On July 8th, 2019, the New Democracy government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis assumed power in Greece, after campaigning on a promise to ‘clean up’ the central Athens neighbourhood of Exarcheia, and ‘take it back’ from the anarchists. Since then, the Greek state has launched a renewed attack against the anarchist and self-organized migrant movements, targeting squats and promising future raids. Against this threat, Greek anarchists have responded with characteristic resolve and determination.
Featuring interview with Pangiotis Varthalis of the squat Lelas Karagiannis 37
Translated by Boubouras (Act For Freedom Now) [Read More]
Athens: Hands off Exarcheia. New Democracy’s War on Anarchists
Rotterdam: Illegal eviction currently at De la Reystraat
Since 15:30 today there is a big police operation at De la Reystraat in the Tweebosbuurt. One squat is threatened with illegal eviction again. You can join there to just witness the scene, it would be really supportive!
Kraaken in ze abyss!
Contact: squat-vestia [at] riseup [dot] net
https://squ.at/r/7o21
http://tweebosbuurt.noblogs.org/
OpenPGP Signature : C3E3 8AEA FB8A 58DD 5ED8 11CF 956E ADCD 4837 E212 [Read More]
Pola de Lena (Asturias): The Civil Guard violently evicts the Palaciu de Ronzón
We spoke with a member of the El Palaciu Collective, which has been occupying the Palaciu de Ronzón for nine months, violently evicted this morning by the Guardia Civil.
This morning agents of the Guardia Civil have violently proceeded to evict the Palaciu de Ronzón, an old squatted manor house in Lena (Asturias) that belonged to the powerful family of the nobility Bernaldo de Quirós. During the eviction, two activists have been arrested and are still in the premises of the Civil Guard. At least one of the people arrested has broken his ankle and has had to be transferred to receive medical attention. In addition, numerous identifications have been made and another person has been detained, although she has not been arrested.
From La Haine we have been able to speak with Juan, one of the members of the Colectivo El Palaciu who had been occupying the building for 9 months, while they were gathered in front of the barracks in Pola de Lena demanding the freedom of the detained people. [Read More]
Rotterdam: letter from the Tweebosbuurt
Some inhabitants wrote a public letter to call to support Anton. Note that it is based on their current understanding of the situation.
“Hello, we’re a group of inhabitants of the neighborhood of Tweebosbuurt in Rotterdam, Netherlands. We’re organizing against it’s demolition and the gentrification of the District for several months. The situation were actually in our favor, the court made a decision against the demolition. However, during the past few days, police of Rotterdam started an awful harassment campaign against the inhabitants of the neighborhood. 25 people were arrested in the past few days, 19 activists supporting the local struggle and 6 other inhabitants during “random” identity controls. A police car is driving by our street two or three time every hour, day and night, and they ask ID documents to people walking in the streets of the neighborhood. If that person “looks like an activist” or is not able to immediately provide ID documents they’re immediately locked up for several hours. Several people (at least 3) got beaten up in their cells. One of them (EU citizen) got evicted of the country after 30 hours of custody because she was walking her dog without a leach in the neighborhood. Another one is still in detention and is facing deportation in a country where he’s danger, and is not provided any medical care in detention despite several broken bones during his arrest. [Read More]
Rotterdam: Alarming situation in Tweebosbuurt
The situation in Tweebosbuurt suddenly changed.
Two days ago, one of the squat got illegally evicted and we discovered that Vestia, the company owning the buildings we squat, illegally added new documents to the court case against one of the squats in the last moment so we cannot defend from them. We also heard that someone from the neighborhood got attacked tonight in the streets with a metal pipe because he was parking his bike close to the squat that was evicted a few days ago. Hopefully he’s not hurt. The attackers ran always after a single hit. In the same time, we’re facing an awful harassment campaign by the police. A car is assigned to the neighborhood day and night, and they control everyone of us any time we walk in the neighborhood. Some inhabitants are almost locked up inside because of police harassment. Someone have been even arrested twice in two days. In addition to the 19 arrested during the eviction two days ago, 5 other people living in the neighborhood got arrested during ID controls without legal motives already. Another person is missing, probably also arrested. We don’t know for sure because police refuses to give us any information. Three of them were injured during the arrest or during custody. [Read More]
Rotterdam: Two other evictions and 19 new arrests in Tweebosbuurt
Yesterday, one apartment was evicted by the police on Tweebosbuurt. On their way back, the police stopped in front of one of the squats in the neighborhood and tried to get in. This place is protected by house peace and an ongoing legal procedure.
The inhabitants went outside to talk to the police and ask them to stop. The police refused to give the reason of their presence, and asked for everyone’s ID (some people were even still inside) without legal justifications. Two employees from Vestia were with them, laughing at the situation. Some inhabitants refused this abusive and illegal control. Somebody was arrested. They brought them at Zuidplein Police Station for a few hours, and physically forced them to give fingerprints and took pictures of their face. They got out of the police station 4 hours latter and came home safely.
