Grenade attack against progressive factions in Athens

Eyewitnesses report the attack took place while the issue of military armaments was being discussed. [photos from Athens Independent Media Center]



As reported by Javno:

Hand Grenade Explodes In Greek Capital, No Injured

A hand grenade exploded late on Tuesday in the centre of Athens, causing minor damage at the offices of a leftist human rights group but no injuries, police said.

A wave of left-wing violence since the police shooting of a 15-year-old in December, which triggered Greece's worst riots in decades, has rocked the fragile conservative government.

"The grenade went off outside the offices of the Network for Political and Social Rights, causing minor damage to the building... and a cafe across the street," a police official who declined to be named said.

Police said they had received no warning and no group had claimed responsibility for the attack yet. The building also houses an immigrants' community centre, which was crowded at the time of the attack, the semi-official state agency ANA reported.

Last month, the left-wing guerrilla group Revolutionary Struggle claimed responsibility for the shooting and serious wounding of a 21-year-old policeman in central Athens.




Below are some unauthorized translations of statements released by some of the groups attacked:



Statement issued by the Network for Political and Social Rights

Murderous hand grenade attack on the Immigrants' Place

Yesterday evening, 24 Feb, 2009, at 10:05, "unknowns" lobbed a hand grenade at the Immigrants' Place located on Tsamadou Street in Exarhia (the offices of the Network for Political and Social Rights share the same space). At that time the Place was full of people as an open event by the Association of Conscientious Objectors was underway and our organization's coordinating committee was in session. It was entirely fortuitous that there were no victims from the attack given that the grenade did not manage to break the window's double-plated glass, bounced and finally exploded in a flower pot situated in front of the building.

Last night's murderous attack by the para-state comes under the general attempt at a counterattack by the establishment in the wake of the December revolt. All this time lately we are observing a rise in state and para-state violence, as well as a black propaganda campaign against the resistance ("the far left is responsible for the violence"). the "unknowns" who threw the hand grenade are not only attacking us. They are attacking the entire insurrection; all those who revolted in December; all those who are taking action to refuse the market dictatorship and truncheon 'democracy'.

It is probably unnecessary to state that we will not take a single step back. It is probably unnecessary to declare that the para-state will receive the response it deserves.

Athens 25 February, 2009




Press release issued by the Association of Conscientious Objectors regarding the attack on the Immigrants' Place

Yesterday evening around 10pm and while an open event of the Association of Conscientious Objectors was underway concerning new programs for the acquisition of gear by the Immigrants' Place (13A Tsamadou St., Exarhia), an unknown assailant threw a hand grenade and subsequently disappeared. Those of us who were inside the hall heard a bang on the window followed immediately after by a powerful explosion. The perpetrator attempted to lob the grenade into the hall where the event was taking place by breaking the window. Fortunately the glass did not break and the grenade fell in a flower-bed beneath the window and exploded, causing only material damage in contrast to the assailant's obvious intentions.

Aside from the Association of Conscientious Objectors, the Immigrants' Place houses a host of collectives of the Left, the feminist movement, the gay movement, etc., as well as immigrant group activities. As a matter of fact, Greek language lessons that are daily attended by dozens of immigrants had just ended a short while before the attack.

The resurgence of the far right or para-state terrorism, before which it appears we find ourselves, can only frighten those who are already frightened and that does not include us. Obviously, and as happens in such cases, the Association of Conscientious Objectors will continue and intensify its activity, particularly now that we understand how disturbing some find this activity. A hand grenade exploding outside our door was not required to teach us how murderous nationalism and militarism can be and how opposed to it we are. The militaristic mindset, an example of which we lived through yesterday, is foreign to the freedom movement, of which anti-militarism is a vital component. Whoever invests in fear (the framed strategy of tension in the Aegean that is used to justify the feast of arms purchases, terrorism, racism and xenophobia, nationalism and militarism) will find us arrayed in opposition.

Presently, when, following the December events a low-intensity war is being waged against anyone who opposes today's warped society, against any who are engaged in struggle (i.e. the characteristic case of Konstantina Kouneva), it is time to make a stand. The time is now, before the encroaching economic crisis intensifies, before social tensions worsen, before a new Krystalnacht and a new Ordine Nuovo that stigmatized respective historical periods of the past.

date:
2009-02-25

www.antirrisies.gr




Statement from the Athens Anti-Authoritarian Movement on the attack against the Network

The building that hosts the Network for Political and Social Rights, Immigrants, the Association of Conscientious Objectors and other collectives was attacked on the evening of 24 Feb. The hand grenade was intended to commit the mass murder of people inside the hall and the only obstacle was the second plate of glass against which the hand grenade was thrown.

This murderous attack is not symbolic but is absolutely real. It is the assassin's hand of reaction that decided to make its bloodstained face evident. Reaction is not only the state, the para-state and the fascist gangs. It is also the lackeys and followers of statism, nationalism and bigotry. The conclusion one may arrive at is clear. It is a murderous attack on Exarhia and that is what it symbolizes. It is a murderous attack against the resistance movement. It is a murderous attack against the December uprising. It is a murderous attack against those who stand in solidarity with [Konstantina] Kouneva. It is a murderous attack against the lives of people whom these reactionary gangs hate so much, having proven this repeatedly in the past.

As far as we are concerned, we feel that it fell on our window and that the vigilance of all the revolutionary movement's forces must now be taken for granted. Brothers, be on your guard: reaction murders.


THE ATHENS ANTI-AUTHORIATARIAN MOVEMENT