During an anarchist march in Greece in solidarity with immigrants, cops threw stones at protesters and fascists, openly cooperating with the cops, attempted to throw molotov cocktails against the anarchists, clearly seeking to injure them. Being untrained in this traditionaly grassroots sport, the fascists instead set themselves on fire! [PHOTOS]
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This the second English briefing and focuses on the incident with the fascist and the molotov cocktail. It was publshed on UK Indymedia and www.indymedia.org:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/434085.html
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2009/07/926507.shtml
The first English briefing is also available:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1055129
Please help to translate/publicize!
SECOND ENGLISH BRIEFING:
On 7 July 2009 at 20.00 o'clock a huge anti-racist march organized by
anarchists was held in Athens downtown, the capital city of Greece,
with about 4,000-5,000 protesters, both men and women, demanding the
end of state repression against immigrants, while streets and bank ATMs
were set on fire.
Here we will concentrate on the cooperation between Greek cops and
fascists, and on the incident of fascists setting themselves on fire
while trying to injure anarchists by throwing molotovs towards them.
More information about the march in general can be found at:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/434041.html
It is a well-known and well-documented fact that Greek fascists are
supported by the Greek state and the Greek cops. Fascists and cops
cooperate together in the streets when they fight with anarchist
blocks, and stone throwing by cops and fascists against protesters is
an everyday phenomenon in Greece, together with ample amounts of tear
gas fired by the cops and knife-wielding fascists injuring comrades in
the streets whenever they manage to spot them alone and vulnerable. It
is also well-known that Greek cops are quick to fire at anyone for no
particular reason, even killing 15-year olds (as in the Alexandros
Grigoropoulos or 'Gregory' case that sparked the December 2008 revolt,
but that's only one out of many cases of cold shot murders by cops).
The majority of Greek fascists are organized in the Golden Dawn
(Chrysi Avgi, which in Greek rhymes with Chrysa Avga, meaning Golden
Eggs) political party (electoral power about 23,000 votes, but most of
them are protest votes, as their influence in Greek society is really
minimal, and their only support comes from the Greek state and the
cops). It is not a real political party, even though it participates in
elections, but rather a front organization by fascists and neonazis,
most of them being cops in the Greek police, whose objective is to
attack immigrants, the poor, anarchists, and leftists (except KKE, the
biggest 'communist' party with a stalinofascist ideology and about
428,000 votes, and its youth wing, KNE, which see no problem in
cooperating with the cops beating anarchists and other leftists without
mercy). The Greek fascists are so desperate to increase their numbers
in their disorganized and comical marches that they commonly pay petty
money to drug addicts to handle Greek flags in their marches, while
intoxicated. Yet, Greek fascists, because of their deep connections
with the Greek state apparatus and the Greek police, can be dangerous
when they confront comrades alone or in very small groups, as they
carry knifes or sometimes guns (usually their police gun, as most of
them are cops or bodyguards for politicians). Golden Dawn is not the
only fascist party, there are others, like the more powerful LAOS
(meaning People) which is openly theocratic and smaller ones composed
of right-wingers, mainly army officers, nostalgic of the Greek Regime
of the Colonels of 1967-73 (a CIA-controlled dictatorial junta who
captured the state in a coup'd'etat, with the governing dictator at the
time, Papadopoulos, being a CIA operative himself).
During the 7 July march, Greek fascists in full and open
cooperation with the cops fiercely attacked the anarchists who were
simply demanding equality for immigrants. This time the fascists tried
to use the traditional people's weapon, the molotov cocktail, against
the people themselves. Photos taken by comrades during the march, at
great personal danger (as cops are known to severely beat and arrest
anyone having cameras, even journalists from Greece or abroad) clearly
show fascists inside the cop formations wielding lit molotov cocktails,
ready to launch them against defenceless comrades who fight for a just
world. It becomes apparent that their intention was to injure, or even
kill, anarchists, and those who regularly watch news about class war in
Greece should remember that fascists attempted (unsuccesfully) to throw
a hand explosive grenade against the Greek Conscientious Objectors
Association during one of their meetings (in Greece there is forced
conscription for all males), clearly showing that they intended to kill
numerous people.
