Athens: Open Discussion of Bouboulinas squatters with the neighbours

As an open structure and community, aimed at strengthening and developing the co-organization of our daily life and common struggles, we invite all residents of this neighbourhood and beyond to join us in putting our visions into practice. In the end it is everyone’s responsibility to take sides either with the word of community and of free self-organization or with the side of fascism and repression.

We are living in a time of war. Terror, poverty, political and economic violence, those are the consequences. By closing borders, persecuting and massacring at the borders, and mass incarceration and isolation into concentration camps with no prospect of freedom, Europe is waging a war against migrants.

Since February 2019, a mass eviction operation of squats has began, with the migrant squat Arachovis 44 in Exarchia being the first one to be evicted. At 11/4, at 6 in the morning, an army of cops evicts the housing squats Azadi and New Babylon, from where 120 people are detained. Just one week later, another operation takes place against the migrant squat Clandestina, and the anarcho-feminist squat Cyclope.

During the operations, the police violently and forcefully entered people’s homes in the early morning, kicking in doors and entering people’s rooms with weapons. After arresting residents, including crying children trembling in fear, and taking them away to police stations and prisons, the police proceeds to enter their homes once again, humiliating the residents further by throwing their belongings into disarray. [Read More]

Athens: Reoccupation of Bouboulinas 42. Call to solidarity gathering

Solidarity Gathering now in front of the reoccupied building on Bouboulinas 42

Since February ‘19, an operation has begun of mass evacuation of squats, beginning with the migrant housing squat Arachovis 44 in Exarchia. On 11/4 at 6 in the morning an army of cops evacuate the housing squats Azadi and New Babylon, from where 120 people are detained. Only a week later on 18/4 another operation takes place to evacuate the migrant housing squat Clandestina and Cyclope.

We understand this attack on all fronts against the squats and self-organized structures, with Exarchia at its centre, as an attack that serves the media profile of state and government, so as to appear as guarantor of security, law and order, and of the interestes of bosses and ladlords. The operations against the housing squats were accompanied by house raids in places for which the cops had information about drug dealing, so that all this may be presented as an operation against drugs. The result of these operations is that many of the squat residents are now imprisoned in the hellholes of the state, while the rest are left homeless.

This operation is taking place at a time with very specific characteristics. The total isolation and trap that migrants experience in greec -and in exarchia those who don’t have papers- sooner or later will fuel social eruptions. Either in the form of Eidomenis and Diavata, that is of the violent assertion that the borders be abolished, or in the form of self-organized struggles, such as housing squats. At the same time, the intensification of contradictions is reinforced by the big heads of the e.u.: the evictions of families from the homes provided by ngos is imminent, since the big capital considers that its high time these people enter the labour market, ideal flesh for the slave trade of capitalism. [Read More]

Athens: Solidarity action for the evicted squats

In the morning hours of April 19th we attacked with fire the Ministry of Culture in Exarchia. This attack was pitched, because Clandestina, the squat housing migrants, which was evicted in the morning of 18 april, is owned by the Ministry of Culture. That same morning the anarchofeminist squat Cyclopi was evicted as well. A few days ago, squats housing migrants such as Azadi, New Babylon and Arachovis 44 (with single men) were also evicted.

As for Exarchia, the strategy of gentrification has already started and the evictions (or the demolitions) of squats, the ban for anti-authoritarian events at Strefi hill, the AirBnB’s that keep popping up, the upcoming metro station in the area, the green economy that is spreading rapidly, the cops that are permanently guarding the area overall, are parts of the visible part of the “invisible” war that has been declared by state and capital.

In the network of the metropolis the most totalitarian human tendencies are expressed through relationships. Only target: the accumulation of capital from every possible production field, from every “innovative” consummation field. And Exarchia couldn’t get away from this plan. The capitalist invasion is war. And this war, besides the consciously- politicized subjects, aims the people that are not considered productive and exploitable, such as migrants without papers, “illegal” street vendors, expropriators and substance users. We, by practically showing our solidarity, take position in this war, choose to stand by to every oppressed person and to remind the state that no attack and no eviction will stay unanswered. [Read More]

Athens: Protest camp in front of Greek parliament after 4 evictions in 8 days

Yesterday [April 18] Greek police evicted the Clandestina refugee squat [pictured] and the queer feminist Cyclopi squat. One week before cops evicted the Azadi and Babylon refugee squats. Yesterday afternoon refugees have build up a protest camp in front of Greek parliament at Syntagma square to protest against the evictions.

