The Exarchia neighborhood in Athens in resistance
- On 26 August last, the Greek police took the Exarchia district of Athens by force, evicting four occupied buildings and evicting 146 people, of whom 143 were refugees. The neighborhood has been militarized since then, and the clashes between activists and the police are ongoing.
Tension increases in a neighborhood in the heart of Athens. Exarchia has been in police custody since the raid that took place a week ago, and neighbors are suffering constant repression. To illustrate the magnitude of the repression, several facts have been set as an example through the Enough 14 portal.
On August 29, just three days after the police took the neighborhood by force, riot police raided a concert organized by several publishers and libraries, in which they beat individuals armed with tear gas, grenades and porras. They then headed to the occupied area of K*Vox, in Exarchia Square, where they launched tear gas. Police aggression caused several injuries and neighbors reported that aggression to the K*Vox building endangered the lives of several people, such as the neighbor with respiratory failure or the baby who has just been born.
On August 31, more than 2,000 people gathered in a massive mobilization to condemn the attacks on the neighborhood and show their solidarity with the individuals and spaces that suffered them. In the demonstration of strength, the neighbor showed that he was willing to resist:
On the same day, after the mobilization, the police once again attacked the neighbours. The attendees of the event have denounced that they began to charge people, targeting people with arms in their hand.
The next day they attacked the K*Vox building “for the third time in four days,” according to Enough 14.
Waiting for an accident
The environment has become so much blackened that the belief that a disaster is occurring has spread among the neighbours. Along with the police, the violence has entered the neighborhood and over the years the tension has increased. Yannis Youlountas explained that the current situation leads many neighbours back in time, between 1985 and 2008: In 1985, police shot Michalis Kaltezas to death at the age of fifteen, and a quarter century later Alexis Grigoropoulos, also shot, at the same age as Kaltezas. The two deaths made way for violent agitations. “Today, the environment is not the same in society, but tiredness is up to the top. Something is burning,” said Youlountas. These days you have heard more than one neighbor the following sentence: “We will soon have a death in Exarchia.”
As a sign that the atmosphere is in flux, police officers have been able to see themselves on the street with members of fascist groups.
Taken in Exarchia this morning, this photo shows a riot police officer (on the right) talking to a man wearing a t-shirt of the neo-nazi Opposta Fazione club (Rome ultras, known for their attacks on refugees).
More on the group here: https://t.co/69BqLyij9J pic.twitter.com/ej2FtckbV6
— 05.04.2019 Limited values not only have not reached limited values, but have reached high values (@yiannbab) Auisnhabere, 2019
In this regard, there have also been attacks of a fascist nature and there have been numerous incidents. A homosexual couple has been attacked shortly and the following photo depicts the violence of a police officer against a woman:
"Fascist Foot in the Door of Squats" An article from an Afed member who spends much of their time in Greece supporting migrant families. https://t.co/AoUPLcv9EP pic.twitter.com/BK5pTjTZER
— Anarchist 💣Federation ❤🖤 (@AnarchistFed) August 30, 2019
Increased repression, government strategy
This is the situation that the neighborhood has been experiencing for a week, so many activists take the streets to face the police. On Sunday night, for example, a group of people stormed the police station:
A group of 20 anarchists, attacked the military cheak point of MAT with molotovs, which is at the corner of tositsa/trikoupi streets. The attack had taken place in exarchia, which from 26th August that the evacuations of 4 squats happened. pic.twitter.com/IPxKj7Gn75
— N± Control🏴 (@nocontrolatalll) September 2, 2019
Faced with these demonstrations of resistance, the government has increased the police presence, and on Monday evening, through the television channel Ant1, announced its strategy for the future: to increase repression with the aim of emptying another eleven occupied buildings. According to Youlount, rumours indicate that among these buildings are the K*Vox and Notara 26, which have been attacked so many times in recent days. The latter is the first building occupied in the context of the refugee crisis, which has made it symbolically important in the neighborhood, according to Youlountas.
As a sign of this, the next photo. In front of the August 26 raid, people who have approached Notara to defend space 26, in front of the building:
Ez will pass!
Χα550± λ λ ωα Σ≥ ≥ Πσσσσλ λ λ ωλ/Μλ ανανανασσσσ αρναρρρρρ26@Noara26
26.8.2019 Gathering against eviction of squats.
You can't evict a movement!
Solidarity wins!
photo by Alexandros Katsis#Exarcheia_104#antireport #₡esgr pic.twitter.com/DKn1CYK1M9
— NoBorders (@Trailers_Gr) August 27, 2019
Youlountas has reported that, although the causes of the events are currently unknown, on Tuesday morning shots were fired in the neighbourhood and soon after they became aware of the presence of the military police.
Miran model neighborhood
If there is one group that has suffered severe damage during the last police intervention in Exarchia, it is that of the migrants. The neighbourhood has welcomed many migrants because of the refugee crisis, and that would be one of the key factors in understanding the interest of the Mitsotakys Government in emptying the neighbourhood. On 26 August, 143 refugees were expelled from the buildings occupied by the terrorist organization. The suspects entered the police buses and were taken to the neighborhood to learn about the situation in the country, where many are at risk of deportation.
The facts also point to the fact that this is a strategy that seeks to strongly strike the anarchist movement. Because if something has been done by Exarchia, known all over the world, it is its rebellious character. Along with Rojava and Chiapas, in the eyes of some of the few areas of resistance, autonomy and hope:
#Exarchia constitueix avui dia, conjuntament amb #Rojava i #Chiapas, a dels pocs indrets de resistèns, autonomia i esperança que son a mon every day més autoritari. Tots three indrets are troben in perill of being sclafats pels seus respectius Estats. Cal #Solidaritat! pic.twitter.com/IHYcpfGni0
— Heura Negra (@AsLLibVallcarca) August 26, 2019
In addition to destroying a model, with this strategy, which has touched Exarchia, Kyriakos Mitsosakis (Prime Minister of Greece, committed to emptying Exarchia from the election campaign) has other objectives, according to Youlount, on the one hand to seduce the right and on the other to cleanse the area that hinders the gentrification process in Athens.
"Challenges do not focus solely on the concentration of self-managed spaces, the degree of resistance to all powers and solidarity with the precarious and migrants in the defence of a single neighbourhood in Europe. No, there's a lot more at stake. Defending the exarchia is to defend our right to demonstrate that other forms are possible,” and Youlount has advanced that the next few hours will be decisive.
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