From Yannis Youlountas (28/08/2019) …
While the attack on the rebel and solidarity neighbourhood of Athens has just begun, on Monday, the masks fall!
Exarchia: The State and the Fascists hand in hand against anarchists and migrants (proofs in images)
Yes, you read correctly: among others, it is policemen wearing fascist badges who started the “cleaning of Exarcheia” (photo # 1). They did not hide their belonging and did not fail to be zealous.
While Golden Dawn is disappearing, defeated in the street by antifascist groups, its premises close one after the other, its headquarters will soon be on sale, its favorite neighborhood abandoned and the resignations of its leaders following one after the other since the loss of all of its seats in parliament, something still allows the neo-Nazi to rejoice: the assault of the Greek state against the libertarian and anti-fascist neighborhood where many migrants live freely.
This is a real revenge for the Greek neo-Nazis, some of whom work in the police force and who sometimes recognise themselves with signs of recognition referring directly to the Golden Dawn mythology. It is an exceptional moment for them to participate in the assault on the anti-authoritarian stronghold of Athens.
On the Internet, the fachosphere is excited about “seeing Exarcheia disappear”. Many evocative drawings show fascists destroying anarchist symbols (photo # 2) or throwing refugees into camps.
Photo #2 – Among many other fascists on twitter, a prominent supporter of “patriarchy” and the “orthodox nation” rejoices at the attack on anarchists.
The storytelling of yesterday’s attack in the media is completely distorted, as one might expect. There is talk about humane treatment and even delicacy. Its false, of course! Violence and destruction have been committed and we have the evidence.
Several refugees were shaken and insulted, until a girl who was brutally pushed by violent police to the point of having a broken tooth (photo # 3) as confirmed by the members of Spirou Trikoupi 17.
Photo #3 – A refugee girl was brutally pushed in the squat “Spirou Trikoupi 17” by violent police officers, to the point of having a broken tooth.
Photo #4 – The dangerous terrorist was then ordered to wait in the street, before getting into one of the vehicles destined for the Petrou Ralli police station.
Photo #5 – This picture is going around the internet in Greece. That of a little girl with her doll who lived quietly and happily in a self-managed collective in Exarcheia and who has just been sent to a closed and unhealthy camp by the Greek state and the European fortress.
Photo #6 – Paranoid policemen wear masks for fear of getting sick from contact with migrants. However, the Spirou Trikoupi 17 was remarkably clean, as were its friendly and dignified residents.
Photo #7 – Another image that is circulating a lot right now, that of a baby did not want to leave his squat and was constantly turning his head behind him while fidgeting, having probably understood the danger that there was to be taken elsewhere.
Many things were destroyed and thrown away, including memories that were of great importance to us. Chairs were broken (picture # 8) before being thrown into the dump truck and even packets of diapers were seen mixed in the trash cans.
Photo #8 – The members of Spirou Trikoupi testify: “The police were violent with us and, as soon as they arrived, they destroyed everything in our house”. As proof, the broken furniture and things in pieces that were taken down into the street.
Photo #9 – It is the State that terrorises people who have nothing to do with terrorism and who live quietly without asking anything. It is the State and its government that makes these women and children cry in this image. It is the will to power of some over the lives of others.
During his campaign, Mitsotakis claimed to attack terrorists. In reality, he only attacked Pampers’ packs (many diaper packs and other supplies for the children that members of past solidarity convoys know well). Mitsotakis claimed that our squats served as hiding places for drug trafficking. He found only toys and some sweets.
Photo #10 – This evacuation is also an assault on women fighting for their emancipation.
In reality, it was he who terrorised children in tears (photo # 9) and women who fought for their emancipation (proof is the sublime participation of women and girls from squat Spirou Trikoupi 17 at the demonstration of last March 8, as shown in photo # 11). He sent these people to camps via Petrou Ralli’s police station (photos # 12 to 14).
Photo #11 – A souvenir of the demonstration of March 8th, with the sublime participation of women and girls of the squat “Spirou Trikoupi 17”. The racist state is also sexist in its repression against those people who have traveled thousands of kilometers to live differently.
