Greece: Police Occupation of Exarchia
Friday, October 09 2009 @ 10:40 AM UTC
Contributed by: Anonymous
Views: 866
Late night on Thursday, 8 October, hundreds of police descended on Exarchia, the anarchist and counterculture neighborhood of Athens, Greece, which has long been a semi-autonomous zone, and was ground zero for the insurrection that flared up in December when police killed 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos here.
Late night on Thursday, 8 October, hundreds of police descended on Exarchia, the anarchist and counterculture neighborhood of Athens, Greece, which has long been a semi-autonomous zone, and was ground zero for the insurrection that flared up in December when police killed 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos here. Police searched and questioned over 200 people, searched 16 automobiles, several motorbikes, and 26 cafes (there are many anarchist bars and cafes in the neighborhood), took 81 people to the police station, and arrested 8. Most of the arrests were for crimes of poverty and race (drug possession, hygiene violations i.e. homelessness, not having immigration documents...).
The next day, the raids and police presence continued, marking a clear change in strategy by the newly elected Socialist government. According to many anarchists here, if the Right represses the anarchists, even parts of the Left complain, and people fear a return to the dictatorship and support the anarchists. But the Left can repress the anarchists much more effectively because they can do it more silently.
Today, 9 October, the new Minister of Public Order, who some years ago was responsible for torturing suspects in order to bust and imprison several members of 17 November, says on television that the purpose of the raids is not to go after the anarchists but to arrest the vandals and hooligans and establish police authority in Exarchia. Some are seeing parallels with 1989, when police occupied Exarchia for three years after major riots, specifically harassing young people who looked different to try and end the function of the neighborhood as a gathering point for countercultural, radical, and proletarian elements.