Athens: Call for international solidarity for a trial on September 18

On September 18, the trial against two comrades from Berlin and two comrades from Athens will take place in Evelpidon Court in Athens. On November 26, 2017, the four persons were arrested during the eviction of Gare Squat, in the Athens district of Exarcheia. Among other charges, they are accused of trespassing, attempted serious bodily harm, refusal of forensic identification and possession of explosive materials and explosive bombs. This eviction was the first of three in which the four comrades were detained for 4 days. They were released on conditions or bail and now, almost three years later, have to appear in court. [Read More]

Athens: Update from the trial for the eviction of Gare squat

Three were the accused at yesterday’s trial for the police operation of the 26th of August 2019, when the new wave of state attacks against squats begun. The charges were those relevant with illegal occupation, in another words the offense to private property, and the new package of prosecutions against squatters which is theft of water and electricity.

The accused, each with their own speech , defended the moral right to the use of an abandoned building for social and political work, on top of the “housing needs” and they denied entirely the responsibility of the charges . They referred to the open procedures, events, political and cultural which Gare squat housed, and to the public bath which was operating daily and in a self organized way by its users , the migrants, homeless and excluded. [Read More]

Athens: “The best days have yet to come”

On the 2nd of February we took the initiative to burglarize our own house. Gare is not just for the members of Gare, it belongs to the entire movement. We hung a banner in solidarity with the free spaces and in solidarity with D. of Gare banner saying “Power to the wanted Comrade D. Chatsivachiliadi, Solidarity to the Squats, The State is the Only Terrorist”. We do this action in solidarity and also as an act of resistance: our way of fiercely protecting our ideas, our lives, our spaces, our houses, and our futures.

On 26th of August, Gare was evicted and bricked up and was one of the first in a new wave of repression against the free spaces. Gare was one of the first targeted because the job of the state is to smash the most radical parts of the movement in order to clear the way for further repression and pacification. The state is trying through law and police oppression to put a straight jacket on the furious body of the oppressed peoples. In October, after a robbery action which led to the finding of a weapons cache, including the weapons of Revolutionary Self-Defense. D. was forced on the run and made a fugitive by the state. [Read More]

Athens: Announcement from Gare squat. Call for vigilance against the mafia branch of repression

Gare_squat_Kallidromiou_74_AthensYesterday, Wednesday, May 24th, Gare squat was the target of organized thugs. At midday, during clashes with MAT forces around Exarchia Square, there was a confrontation of protesters with a shopkeeper who tried to prevent a barricade-defense being set up against cops. This particular shopkeeper is known in the neighborhood of Exarchia as being connected with circles of protection rackets, prostitution and drugs, and with state security. A group from an adjacent movement space rushed to defend him. The incident with a portion of those present athte barricade, with this group has been the reason for GARE to attribute responsibility for these events as a whole.

This particular group has been denounced in open movement processes in the recent past by a multitude of collectives, for authoritarian attempts and military-style enforcement against self-organized efforts. The group supposedly acts on behalf of movement spaces and forms. But these, although they have been called upon to denounce the actions of this group, are silent instead.

Immediately after the incident, this specific group along with another bunch of thugs gathered menacingly outside the GARE squat. This larger collection included members of gangs who sell protection to the area’s shops, and who have been involved in attacks and injuries against radicals in the past. After they all had gone, later some of the original problematic group came to our assembly and said they would turn against our squat if we do not identify and deliver to them within 24 hours the people who confronted them at the events earlier in the square. [Read More]