Photo #12 – Inside the buses that take them to the Petrou Ralli police station, then to a closed camp; faces that we have known and who are worried about the future. Power steals lives.
Photo #13 – An image that has also gone around the Internet, in Greece. Goodbye to the children.
Photo #14 – A discreet photo of the interior of the Petrou Ralli police station. People become numbers again. The State and its bureaucracy take control of bodies and lives.
Meanwhile, witnesses heard many of the guys who were picking up what remained, laughing loudly around the dump trucks, which clearly confirmed the extent of the racism of those people who came to “clear out the migrants” (Photo # 15).
Photo #15 – Fun around the dumpsters. All the people present are not just employees of the cleaning service of Athens’ City Hall, far from it. There are plainclothes cops, informers and others who are zealous and visibly excited about the situation.
Seeing the neighborhood waking up and more and more activists getting closer to the area (mainly in the northwestern quarter of Exarcheia), the anti-terrorist police deployed a second time to repel a possible counterattack, automatic weapons in hands (photos # 16 to 21). Several of these hooded and overarmed men loudly quipped:- So, where are the antifas?
Photo #16 – Anti-Terrorist Police (OPKE) armed, ready to fire live ammunition.
Photo #17 – Redeployment throughout the northwestern quarter of the neighborhood.
Photo #18 – Hoods, fascist crest and black glasses.
Photo #19 – Some cops and cops in civilian clothes are recognised by activists. The secret police are very numerous in Exarcheia.
Photo #20 – Information point concerning the movements of anti-authoritarian groups in and around the neighbourhood. A helicopter and several drones inform the cops of everything that moves.
Photo #21 – The true face of the State against those who wish to live without it in self-management.
During the mid-day news, the media in the service of power gave themselves over to their heart’s content, insisting on the revenge of the State against the chaos, “the return of law and order” (the name given to the operation by Mitsotakis himself). Several news and websites bare the title: “the police (EL.AS) entered Exarcheia to stay there” (photo # 22).
Photo #22 – Several television reports and sites headline: “The police (EL.AS) entered Exarcheia to stay there.”
In other words: the police are trying to occupy Exarcheia. Other television news, such as the ERT, have again insisted on the presence of foreigners from Western Europe and in particular French among those in solidarity on location, mentioning that one of the three militants arrested in the squat of Kalidromiou is a Frenchman (photo # 23).
Photo #23 – ERT news, the public TV channel: “FOLLOWING OPERATIONS , THE ARRESTS OF TWO GREEKS AND ONE FRENCHMAN.”
Still others have shown photos taken inside the Spirou Trikoupi 17 squat, evoking supposedly unworthy living conditions. Look at photo # 24 and tell me frankly: is it better to live like that, freely, with respect and equality, or in a tent (or in a stuffy container), in a closed camp?
Photo #24 – One of the photos taken by the power media inside the “Spirou Trikoupi 17” squat to discuss allegedly unworthy living conditions.
What the media did not show in the service of power was the photograph taken by the Mitsotakis couple a few months ago, posing in front of one of the photos of an exhibition on refugees. Yet she would have shown the hypocrisy of these people by associating them with one of the photos of the evacuation they sponsored (photo # 25).
Photo #25 – The Hypocrisy of power.
Starting at 6 pm, in the evening of yesterday, Exarcheia activists gathered around the Notara 26 to show their support, under the banner NO PASARAN banner and the new posters (photo # 26 to 29).
Photo #26 – An shot from above, taken by Alexandros Katsis, one of the photographers of the social movement in Exarcheia, from the top floor of the Notara 26, Monday at 18 hours.
Photo #27 – As night falls, more and more people arrive and there is not enough room inside. A undeclared demonstration will go to the square.
Photo #28 – “SOLIDARITY WITH THE SQUATS, SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON” (Notara 26)
Photo #29 – “DON’T TOUCH THE SQUATS” (Notara 26)
Then an improvised demonstration moved towards the central square of the neighbourhood, attracting more and more people. More than 1000 people in total, despite the sharp drop in population of the neighbourhood in August (as everywhere else in Athens). There, the protesters sang their revolt in front of cops more and more numerous and equipped. And finally, some comrades managed to hang a banner “You can not evict a movement” on the facade of Spirou Trikoupi, walled up like its neighbor, the squat Transito at number 15 (photos # 30 at 34).
