Fires of resistance still burning in Greece

From Resistance bulletin 111, April 2009 by Resistance editors - Anarchist Federation

Despite several months passing since the insurrectionary events of the “Greek December”, social discontent and working class resistance are still very much alive amongst the youth and workers of Greece. March has been characterised by continuing occupations, street battles and clashes with fascist forces.

BREAKDOWN OF EVENTS:

•4th March - In response to a fascist hand grenade attack against an immigrant social centre on the night of February 24th (which fortunately claimed no victims) anti-fascists take to the streets. The march erupts into extended street battles between protesters and provocative riot police forces deployed to attack the demo. During the clashes that spread throughout the city centre several banks and expensive shops are destroyed, while protesters break into the offices of Golden Dawn [Xrysi Avgi] the neonazi parastate organisation responsible for numerous assassination attempts against immigrants, anarchists and the left. The offices are torched to the ground.

•Friday 6th March -The three month anniversary of Alexandros Grigoropoulos' murder. Protesters occupy the metro/ISAP station of Attiki, a central transit station between the two urban rail systems. All ticket machines are disabled so that transport is rendered free of charge. Later that same afternoon a march takes to the streets to protest against the chain of organised fascist attacks against the Pakistani community in the area. Activists gather at the site of Alexandros' murder in the evening. The local riot squad is attacked with molotov cocktails and street battles continue throughout the night.

•Saturday 7th March -The local People's Assembly of Exarcheia occupies the big parking lot between Alexandros Grigoropulos murder site and the heavily guarded PASOK (Socialist Party) HQ in a move to reclaim one of the city's last open spaces and demand its transformation into a park rather than yet another block of offices. The locals set up a day-long collective meal, with wine and dances, hold workshops and smash the asphalt, planting pine and olive trees. In the evening a big painting, given as a gift to the Greek insurgency by the Zapatistas of Chiapas, was placed on the wall of the building opposite the murder site, already thick with hundreds of letters and a marble plaque from the boy's family. The day ended in a big concert.

•Monday 9th March - Members of the Open Assembly for Health occupy the cashiers office of the Red Cross Hospital in Athens demanding free health care for all.

•Wednesday 1th March - Dock workers of the Nautico-construction Zone of Piraeus attack the fences and smash the main entrance of the Ministry of the Commercial Navy in their effort to invade and occupy the building. The workers are driven back by the special-forces of the port police through the use of flash-burst grenades. Meanwhile workers of the Ministry of Culture once again blockade the Acropolis demanding their 4 months' unpaid salaries and re-employment of fired workers. Reluctant to turn the monument into another battleground the President of the Republic pledges to resolve their grievances.

•Friday 13th March -Riots break out in Athens and Salonica in relation to the coming trial of an anarchist, Yorgos Voutsis- Vogiatzis, who was arrested 18 months ago and is accused of bank robbery. In Athens, the down-town market area and residential area of Kolonaki is gutted by protesters who smash dozens of expensive shops, luxury cars and banks. Journalists talk of the greatest damage in the capital since the December insurgency.

•Sunday 22nd March -The death of Katerina Goulioni, a female prison activist known for her struggle against the vaginal inspection of inmates sparks a violent uprising in the Women's Prison of Thebes. Inmates refuse to return to their cells, and burn and smash the jail premises, while a protest march in solidarity with Goulioni clashes with riot police forces outside the prison. One section of the prison is said to be seriously burned.

•The job losses in Greece continue with the GSEE (General Confederation of Greek Workers) claiming 4,000 losses amongst its members for February alone. With the severity of the damage caused by the economic crisis still unknown the Greek state has been keen to bring in repressive measures against the growing anti-capitalist movement. In the capital the government has announced the introduction of a “rapid reaction” armed police force, the introduction of police dogs on pedestrian patrols and a “zero-tolerance” policy towards political violence. The Minister of Justice has also announced the introduction of a new law that will severely punish hoods, masks and other distorting clothing in protest marches. This is while the right-wing press has been pushing for the government to reopen the issue of university asylum (universities in Greece have asylum status from the police thanks to the historic place that student protesters played in toppling the military junta). These measures are likely to only escalate rather than dampen social tensions as Greek workers continue to be hit hard by the economic crisis.