Antiracist demo attacked by fascists in Athens

Libcom.org Jan 23 2010

A local antiracist demo in Ampelokipoi, Athens, came under attack by
fascist thugs, leading to the hospitalisation of one woman. More than 40
fascists have been detained. The attack marks a climax of fascist violence
which has also led to the torching of Chania's Synagogue.

On Saturday 23 January an anti-racist demo of the Cultural Centre of
Ambelokipoi in Athens was fiercely attacked by a fascist group of
so-called “autonomous nationalists”. The demo was organised as a response
to continuing disturbance of the functioning of the 50 year old Centre by
fascist thugs who tried to burn it down last week. Before the official
start-time of the demo, at 12, when only the organisers were in Panormou
square, 40 fascist thugs attacked them with sticks leading to the wounding
of three people, amongst which a 50 year old woman who has been
hospitalised. During the attack riot police forces stationed in the square
stood by watching, even moving aside to let the fascists strike.
Nevertheless, the demostrators managed to counterattack chasing the
fascists, despite police efforts to stop them.

Thr police finally intervened only after it became known that an MP was
also amongst the people attacked. The police intervention has led to 44
detentions of fascists, who are being interrogated at the police
headquarters.

The attack comes in a climax of similar moves that have been growing ever
since the government announced a law that will legalise hundreds of
thousands of second generation immigrants giving them the right to vote.
The extreme-right has launched a campaign of hate in order to halt the
procedure.

Ambelokipoi, the area where the attack took place, has a long record of
fascist action, with leafleting at schools of the area coming under
frequent attacks, once even at gun-point. This does not however mean that
the neighbourhood is fascist as such. In fact, after the 50 year old woman
was taken to the near by Red Cross Hospital, doctors and nurses came down
to the street to join the demo in protest to the fascist violence. The
demo formed a protest march towards the Athens police HQ which is also in
the area.

The Coalition of Radical Left MP who participated in the demo has declared
that “For one more time fascists are acting in the open with the
toleration of the police against any kind of protest against racism and
xenophobia. This terrorism will not pass. Fascism will not take root in
this country”. The Left wing labour union umbrella “Autonomous
Intervention” denounced the “Uncontrollable activity of neofascist groups
which are provoking the democratic and anti-fascist sentiments of the
people”.

It must be noted that recently Spartakos, the 30 year old “Network of Free
Conscripts”, revealed that the Ministry of National Defense has been
organising paramilitary training camps in Chalkdiki, where ex-soldiers and
other militaristic elements have been trained in “counterterrorist”
operations. After the revelations, Spartacus has come under the spotlight
of the fascist parliamentary party LAOS, which has demanded from the
Ministry the containment of the group. Spartakos has denounced efforts of
detaining its members during leafleting, and has further revealed that a
secret General Stuff document describing in detail the Network’s totally
legal day-to-day activities has come to the Network’s possession.

Moreover, the escalation of fascist violence has inculded the torching of
the Chania Synagogue which destroyed thousands of rare manuscripts and
books. Regarding the torching (twice in one month), the police has
arrested 1 greek and 2 british citizens as part of the anti-Semitic group
that perpetrated the attack. The greek has confessed, while the british
are denying any involvement in the act; 2 US citizens are also wanted for
the same case. However, the police is refusing to follow the link to the
torching of the Immigrant Social Centre of the city which occurred within
the same time. Swastikas were found painted in the torched Immigrant
Centre, while a slate of soap believed to be the group’s signature was
found in the torched Synagogue.

The arrests come as a rare incident in a country where fascist action is
tolerated by the state to the degree that it is often believed that
fascist groups are in fact parastate terror organisations, similar to the
ones kept by the state until the end of the junta.



Update: According to the bourgeois media, 35 of the detainees have been
declared arrested and will be persecuted for "breach of the peace". It is
indicative of the state's stance towards the fascists that although one
person was hospitalised during their attack, the thugs are not accused for
human injuries etc. "Breach of the peace" is the most harmless accusation
possible under the circumstances. It is also indicative that, as revealed
by photos published on the web, the fascists are not being persecuted
under the anti-hood law, though they are visibly arrested while wearing
full-face masks. Unlike the usual police brutality towards anarchists and
the left, or in fact any common protester, the cops did not even use their
batons against their ideological colleagues.

On the farmers front, the international harbour of Igoumenistsa (the
largest on the west coast of the country) has been blockaded by farmers,
halting all import-export activity, as well as passenger transport to
Italy. The wildcat action has caused anger in the greek government.
Despite below zero temperatures and snow farmers in north greece remain at
their blockades blocking both the south-north and the east-west national
highway. Forestry Department workers have set their own blockade in
Asprovalta. The clash between the official unions and the autonomous
farmers has become explicit as the former agreed to meet with the Ministry
of Agriculture and lift 17 blockades across the country. On the other
hand, the autonomous farmers have refused to participate in the talks, and
have been called "terrorists" by the Bulgarian PM, who is angry about the
continuing closure of the Greek-Bulgarian borders by the blockades. All in
all 10 out of 20 blockades in the north of the country will not take part
in the proposed dialogue and intend to form a demo outside the
Presidential Mansion in Athens where the collaborationist unions will meet
the Ministry on Monday. Thessaly farmers have also announced their not
participation in the talks.
Top


Regarding the torching (twice in one month), the police has arrested 1
greek and 2 british citizens as part of the anti-Semitic group that
perpetrated the attack. The greek has confessed, while the british are
denying any involvement in the act; 2 US citizens are also wanted for
the same case.

eek

Is this the first incident of foreign fascists coming to Greece? Is there
much chance of Greece becoming a hub for the international far right?



Fascists have tried to hold international assemblies but these have been
cancelled (at least publicly) due to the general outcry against them. I
think that fascism is Greece is a deeply institutional state-sponsored
phenomenon as the visit of the previous mininster of public order to the
Golden Dawn Agios Panteleimonas group last summer has once again proved
(after their meeting, Villa Amalias one of the oldest anarchist squats in
Athens was attacked by the fascists). Nevertheless the maximum people a
fascist demo has managed to gather is 100 people, as much as any of the
small leftist groups in Athens can mobilise on its own. LAOS which is the
extreme-right party in parliament (BNP greek style) is more of an
expression of right-wing votes leaking from the Conservative Party due to
its (now ended) move towards neoliberalism. I hope I will get the time for
something more analytical on this issue at some point. Dont forget however
that fascist death squads were active throughout the 1940s, that Greece
before the war was ruled by a fascist (nazi salute included) dictatorship,
and that the 1960s 1970s junta was also explicitly fascist.