We though it was going to calm down, but we were wrong. Today, we saw the neighborhood police going back and forth Tweebosstraat controlling people’s ID. One of the inhabitants rang to the door of one of the squat and got arrested almost immediately while he was walking in. Some people went downstairs immediately and asked the police the reason for this arrest. They wouldn’t say. They asked for everyone’s ID again, without any legitimate motive. People insisted to know the reason of the arrest, and they answered “You don’t have anything to do with this kind of people, go home and let us do our job”. Most likely, this was a racist statement because the person that was arrested was obviously not Dutch. They threatened that person of being “removed” of the country. [Read More]
Athens: Matrozou 45 and Panaitoliou 21 resquatted et again evicted
We are tearing down walls for freedom
The recapture of Matrozou 45 and Panaitoliou 21 is an act against the fear imposed by state repression. It is a signal of resistance and a rallying cry for escalation. Let us not leave our neighborhoods and nature in the heat of development plunder. Do not accept the displacement of our lives. Keep the parks, squares and hills free. Let us oppose the mercenaries of the state. Let us intensify the struggles against the exploitation of labor. Let us completely take up the struggle for survival and freedom. The struggle is neither legal nor illegal.
Together with dozens of anarchist / antisocial companions, we are taking back the community’s homes in order to meet housing needs that would not have been possible without this occupation, to re-open solidarity structures and re-establish free-living relationships without hierarchy, reopen homes in the neighborhood and in the movement with events, celebrations and organization. [Read More]
Greece: Repression, eviction and dispossession in New Democracy’s Greece
The latest attack on the squatting movement in Greece is the preamble for a massive operation of housing dispossession by the right-wing government.
Dimitris Indares was still in his pyjamas when the police knocked on his door in the neighborhood of Koukaki, in Athens, in the early hours of Wednesday, December 18. Not long after that, he was lying down on the floor of his home’s terrace, with a Special Operations policeman’s boot on his head. He and his two adult sons were beaten up, handcuffed, blindfolded and taken under police custody. What was Indares’ crime? He had refused to let the police go through his home without a warrant in its operation to evict the squat that was right next door. [Read More]
Helsinki: Eviction at squat Kattila!
This morning around 9am police invaded squat Kattila. Many comrades were arrested at the house. Most were already released before noon, but one comrade is still in custody.
This attack against free spaces – committed by the police as soon as they got over their overfilled stomaches from christmas – reveals that the state doesn’t care about “christmas peace” or it’s declarations. We don’t care about christian social peace either, but at least we don’t hypocritically pretend to do so.
All kinds of solidarity are warmly welcome! [Read More]
Greece: Merry Crisis and a Happy New Fear
Repression and resistance in Greece, december 2019.
Continuing our coverage of the struggle in Greece between the new repressive New Democracy government and the longstanding anarchist movement, we present the following report, drawing on eyewitness accounts from street mobilizations and the defense of several squats. The Greek state continues to throw its full weight behind an all-out assault on refugees, anarchists, and student movements, encouraging gratuitous police brutality against both human beings and their animal companions while seeking to exonerate right-wing murderers including members of the Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn who faced conspiracy charges in the murder of Pavlos Fyssas and the police officer who murdered the 15-year-old anarchist Alexis Grigoropoulos 11 years ago this month.
We hope to inspire international solidarity actions with the movement in Greece and to equip readers for action and analysis in other contexts in an era in which state violence and grassroots resistance are escalating worldwide. The struggle continues. [Read More]
Athens : No Pasaran anarchists react to the evictions
The greek government has gone into war with anarchists and anti authoritarians, following the end of a 15 days ultimatum issued by the Ministry of Public Order, towards the dozens of political and refugee squats across Greece (some of them more than 30 years old), threatening them with violent evictions by the riot police and police special forces, if they did not evacuate within the deadline. The deadline ended on Thursday night on the 5th of December 2019, a political decision by the greek State aiming to agitate and create an “explosive atmosphere”.
Following the first wave of attacks and evictions, mainly against squats housing refugees during the fall, the second wave of attacks has just begun, this time against political squats and social centers. Coinciding with the arrest of antifascists and the proposed judicial acquittal of neonazi leaders in the Golden Dawn trial, the right wing greek government and its self proclaimed socialist Minister of Public Order have proceeded with the eviction of Villa Kouvelou in Marousi on tuesday 17 december, while another three squats (Matrozou 45, Panaitoliou 21 and Arvali 3) have been evicted today 18 december in Koukaki, following a massive police operation, that terrorized a whole neighborhood with police brutality, attacking people living in adjoining houses that were no squats. Brutal images of greek SWAT policemen having their boots on people’s heads on the ground and a mother bound on the floor of her terrace with a hood on her head, reminiscing of Abu Ghraib torture images, have been circulated in the media. [Read More]
Brighton: As council seals arches, where do the people go?
On Thursday 12th and Friday 13th several arches and shelters above Madeira Drive, at Black Rock, spaces which had housed a community of people over the summer were sealed off with metal grilles — the question has to be where are those people now? [UPDATE the grilles were taken down again a week later]
This summer I was really shocked by the number of homeless people in Brighton. It was much higher than it used to be. Despite a controversial official survey which said numbers had dropped by half, the evidence from my own eyes was that I saw many more homeless people on my way into town than in previous years. There are also many people living in the parks and on the beach. There have been encampments all over town, for example Hove Lawns. Now it’s getting colder, the camps are disappearing and so are the people. Where have they gone? Each person sleeping rough has their own reasons for doing so, maybe some have chosen to move on because of the weather, but what about the others?
[Read More]
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