Riots and police brutality on first day of Alexandros Grigoropoulos murder anniversary

Libcom.org Dec. 6, 2009

Riots have broken out in Athens and Salonica during the first day of A.
Grigoropoulos murder anniversary with police demonstrating extreme
brutality leaving two people seriously wounded by a motorised charge on
the Athens march.

Police brutality during the marches to comemmorate the first anniversary
of Alexandros Grigoropoulos murder surpassed any limit today, in a
coordinated operation of barbarity and crude violence against protesters
across greece. Under socialist orders police violence has left dozens of
people wounded.

In Athens the protest march called at 13:00 in Propylea was attacked by
riot police forces before even starting. Protesters fought back erecting
flaming barricades and forcing the police to retreat with use of rocks.
Protesters also occupied the rectorial headquarters of the University of
Athens in Propylea, lowering the greek flag and flying a black flag in its
place. The march continued to Omonoia square where more clashes took place
and several shops were destroyed -one consumed in flames. At Syntagma
square motorised police forces (Delta team) charged the march from Ermou
street. After the charge the Delta-team thugs dismounted and threw rocks
at the protesters. As a cause of the police orgy in violence, an elderly
member of the Worker’s Revolutionary Party-Trotskyist (EEK) has been
reported to be in serious condition due to head injuries: Ms Koutsoumbou,
a veteran prisoner of the anti-dictatorship struggle, was hit by a Delta
force motorbike during the mounted charge on the crowd. According to Savas
Michail, leading member of EEK and major radical philosopher, Ms
Koutsoumbou is in intensive care having received far worse hits than
during her tortures by the colonels' junta. One more man has been
hospitalised with serious injuries. At the time 60 people are reported
detained.

In Salonica the 3,000 strong protest march turned violent when riot police
attacked it without any provocation with tear gas and blast grenades.
Clashes ensued along the main avenue of the city. The police surrounded
some 200 protesters outside the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace, but were
liberated by the rest of the march. The previous night the police broke
the university asylum in the Salonica Polytechnic arresting 8 people who
the authorities claim had attacked the International Expo with molotov
cocktails. The march in Salonica has not been concluded at the time of
writing and the situation is particularly tense as the protesters are
returning to the main avenue to protest against police brutality.

In Larissa the protest march proceeded through the main streets of the
city smashing CCTV cameras, coming under attack by riot police forces. The
protesters errected barricades and engaged the cops with stones and other
projectiles.

There is little information about the course of the marches in other greek
cities.

At the same time, the 21 people arrested in the anarchist social centre
Resalto last night have been charged under the notorious anti-terrorist
law for construction and distribution of explosives (beer bottles and two
bottles of heating oil).

The protest marches for the 1st anniversary of Alexandros Grigoropoulos
murder by cops will continue on Monday, while at 21:00 on Sunday there
will be a memorial demo at the spot of his shooting in Exarcheia.


Dec 6 2009 09:27 (new)
#1

Update 18:30 (local time): As evidence of police brutality thicken,
prisoners across the country have refused food in protest to the
repression. A few minutes ago the social centre of the Network of Human
and Civil Rights was raided by riot police forces which sprayed the entire
building with tear gas forcing its evacuation. Exarcheia are occupied by
strong police forces which are arbitrarily attacking and arresting people
in order to prevent the planned memorial for the assassination of
Grigoropoulos at the spot of his murder at 21:00

The video of motorised police hitting protesters with their bikes can be
seen in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAf5zkagHOo&feature=player_embedded
Top

Dec 6 2009 11:44 (new)
#2
Update 20:30 (local time): News have started pouring from smaller greek
cities about today's marches. In Patras the 2,000 strong march attacked
the city hall and smashed several banks. There have been 50 preventive
arrests. In the city of Xanthi riots broke out with flaming barricades.
The National Electricity Company offices have come under attack with
molotov cocktails.