The cops came in the very early morning hours to evict Clandestina refugee squat yesterday. At the same time they evicted Cyclopi. With 4 evictions in just 8 days, more than 300 people are homeless now.

Yesterday afternoon a group of about 70 refugees went to Syntagma square in Athens and started a protest camp in front of Greek parliament. The refugees demand housing, many of them are homeless after the evictions of the past 9 days.
[Read More]

Athens (Greece): Occupied gym evicted and demolished

On Tuesday morning [July 17th, 2018] a bulldozer (with agreement of the owner of course) demolished squat in Exarchia, Athens, which was acting as the only occupied gym in the city. No one was arrested. Workers worked on the building while riot police was on alert and protecting the area. [Read More]

Athens: March 24, demonstration to defend the squats community of Koukaki & in solidarity with squats & places of struggle

24 of March, Saturday, 12:00 in Paidiki Hara, Koukaki we are calling comrades, friends, from Athens and all over Greece, all of ages, genders, persons who work, studying, or are unemployed, with animals, with their music instruments and their expression means, to walk together.

Almost a year ago, a new project bloomed in the neighborhood of Koukaki. We created a community of housing and struggling squats. We occupied three empty buildings which were getting rotten at Matrozou 45, Panaitoliou 21 and Arvali 3. We rebuilt them through a lot of work to become sustainable, to become places of gathering and communal organization. Some us them are living here permanently.

We are coming from different places of the planet, co-exist with dogs and cats, creating relations of solidarity and freedom. This community, as its buildings is opened to the people through discussions in public spaces, projections, music events, café-bar, presentations of theories, and games with children. We have create structures for common use like library-reading space, compost on the Filopappou hill, public bathroom-laundry and free shop to exchange clothes, laboratory of conserves production and urban gardening. From the very start, we knew that freedom can be claimed only through struggle. Our community is part of the anti-authoritarian/anarchist/libertarian movement and participates to the defending of the squats, in struggle against state repression, prisons and detention centers, against patriarchy, fascism, destruction of nature and stand in solidarity with migrants. [Read More]

Thessaloniki: March 10, No Nation, No Homeland, Fire to the States

About our participation in the mass anti-nationalist demonstration in Salonika on the 10th of March 2018, in the clashes against the repressive forces of the state that followed, and in the attack against the Turkish consulate and the cops that guard it:

On the 10th of March 2018, we participated in a mass demonstration in the city of Salonika, responding to a call across Greece and the Balkans. On this day thousands of people came together on the streets with a common stance against fascism and nationalism. Every block in the demonstration lent a different focus to the manifestation. Some blocks expressed primarily their solidarity to Libertatia, the squat that was burned down by fascists during the recent nationalistic manifestations over the naming of a neighboring country. Others stressed nationalism and patriotism as foundations of the greek society. Others stressed patriarchy as a structural element of the nation-state. There was also internationalist presence from the Balkans. This mass demo was well and strongly guarded against possible police or fascist attacks. A big part of this gathering understood that the struggle against fascism is one and the same with the struggle against the state. [Read More]

Rebuild Libertatia

On January 21, 2018, a series of fascist attacks on emancipatory structures of the left-wing radical movement took place in the Greek city of Thessaloniki. Tens of thousands of fascists, nationalists, patriots and clericals had gathered to give new impetus to the long dispute over the name of Macedonia and the legacy of Alexander the Great. Nationalists in Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) claim the name Macedonia in equal measure. Both states provoke themselves again and again for years, i.e. by naming historical places or airports after Alexander the Great. Since 2014, there have been no negotiations between the two countries.

