/21349/index.phpKrasnoyarsk, Siberia - a picket with a large banner "State is murderer". Greek flag burnt and torn to pieces.
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/21348/index.phpMinsk, Belarus - police department attacked with smoke bombs.
http://belarus.indymedia.org/15235Odessa, Ukraine - a picket near Greek consulate (16th of December); leaflets and graffiti around town
http://news.zaraz.org/?n=1076Saratov, Russia - banner drop - "Cops murder not only in Greece"; anti-cops graffiti around town
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/21355/index.phpSt.Petersburg, Russia - a bank in the center of the city was attacked with paint bombs
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/21347/index.phpTyumen, Siberia - a small picket with leaflets and a black flag
http://ru.indymedia.org/newswire/display/21350/index.phpCheck these links if you want to see some pictures and videos. More reports will follow.
http://ru.indymedia.org/feature/display/13325/index.php 
http://avtonom.org/index.php?nid=2131
20.12.2008 | Various solidarity actions for Greek rebellion around Russia on international solidarity day 20th of December
Due to time difference, Siberian anarchists were probably first ones to protest on 20th of December.
In Barnaul, cops were already waiting for demonstrators at the beginning point at October square, they went to follow demonstration and eventually forced people to roll banners and flags. People however kept marching, shouting "ACAB" and "Comrade mayor, go to hell!", and distributing leaflets. This was too much for the coppers, and eventually 10 anarchists and others were arrested.
(Barnaul Autonomous Action, http://www.avtonom.org/index.php?nid=2126).
In Irkutsk, Autonomous Action and others organised a picket at local polytechnical university. They had banner "Solidarity is our weapon", but there was a technical fault - banner was made with ducktape which could not take -30 celsius (0 F) Siberian breeze, and letters dropped
- thus people could only distribute flyers.
(http://andron-s.livejournal.com/98438.html, with text of the leaflet in Russian)
In Tyumen, anarchists raised a black flag to the roof of abandonded building of Machine Construction Technical Institute and distributed leaflets.
(http://www.golosa.info/node/2851)
There was also at least one action in European side of Russia, in St. Petersburg around 8 PM local time one of the biggest offices of Baltic Bank was attacked with paintbombs. Anarchist attackers left leaflets, which called for protests against state violence. Text of the leaflet is available at http://piter.indymedia.org/node/5708
Photos: Solidarity actions by a group of 10 comrades in Lisbon, Portugal.
From Portugal we also received the following message:
Late in the night of December 8, two large recycle bins were set on fire in the center of Lisbon, close to a building of the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF). So that the flames don't burn only in Greece.
Na madrugada de 8 de Dezembro, dois ecopontos foram incendiados, no centro de Lisboa, perto de um edificio do Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras. Para que as chamas não ardam só na Grécia.
Αργά την νύχτα της 8 Δεκέμβρη, δυο μεγάλοι κάδοι σκουπιδών πυπρολήθηκαν στο κέντρο της Λισσαβώνας, κοντά στο κτίριο της Υπηρεσίας Αλλοδαπών και Συνόρων. Ούτως ώστε οι φλόγες να μην αγκαλιάζουν μόνο την ελλάδα.
Update: In the early hours of December 12 we set fire to a large recycle bin in the neighborhood of Graça, in Lisbon. In the sidewalk we spraypainted "Grécia em todo o lado" [Greece is everywhere], and a circle-A. Solidarity with the arrested in Greece and elsewhere in solidarity actions. We're warming up...
Update #2: In the night of 15 of December, several recycle points were burn down in different points of Setúbal, Portugal. Also some solidarity messages with the comrades in Greece were spray-painted.
That the flame of rebellion spreads throughout the world!
Na noite de 15 para 16 de Dezembro, em vários locais de Setúbal, Portugal, incendiámos 3 ecopontos e fizemos umas pintadas em solidariedade com os companheiros na Grécia.
Que a chama da revolta se estenda a todo o mundo!
New posters made in response to the murder of Oscar Grant, as well as the social struggles in Gaza and Greece
The state cannot escape the consequences of its rule. We are everywhere! SOLIDARITY TO THE BAY AREA REBELLION |
| Attachment by BB! indybay 04:31am, Friday January 9 2009 |
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SOLIDARITY TO THE GREEK PEOPLE DEMONSTRATION AT MAUERPARK, SUNDAY 14/12, 13.00
On the 6th of December, after a verbal conflict in the centre of
Athens, a police officer murdered 15-year-old A. Grigoropoulos. This
murder is not a single incident. It is just one among a lot resulting
in incontrollable, unpunished and arbitrary police violence.
