In a move unprecedented in times of “democracy”, the Greek government raided and evicted today, 27 July in the early morning, three squats in the city of Thessaloniki, which were being used as shelter for refugees.
The message the left wing government wants to transmit is that there is no space for solidarity and self-managed responses to the ordeal of the refugees, only the state’s charity and the confinement, marginalisation and selective deportation carried out by a government that follows to the letter the criminal immigration policies of the EE.
The eviction comes only a couple of days after the end of the No Border Camp in Thessaloniki, which united thousands of activists from throughout the continent to protest these very policies.
One of the squats, Nikis, has been a long standing squat in Thessaloniki, which was opened up to refugee families with the onset of the refugee crisis. Another one, Orfanotrofeio, was (re)occupied last year with the express purpose of giving shelter to immigrant and refugees in a self-managed way. The third one was occupied only a few days ago in the very centre of the city for the same purpose.
Orfanotrofeio was evicted and immediately demolished. Under the rubble were buried tons of medicine, food, clothes and first necessity items that were destined for refugee families, as well as the occupants’ personal belongings. [Read More]
Thessaloniki: Squats raided and evicted
Greece: Exarchia Calling
This statement is based on our personal and shared collective experience of the current situation of anarchist struggle in Greece, Athens and Exarchia. We did not neither had the time to consult and agree with the older Greek crowd of anarchists and radicals, and is only our sentiment as mostly international people with little experience and limited knowledge of the dynamics within the militant crowds.
We are an ad hoc collective of international squatters in Exarchia who just opened a new occupation in a lofty house at 119 Zoodorou Pigis, three weeks ago, pitted together by the necessity of developing a place where to live and organize, with the desire to spread anarchy against a ruthless State at the very entrance of Fortress Europe, and its armies of civil and uniformed minions. This squat ’til now has been an awesome adventure filled with creative energies and has helped several anarcho street travelers as well as refugees to have a stay, be a stake up against society and in the process build ties with new people, something that had become nearly impossible these days in Athens due to not just State repression but also the internal politics of the well-known squats and the demotivation/demobilization of many anarchists in Exarchia. [Read More]
Calais (France): Newly opened squat evicted
A recently squatted building was publicly opened this morning in Calais, on rue des Prêtres. The building was an abandoned homeless shelter capable of accommodating at least 50 people. People started gathering outside the building around 11 o’clock this morning in support of the people already barricaded inside. A neighbour-collaborator called the cops, even going as far as to offer them a hand when they arrived. By around 2.00 some 12 vans of riot cops had the building surrounded, and those inside had already climbed up on the roof. Around 4.30, they started pushing away the people outside and smashing down the front door of the house with a battering ram. The deputy mayor of Calais who’s name isn’t important enough to publish was holding the battering ram together with the riot cops. Not managing to break down the door, they smashed in a window and opened the front door from the inside. [Read More]
Calais (France): New Occupation
For years, the government and the prefecture of Calais have been destroying living places. For years, people in Calais have been assaulted by police and fascists and have had their belongings destroyed . For years, people are forced to live in fear and insecurity because they are foreigners. [Read More]
Athens: Announcement of the occupation at Gini Building in Athens Polytechnic
On Monday afternoon 29/02/2016, after an initiative of Themistocleous 58 squat and with collaboration with solidaritarians, we occupied the Gini building at Athens Polytechnic, in order to provide shelter to refugee families that at this moment are being tossed at Victoria Square.
We invite groups, collectives and individuals to support effectively the occupation for the purpose of turning this building to a center of struggle and resistance against the states and their borders.
DIRECT ACTION AGAINST THE STATE AND THE CAPITAL!
NAR TAWRA AL HORIYA | FIRE INSURRECTION FREEDOM! [Read More]
Greece: The self-organized refugee squat Orfanotrofio in Thessaloniki
The following audio is a recording made by activists of the self-organized refugee squat Orfanotrofio in Thessaloniki, Greece. This material has been made available to us by our comrades at Crna Luknja, the anarchist radio show at Radio Student in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.
The comrades of Orfanotrofio tell about the conditions that led to squatting this place in Thessaloniki in the beginning of last December and about their struggle to keep the place despite of all obstacles. [Address of refugee squat Orfanotrofio: Grigoriou Lampraki 186, Thessaloniki. Bus 14/14a at bus station “Orfanotrofio”].
This is on the self-organized refugee squat Orfanotrofio in Thessaloniki. (Length: 5:30 min). You can download the audio at: archive.org (wav | mp3 | ogg).
Here you can listen to it directly:
[Read More]
Thessaloniki: solidarity demo for migrants housing squat Orfanotrofio
Photos from yesterday’s solidarity demonstration that was organized by the migrants housing squat Orfanotrofio in the neighborhood of Toumba (Thessaloniki – Greece).
Greece: The occupied refugee center Notara26 in Athens
We had the opportunity of making an interview with two activists of the occupied and self-organized refugee center Notara26 in Athens, Greece. The comrades tell us about the origins and ideas of their center as well as of the anarchist influence and importance of the Exarchia neighborhood. They also comment on the topic of governmental (Syriza) policies and the difference of their work to such policies. And they also mention problems encountered in this project.
Some more interviews with anarchist organizations and anarchist projects will follow soon as part of our new series on anarchism and social struggles in the Mediterranean. This is part is on the occupied refugee center Notara26 in Athens, Greece.
Length: 12:36 min
You can download the audio at: archive.org (wav | mp3 | ogg).
Here you can listen to it directly:
[Read More]
Thessaloniki: a visit at the Orfanotrofio squat
On 26th December we visited the Orfanotrofio Squat in Thessaloniki’s Toumba district. A place that was squatted and is now administrated by refugees and the “Anti-authoritarian Space” [1] as well as other active people from Thessaloniki.
About the history
The plan to collectively organize a project like this emerged in September 2015. Connections and contacts between refugees and activists from Thessaloniki were established through the “No border kitchen” in Eidomeni. Together opportunities for meeting and living spaces were sought. Because the border closed three weeks ago (see also part 2 of our report) the creation of a self-organized space got necessary. For many people it became obvious that immediate action was inevitable. Consequently refugees that were rejected at the Macedonian border squatted together with people of the „Anti-authoritarian Space“, the so called ‘Orfanotrofio’. The church owned property was already squatted once in 2013.Three weeks ago, priests together with the cops, threatened to evict the place which did not happen yet. An anarchist comrade estimates the situation right now to be relatively relaxed. According to her, the cops have no reason to evict the place, because there seems to be no apparent political perspective nor will to create spaces for refugees and other socially marginalized groups. Nevertheless, it remains a squatted place and therefore is never absolutely safe. [Read More]
Athens: Housing Squat for Refugees, Notara 26
Produced by Elena Askløf and Peter Laugesen / Our Europe. [Read More]
Paris: Against states and their borders
This text on the wave of sans-papiers occupations in Paris tells important lessons for those involved in migrant struggles on the strategies used by liberal democratic states to contain them. If we anticipate these moves, how can we pre-empt them? And what strategic targets are based near you?
Original French text in Lucioles #23 with the title ‘Against states and their borders: revolution’; roughly translated by Rabble.
[Read More]
Radar Online Agenda