Meanwhile, the arrested comrades from Resalto have been taken to the
Peiraeus courts where hundreds of protesters were attacked with tear gas
and blast grenades by riot cops.

In down town Athens sporadic battles continue around the occupied Law
School and the Rectorial Headquarters. The media are spreading false
information about the rector being injured during the occupation of the
latter building - in fact he is has been hospitalised due to his chronic
heart problems which worsened today due to stress. The police is trying to
take advantage of the false news to lift the asylum and evacuate the
building. Police has already briefly breached the university asylum of the
Law School by entering its front yard while chasing protesters.

At the same time football fans attending a match have attacked police
forces shouting slogans against today's repression.

During today's clashes in Athens16 cops are reported injured and 146
people detained. Ms Koutsoumbou remains hospitalised with internal
hemorrhage and possible brain injuries.


The Greek December – One year on


It has now been a year since the events of Greece captivated the world as
students, workers, immigrants and the unemployed took to the streets of
the country’s major cities. The Greek December saw widespread examples of
working class direct action from strikes and sabotage to the occupation of
schools, workplaces and municipal buildings. This article will reflect on
key currents that emerged out of the uprising, what the events meant and
what they mean for the future.

A 15-year old boy

The Greek uprising was a shock. While we had witnessed recent comparable
examples of working class revolt across Europe in France and Italy, the
scale and ferocity of the December events took many by surprise. It was
the murder of a 15-year-old boy, Alexis Grigoropoulos, by Greek police
that sparked the outrage that inflamed Greek society. Police brutality is
a daily reality for many Greeks – especially in the inner cities against
immigrants and anti-authoritarian youth. Corruption and embezzlement are
rife among politicians and civic leaders, such as those in the church, and
there is a real crisis of trust in politics amongst large sections of the
population. The economic crisis had also meant widespread cuts in pay, job
losses and greater insecurity for many. While the initial riots were
largely confined to inner city youth, the raw injustice of the murder of
an innocent 15-year-old stirred up deeper and more general frustrations
with the social and political order. The uprising brought together
different sections of Greek society in ways that had not been seen before.

We demand nothing

A central cause of the decline of the uprising was its failure to spread
the struggle to other sections of the working class. The popular and
neighbourhood assemblies attempted to popularise the struggle, and the
occupation of the GSEE trade union offices (one of the most well attended
assemblies) also took steps towards this. However, overall much of the
activity in the streets, although it gained a great deal of popular
support, failed to spread to workplaces. Workers in many key industries
did, and continue to, engage in disruptive action (strike action by
dockworkers in Piraeus is reported to have cost around 5 million Euros a
day) against cuts and job losses, but this never seemed to fully connect
with the occupations and riots on the streets.

A positive outcome of the uprising was that, thanks to its radical and
totally anti-capitalist message, the best activity of December was never
pushed in a reformist direction. Despite the fact that the is now
attempting Socialist Party to label itself as “anti-authoritarians in
power”, there were no new sets of “leaders” or political alliances
emerging out of the events. Many of the popular initiatives eventually ran
out of steam, but they still stand as positive and inspirational examples
of contemporary working class self-organisation.

The rise of the far-right

In the recent European elections, there was growing support for
organisations of the far-right (including in the UK) across the continent.
Greece was no different, with LAOS (a right-wing populist party) securing
two representatives with 7.14% of the vote. The Greek state has also been
keen to pursue new anti-immigration policies. In May the Minister of
Public Order pledged to "clean" the centre of Athens of immigrants,
attempting to push plans to convert an old NATO base into a holding camp
for these displaced people. Throughout December, collaboration between the
police and paramilitary fascist groups (such as the neo-Nazi “Golden
Dawn”) was well documented. Fascists were photographed assisting in
arrests, attacking protesters and even using police equipment against
demonstrations. Since December, fascist groups have been targeting what
they see as the key elements behind the uprising – largely immigrants and
anarchists – including an attack with a hand grenade in February against a
popular squat. Anti-fascist and anti-racist activity, however, has
remained strong and in spite of the reports of escalating repression,
anti-fascists were able to celebrate the world over in March as the news
spread that the headquarters of “Golden Dawn” had been torched to the
ground.