Nevertheless, an agreement emerged lately.
At least on the Greek side, however, the nationalist movement wanted to stifle such an agreement, and therefore mobilized since weeks to the first nationalistic mass demonstration since 1992 in Thessaloniki, the capital of the northern Greek region of Macedonia. [Read More]

Thessaloniki: Libertatia occupied centre burned by fascists

Members of a mass nationalist rally in Thessaloniki attacked and burned a squatted social centre Libertatia in the city today, though fortunately no injuries have been reported. The building was however completely destroyed in the fire, despite of residents from a neighbouring block of flats and the fire brigade trying to extinguish it.
The two-storey building was squatted in 2008, originally as an immigrant social centre. Later it evolved to a general social centre used by a number or groups. Towards the end of its existence it was used mainly as a housing squat.
“It is a historical building: one of the few that survived the nazis but unfortunately was destroyed by their grandchildren” commented one Greek anarchist, who prefers not to be named.
Initially antifa campaigners had thought they were getting the best of the day, as all fascist propaganda had been removed from walls in the city ahead of the protest, however the “Macedonia for Macedonia” gathering eventually swelled to, by police counts, around 100,000 people including a large number of fascist thugs.
Starting under a statue of Alexander the Great, a violent wing of the rally first headed towards social centre The School, but were repelled by anarchist fighters defending the space. They then moved on to the Libertatia, which was relatively undefended, and set fire to it. The listed building has been totally destroyed. [Read More]

Greece: Gathering of Solidarity to the Termita Squat

In the morning of 04/01 in Volos, there was a coordinated operation to evict the Termita Squat. The eviction was made by the University of Thessaly and the police force of Volos and other forces of the region. During the eviction 3 comrades were arrested and released some hours later with the accusation of disturbance of domestic peace and the 6 buildings were demolished right after the operation.

We put here the text of Termita Squat that explains why it was targeted by the state and the university of Thessaly:

Squats are our liberated grounds, liberated from state control, in order to house our needs and desires; they are the structures which connect the struggle to society, which embody the vision of freedom and solidarity. They are meeting points for all those who question state and capitalism, who choose to collectivize outside the institutional framework. They are the ground on which communities of struggle are built, on terms of participation and equality. All this means that squats are not spaces of an alternative lifestyle, but a refuge in the midst of a war, for all those who are besieged by the world of authority. Especially for migrants, outside of self organized communities, the state maintains a special regime of repression: persecution, incarceration and deportation. [Read More]

Athens: Requesting Funds for an Arrestee

For almost 10 years the 6th of December has marked the day a 15 year old boy named Alexis Grigoropoulos was murdered by police in the Exarchia neighborhood of Athens, Greece. His murder was the spark that ignited a wild fire of insurrection across the country in December 2008 that
caught the world’s attention and inspired general revolt for years to come; both in Greece and beyond its’ borders. Every year the memory of Alexis lives on through the resistance of courageous individuals coming together to fight the state and its bastard police in the streets of Exarchia (where Alexis was killed, and where police are not welcome).
For more information on the 6th of December and its history please look here.

[Read More]

Berlin: Solidarity with Gare Squat and arrested comrades in Athens

On Sunday, the 26th of November, OPKE units and plain cloth officers entered the Gare-Squat in Exarchia. Although there was resistance from the inside, the eviction was completed in the afternoon with four people being arrested, who were in the house at that time.

The eviction of Gare is directly connected with the attempt of the state to raise the pressure on the resistance before December 6th and to occupy strategic points. The 6th of December is the anniversary of the murder of Alexis Grigoropoulos, who was shot by a cop nine years ago in Exarchia. Since then, every year on that day it comes to riots and fights with the cops, where they try to take over the neighbourhood confronting a massive resistance, terrorizing it with chemicals and detentions.

As active friends and comrades of Rigaer Straße in Berlin, we are in solidarity with the fight for Exarchia, as a self-organized and ungovernable district. Our aspirations, our concerns and straits, but especially our hopes connect us in the fight for a life without authorities. The Gare-Squat, as an active part in this fight, plays an important role for the local structures with an international orientation and their history is our history. Because of this reason, the eviction and the permanent siege of the house, as well as the daily police-terror, is an attack on us. [Read More]