March for Resalto in Keratsini

Libcom.org Dec 20 2009

More than a thousand march in Keratsini in solidarity to the 21 comrades arrested during the police raid on Resalto, the anarchist social centre of the proletarian suburb of Peiraeus.

More than a thousand protesters marched on Saturday afternoon in the industrial proletarian suburb of Peiraeus, Keratsini, against state terror and the police invasion of Resalto, the local anarchist social centre two weeks ago which resulted in the arrest of 21 people who are being accused of preparing explosives for…some empty beer bottles and a few litters of heating kerosene found in the remises. Initially the state accused the arrested for terrorism but the state interrogator subsequently dropped the charges. The invasion of the 4th of december had resulted to a sponteneous local attack against the police forces guarding the centre a few hours later and to the occupation of the Keratsini city hall which was too invaded by the police with 42 people arrested despite the opposition of the mayor, the local council and the lawyer association of the town who have subsequently published official decisions condemning the repression.

The march gathered at People’s square and after reading texts through the microphone stressing that “the arrested are the physical and political discendents of the guerrillas executed by the Nazis at the blockade of Kokkinia”, the protesters marched around the working class suburb enjoying overwhelming popular support: people chanting anti-police slogans from balkonies and clapping in approval from the sidewalk, despite strong police presence.

The march was part of a 3-day call against state terror by Resalto whose case has become a symbol of the socialist government’s ruthless strategy of counterinsurgency. A hefty monetary guarantee has been imposed on the 21 accused which is being covered by donations and free-donation gigs and parties throughout the country.

On Sunday locals of Exarcheia realised a demo at the square of the area protesting against the persecution of the Resalto comrade. To put the point across regarding the ridiculous claims of the persecuting authorities, the demonstrators made a public display of the exact number of empty beer bottles, hammers, and litres of heating kerosene considered “tools for constructing explosive” – surprisingly the antiterrorist bureau did not try to arrest them…

The march took place within a tense climate across Greece:

In Salonica, the social center of the west territories, opened after the December Uprising, came under attack by parastate thugs who invaded the premises beating people inside and smashing everything on their way. Earlier the same day a police patrol car had come under attack by radicals in the centre of the city, while the night before a security systems shop had been torched.

In Kavala, police detained a group of fly-posting radicals near the autonomous centre and the anarchist squat of the city. The unusual detention could be a sign of collective retribution for the large-scale attack last Thursday when the city centre’s banks were smashed and burned by radicals who have identified themselves in a communique as “anarchists of praxis”.

In Athens, on Friday afternoon the political office of a PASOK (Socialist Party) MP was attacked with an arson mehanism, a further attack after the Thursday night half hour barrage that destroyed half a dozen PASOK offices across the city. Also the PASOK offices of Agioi Anargiroi outside Athens were smashed on Saturday evening.

On a less angry side of things radical, the union of Wind workers has published a communique condemning the police invasion of university grounds during last week’s riots, and the efforts of rectorial authorities and the state to render the asylum a symbolic institution.