On 7 July they again tried to injure or kill anarchists, this time
with molotovs, but thanks to their stupidity we had no victims: the
molotov-wielding fascists accidentaly set themselves on fire when they
tried to throw the molotov cocktails against the anarchists! A fascist
tried to be a 'hero' and had proceeded too far in front of the main
fascist/cop formations, so he got a molotov on himself by his friends.
The cops with their fire extinguishers saved him from the stupidity of
his peers. Those comical scum, who have no idea how to handle the
simplest of street weapons, the molotov firebomb, are unable to fight
us with our weapons. Molotovs are and will remain the people's weapon
in defence of their freedom against fascist bastards.
Before the incident described above, the fascists were seen running
towards a warehouse with a yellow door after the cops called them
there. Comrades saw the cops giving molotov cocktails and sprays to the
fascists. Neighbours who were shocked to witness the cooperation
between far-right neonazi scum and cops in their streets recorded them
with their video-cameras. On the videos you can see the fascists in
helmets and wielding hand weapons and globs (intended to severely beat
and life-threatenly injure captured comrades), running together with
the cops during street fights with the anarchists. What better proof
can one provide of the cooperation between cops and neonazis in Greece?
If the cops capture a comrade with a molotov, they put him or her
in prison for many years, yet they do nothing when a fascist handles a
molotov, which clearly shows that the cops do not do what the law says
but what promotes the interests of the ruling capitalist class and
their government. Their only objective is to suppress dissent and
assist the capitalists in exploiting the poor. A cop is simply a
capitalist's dog, ready to bite anyone who dreams of a better world. It
also worths mentioning that the fascists wielded molotovs without
having their heads covered and without using gloves for their hands.
The anarchists have never used molotov cocktails against
defenceless people, except cops that are protected by their special
uniform (it can be set on fire without injuring their wearer). The
fascists, however, see no problem in attempting to use molotovs against
defenceless anarchists who have no special uniform to protect
themselves. There have never been fascist victims after clashes with
anarchists, not because the anarchists cannot do real harm to them, but
because the anarchists take care to only use well-targeted violence for
propaganda and symbolical reasons, targeting the property of
capitalists and not human lives. The fascists, however, feel no value
for human life, and this is why we call them scum. They do want to
kill.
Some new information about the march itself:
It worths mentioning that during the march and the attack by the
fascists and the cops, immigrant neighbours living in the streets where
the clashes took place opened their doors to welcome comrades who
needed help.
Three cops severely beat a girl without mercy on a car. The march
had also attracted comrades new to street fighting who didn't manage to
keep calm when the cops started spraying them with tear gas and began
to run away. This is wrong. No one should run during a march as it is
very dangerous for everyone. Comrades should leave organized in
formations, and this is what experienced comrades do. We hope the new
comrades will learn quickly the correct tactics. At the head (front) of
the march there were some younger comrades not fully experienced in
street fighting, and the more experienced comrades who were behind
didn't manage to reach the front in time when the cops attacked the
march.
This march had assembled a lot of people, but it fell victim to a
strategic mistake: the comrades approached the Saint Pandeleimonas
district (where fascists attack immigrants) from a narrow road, too
narrow to allow the anarchist formations to effectively protect
themselves from the cops, so the cops (who had orders to never allow
anarchists enter that district) fiercely attacked our comrades. Next
time the anarchists are not going to do the same mistake.
7 July was the day of the anarchist march. On 9 July the leftists
will organize their own marches, but the great majority of anarchists,
and most antiauthoritarians, don't like participating in leftist
marches, because they see the leftists as reluctant to truly engage in
street clashes with cops and fascists. It is interesting to note that
the leftist parties have actually lost voters in elections, whereas the
anarchist movement in Greece seems to be the one that most successfuly
absorbes the disenfranchised youth, the repressed immigrants, and
everyone who understands that a human society cannot be built on
racism, xenophobia, capitalism, nationalism, and state terror. The
anarchist movement in Athens, Greece has traditionaly as a base the
downtown Exarchia district, which is mostly under the control of the
anarchists and cops rarely risk to enter except in large numbers.