Police in Greece murder young people, immigrants, (Romas); infringe
upon human rights torturing detainees, beating demonstrators. The
state breaks its own laws. The ones responsible are never punished.
Greek people’s revolt, triggered by that murder, is not merely blind
violence. It expresses the indignation against the economic crisis,
poverty, unemployment, workers’ precarity and the de-establishment of
the welfare state.
The whole country is rising in revolt.
Solidarity Initiative in Berlin
A Photo Tour No Travel Agency Would Dare Offer
A photo of the ASOEE, the once occupied Economics university, where I stayed in December. Unlike the historically radical Polytechnic, the ASOEE was a center to experiment and challenge everyday life instead of planning actions in the street. In the ASOEE, there was a collective restaurant, a computer lab where many of December's texts were written and distributed, and a communal sleeping area. Like all the comrades who participated in the occupation, I have a hard time passing by the building now that it has been returned to its previous use as a site for the social reproduction of capitalist relations. But, as a middle finger to the reproduction of everyday life, revolutionary graffiti from December still sticks to the walls of the building!
A photo memorial of Alexis found by his memorial close to Exarchia square. The corner where he was killed, where the photo is hung, is now officially named after the murdered teenager.
A wider shot of Alexis' memorial. Letters from his friends written in December are still stapled to the wall. Flowers and candles are constantly placed in front of the memorial.
A production painted by an anarchist graffiti crew. The character was painted in the classically downtrodden south of Athens, the birthplace of the Rebetiko subculture, that in recent years has experienced a wave of gentrification. The graffiti crew is known in Athens for painting murals with a political message.
The Skaramagaz squat opened about two months ago in the center of Athens during the squat wave sweeping Greece.
Monday, December 29, 2008
International Electronic Civil Disobedience in Solidarity with Greek Anarchists Tuesday 30 December 2008
PLEASE SPREAD FAR AND WIDE! WE NEED AS MANY PEOPLE AS WE CAN GET!
Monday Dec. 29 2008
Hackers Against Oppression have called for Electronic Civil Disobedience in Solidarity with Greek Anarchists on Wednesday Dec 31, the final day of December. December is the month in which Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old Anarchist, was murdered in cold blood by Greek Police. It is also the month that will forever be remembered by all those who struggle. Minutes after his murder, thousands of Greek residents took to the streets as did thousands around the world. Even liberal groups have called for the resignation of the Greek government. The streets were taken back for the people, police buildings were firebombed, and banks were turned into empty charred-out boxes. This entire time, the Greek government has been fighting and oppressing people with guns, tear gas, and the media. It’s time that we take them down.
We will be attacking the websites of the Greek Police and the Prime Minister. They are directly responsible and we will directly respond. They will no longer be able to spread their lies to the media about what is going on in the streets. You can either load the file on the day of the action or download it ahead of time. We suggest downloading it ahead of time in the event that our site get shut down.
To a thousand more Decembers of resistance!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
There’s a hiphop artist from portugal called S-1, that in the last Saturday, put in myspace a song dedicated to all the fighters in Greece.
This is a comment i saw at www.occupiedlondon.org and just thouht is worth check, not just because of the dope beats and lyrics, but specially for the tribute and honor it pays to all those involved in the uprising in Greece.
The link is as follows: http://www.myspace.com/pathofperfectionrecords
Here's the original comment:
"All the support goes out to all the warriors in Greece, that’s just how it should be.
Let us all unite and take action against the state starting now, forever and everywhere.
There’s a hiphop artist from portugal called S-1, that in the last Saturday, put in myspace a song dedicated to all the fighters in Greece.
The link is as follows: http://www.myspace.com/pathofperfectionrecords
I urge everyone to do likewise and express solidarity in every form and way possible. Everyone needs to know, everyone needs to be mobilized.
One Struggle."
We will rise.
x
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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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…”
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
VIDEO FROM THE COMRADES IN THE SUPERMARKET IN SALONIKI 15/6
About 30 anarchists with helmets and hoods went into the supermarketnear the university of Saloniki and destroyed the security system! They took the foodstuff from the shelves and also took the moneyfrom the cash desk and burnt it outside the supermarket!nobody arrested!!
Keny Arkana - La Rage English Subtitles
1976 - 2000 Greek Anarchists Fight for Freedom
(December Riots in Greece)