The traditional Left and the trade unions

The parties of the traditional Left and the trade unions were quick to
show their true colours at the outbreak of the events. The Greek Communist
Party swiftly denounced the riots as the work of “foreign dark forces” and
called for its members to stay away from the riots. Members of its youth
wing were also active in attempting to block occupations. The Socialist
Party, now in power, has overseen widespread state repression against
anarchists, including a mass raid of squats and social centres in the
Exarchia district (the district where Alexis was shot). The trade union
leadership were also keen to not let their members become infected by the
spirit of revolt. During December they cancelled a key demonstration that
would have coincided with the uprising, and since then the leadership have
continued to restrain the activity of workers.

The fate of a tree

The image of the burning Christmas tree in Syntagma Square came to be a
powerful symbol of the rebellion. So strong, in fact, that in later
demonstrations the police showed a far greater interest in protecting the
replacement tree than the surrounding banks and luxury shops! The holiday
season, however, was not friendly to the uprising. Traditional
celebrations like Christmas have a strong hold over communities and many
initiatives failed to get back on their feet after the break. The frenzied
consumerism that is the modern “Christmas spirit” also became a real
barrier between the demands of the uprising and the experience of the
general public.

The return of armed struggle?

Armed groups have always been a feature of the Greek left. The Marxist “17
November” group orchestrated a sustained assassination and bombing
campaign against Greek police and public officials for 29 years before
disbanding in 2002. The December events saw 17 November's successors,
“Revolutionary Struggle”, claim responsibility for the shooting of a
police guard at the Culture ministry. However the 17 November group never
really had any mass appeal. The December events prompted the emergence of
other groups that appear to be gathering some sympathy. These include
“Popular Action” and the “Nuclei of Fire Conspiracy” (NFC) which have both
claimed responsibility for detonating small-scale explosive devices and
are yet to cause a fatality. The NFC communiqué, which has been widely
reported in the mainstream media, has become particularly popular amongst
the new wave of high school occupations. Of course, all of this has served
as a pretext for the authorities to seize and detain anarchists and other
activists who have been involved in the uprising. Heavy raids in the
Exarchia district are justified by referring to the guerillas' activity,
while three 20-year-old men were jailed under anti-terrorist laws for
their alleged involvement in the NFC (this was despite the fact that the
prosecution’s case quickly collapsed and they had to be held “in
expectation” of evidence against them). The mainstream media has also been
keen to highlight the guerilla groups' activity as a way to discredit the
uprising in general.

One, two, many Decembers

While December 2008 may have been the high point, the struggle very much
continues throughout Greece. There is still widespread unrest throughout
major industries and 2009 has already seen some highly militant
expressions of workplace action. Many activists also continue to struggle
against the backlash to the events, whether that is the state’s turn to
racist social policies, increasing repression against activists, or even
targeted state violence. As this article is written, it is a week before
the official start of the “unrest season”, the 30 days between the
anniversary of the 1973 Polytechnic Uprising (November 17), the
anniversary of the assassination of Alexandros Grigoropoulos and the start
of the 2008 December Uprising (December 6) and the trial of Grigoropoulos
murderers (December 15), and things are looking tense. Workers of the
Social Security Organisation of Self-Employed (AOEE) have occupied the two
buildings of the organisation to demand the renewal of temporary
contracts. Even the union of basketball players has announced a two day
strike demanding a series of labour conditions reforms! At the moment,
it's not clear whether we’ll see an eruption of the kind of scenes we saw
a year ago. One thing is for sure: that we can continue to look to the
Greek working class as an inspiration for the ongoing struggle of our
class, even in the toughest of social and economic climates.

Originally published in Resistance, Anarchist Federation paper, issue 118,
December 2009 - Jan 2010