Photo #30 – The protesters sing their revolt in front of over-equipped cops who receive reinforcements. The smoke begins to spread in Exarcheia …
Photo #31 – In front of the crowd (the number of people was well over 1000 at the height of the evening), a young woman sits at the head, on before the cops who threaten to charge (but who will not).
Photo #32 – An image that is, at the moment, touring the Internet in Greece. A girl intervenes at the risk of a police charge. The central square of Exarcheia is behind her.
Photo #33 – Finally, some comrades manage to hang a banner “You can not evict a movement” on the facade of Spirou Trikoupi.
Photo #34 – The Transito squat, at number 15 of Spirou Trikoupi Street, was also walled up during the day.
During the night, several reprisal actions immediately took place in Greece, for example at the local New Democrat MP (the party of Mitsotakis) in Patras. Red paint and a tag: “Paws off, do not touch the occupations! NO PASARAN!” as an “answer” for the “defense of Exarcheia” (photo # 35).
Photo #35 – Among the night retaliations for the “Exarcheia defense”, red paint on the local of the New Democrat MP (the party of Kyriakos Mitsotakis) in Patras, and a tag: “Paws off, do not touch to occupations! NO PASARAN!”
Simultaneously, in France, posters supporting Exarcheia were raised in several cities, including La Réole near Bordeaux (photo # 36).
Photo #36 – Posters supporting Exarcheia raised in the night from Monday to Tuesday at La Réole (near Bordeaux).
The next morning, banners were hoisted in several cities: Ferns, Madrid, Rome, Berlin, Vienna, Chicago, Saillans, even in the occupied forest of Osterholz in Wuppertal, Germany, not to mention dozens of photos of support that we were spontaneously sent by many companions of struggles, sometimes with their children (photos # 37 to 42).
Photo #37 – Support from Fougères, Brittany.
Photo #38 – Support from the busy Osterholz Forest in Wuppertal, Germany.
Photo #39 – Support from Madrid.
Photo #40 – Support from Vienna, Austria.
Photo #41 – Dozens of support photos were also sent to us by fellow comrades, sometimes with their children. Here, comrades from Martigues who helped us prepare the solidarity convoy last February to Exarcheia.
Photo #42 – The collective of the “tour du peuple” in the region of Saillans, from which comrades have already come in convoys.
In Athens and elsewhere in Greece, the meetings have multiplied despite the month of August and there are more and more people. Actions are being prepared even in some distant cities. In Athens, a large gathering will take place in Exarcheia this Saturday at noon. And a very large demonstration will take place on September 14, with probably a lot of people.
The government wants to evacuate the anarchists and other revolutionaries of the neighborhood? It will have difficulty in doing so, because Exarcheia is also Rouvikonas and other less known groups, but all determined to defend themselves. And there are above all other rebels in other neighbourhoods who do not agree with the caprices of the prince.
The State and Fascists Want to Expel Migrants? It could also be complicated: arrivals on the east coast of the Aegean are so numerous that we have not seen this since 2016. Moreover, power knows it because it has just piled up 21,000 migrants in the eastern Aegean islands, including 9,300 in the grim Moria camp (Lesbos) where several refugees have died of ill-treatment in recent months.
Worse still, the State has placed 600 migrant minors isolated in a so-called 150-seat specialised camp, still on the island of Lesbos. Living conditions are so harsh in this closed and cramped camp that fights often break out. One of them, Sunday, saw the death of an Afghan teenager. He wanted to escape the horror of his country of birth and finally died at the age of 15 in a closed camp designed by the European Union in Greece (we remember the passage of Bernard Cazeneuve and his officials and technicians in Lesbos in 2016).
Fascism is not dead with the disappearance of Golden Dawn. It is alive and well. And it decided to take revenge, in Greece, against the rise of anti-authoritarian utopias in recent years and the exemplary reception of refugees by the social movement, much better than by the State.
It is therefore much more than the evacuation of a single neighborhood in Europe that threatens to occur, but also the confrontation of two diametrically opposed visions of the world.
NO PASARAN!
Yannis Youlountas