police

A shooting by police on Saturday 6th of December has triggered off in cities all over Greece the fiercest riots in decades. What follows is a first –and incomplete– presentation of the recent riots in Athens based on our own experiences and on what we have heard of.

We present below a rough chronology of events that took place in Greece’s second largest city from Saturday 6th of December up until Wednesday 31st of December. During the first five days, when thousands of enraged proletarians got to the streets and set these cities of commodity on fire, we lived the peak of the recent upheaval, at least in Thessaloniki and other provincial cities and towns.

The week following the 15 day insurrection in Greece saw the development of psychological warfare counterinsurgency techniques by state that began with the shooting of a school pupil in Peristeri (West Athens) on the 18/12.

04:31: 800 schools and 200 university departments occupied; international solidarity day is here
On the dawn of December 20th, a full fortnight from the day of Alexandros’ murder, the mainstream media report that around 800 high schools and 200 university departments around the country are occupied by their students.

16:19: Yet another TV station occupied; fresh demos in Athens and Thessaloniki; final build-up for international day of action against state murders
“Kydon TV” in Chania was occupied today, in order to expose the lies of the media covering the revolt. There have been tens of TV and radio station occupations in the past few days.

08.54: Student shot in Peristeri, Athens; student demo set to start
Last night, a 16-year old school boy was shot and injured in the area of Peristeri, Athens, close to his school, which has been occupied for four days. The incident occurred yesterday around known but only emerged in the media today.

#24, 15:18: General confederation of workers building occupied; Acropolis “solidarity” banner hanged; government calls TV occupation “attempt to overthrow democracy”

21.16 Athens
Musicians had called for a demo starting from Propylea, before the demo at 18:00. A big number of musicians attended, and were demonstrating by dancing on the street. It was very good to see people dancing in Panepistimiou str....

A video that shows those lovely people that filled the Athens city centre with music today can be found here:

http://www.tvxs.gr/v1765

I go to the first year of high school at Psychiko Public High School. I knew Alexandros, or Gregory (the pet name we used for him, from his last name) since 4th grade in elementary school. We used to go to the same school. Until the first year of middle school we didn't keep close company. From the first year of middle school however, until yesterday when they killed him, we were close friends.

Interview with Yannis, international secretary of the ESE (Eleftheriaki Sindikalistiki Enosi)

Can you describe the events surrounding the death of Alexis again?
For the last three years the Greek police's strategy in Exârcheia, a district famous for popular struglle and home to many students., young people and libertarians, has been one of provocation.

Better than guerrilla radio
Anarchists take over the tv station Super B in Patra. They went live at 21.37pm

Part of the broadcast is viewable on youtube here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-a1jCD9sk0

#18, 18:40: 13-year old girl brutally arrested; murderer’s lawyer’s office attacked; high school students keep up the struggle and get targeted

The photographs, taken in Patras today and published on the greek NEA από όλο τον Κόσμο blog, show fascists armed with blunt weapons brazenly stalking the streets with the police.

Monday, December 8, 2008
21:52 GMT: Heavy clashes at the Law School of Athens - a demonstrator who just came back from the school will report on the blog shortly.

For updates and background, see our Greece unrest archive: http://libcom.org/tags/greece-unrest

Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot dead by police in the Exarchia area, an anarchist stronghold of Greece's capital city on Saturday 6 December.

On Saturday 29/11/08 the people of Volos, a city in central Greece with a long labour struggle tradition, took to the streets to protest against escalating police violence.

In the evening of the 27th of October thousands marched in the center of Athens in protest at the killing of a Pakistani asylum seeker in the hands of the police.

In the early morning of Sunday the 26th, riot police charged immigrants queuing outside the central immigration office of Athens waiting to register for asylum status.

The site at Chinkultic had been occupied by members of its surrounding villages since 7 September, following what villagers saw as its neglect by the INAH (Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia) - the state institution charged with maintaining the country's thousands of ruins sites - and the concentration of profits from tourism in the municipality (one of the poorest in Mexico) ou

A new report by the Prisons Reform Trust has accompanied the end of the “consultation” period on the government's policy of constructing huge new “titan” prisons, which Gordon Brown has stated will mean the beginning of construction of the jails.

On the 8th of September three Afghan immigrant workers fell victim to port police attack in the harbour area of Patras, Greece. The Red Cross confirms that at least three were taken to hospital with serious injuries.