The Greek media, in support of the policies of the government, did
not publicise the march at all. Supposedly 'progressive' leftist
websites did not say anything about the march either, highlighting the
divide between anarchists and leftists in Greece.
Greek comrades were informing immigrants who knew Greek, and they in turn informed the other immigrants who did not know Greek.
Even though there was street fighting and struggle against the cops
and the fascists, this march was not really a clash march according to
the standards of the anarchist movement in Greece; rather, it was a
counter-information march intended to inform the people of the
repression against the immigrants and attract attention to the issue.
Clash marches in Greece are much more violent, regularly employing lots
of molotov cocktails. Because this was decided to not be a clash march,
the comrades who participated were not equiped with the right tools for
successful clashes. Yet, the resistance to the attacks by the fascists
and the cops was remarkable.
About the sister march in Thessaloniki (the above was about the
Athens march): More than 1,500 comrades gathered at the Kalamaria
district of Thessaloniki, the second-biggest city of Greece in the
northern part of the country. The comrades marched towards the city's
sea beach. At the head (front) of the march there were the anarchists
carrying flags and chains, and behind them there were leftist blocks
who participated. Behind all of them there were the cops. A Citibank
security camera was destroyed. Out of the 1,500 comrades, more than
1,000 were anarchists. Spray was used to draw graffiti and ATMs and
cameras were destroyed. Lots of new comrades participated in the
Thessaloniki march, people who previously were not taking part in
marches, clearly showing that the anarchist movement in Greece is
gaining popular support. A shouty right-wing hotel owner attempted to
drive away some anarchists who were painting his hotel's walls with
graffiti, but more comrades came in support and forced him inside while
they sprayed all of his hotel's walls with graffiti. At some point a
cop formation was forced to leave in panic after it confronted the
determined blocks of anarchists. Another bank ATM was set on fire with
two molotov cocktails. The banners read: "Solidarity to the immigrants,
no national identity, war to the bosses" and were signed as
"anarchikoi/es" meaning "anarchist men and women". Another banner read
"Attack the concentration camps" referring to the plans of the
government to detain immigrants en masse. Lots of flyers were
distributed. The march proceeded from Kamara district to Egnatia
Street, Agias Sofias Street, Tsimiski, Venizelou Street, and then again
towards Egnatia and Kamara.
Before the December 2008 revolt, most marches in Greece that
participated in fierce street fighting against cops and fascists had
fewer people, many times only about 500. Now, after the December
revolt, many more people go to the marches and fight against the
oppresors, and marches now easily assemble from 3,000 to 5,000 people
who are ready to fight for their freedom. The way the Greek state
handles the class war, with more brutal repression, we shall expect
many more people to join our comrades in the streets and learn how to
fight fascism. This also means that marches will adopt new tactics and
develop formations more suitable for large determined groups rather
than the tactics that were used in the past by small bands of
individual comrades. The coming years will be very interesting in
Greece from a class war and march tactics perspective, and comrades
from other places of the planet should keep an eye for new developments
in Greece.
NO GODS! NO MASTERS!
Links to videos of former fascist-cop collaboration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_X-N_kMIcg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CheGPvAHbA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUtP6FfEqiQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfzWDKnAxCM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XznJjz23lMM
Links to Athens Indymedia photos and info in Greek:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1055021
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1055024
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1054883
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1054792
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1054671
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1054687
This English briefing is based on information in Greek appeared on Athens Indymedia.
You can help with translating or writing new briefings in your own
languages and spreading the news around the world. Some comrades
already translated briefings in Polish and Spanish. If you can't,
translate copy-paste news you find interesting in other relevant sites
or blogs. Make sure everyone is aware of the fascism we are forced to
live in.
DOWN WITH THE STATE!https://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/07/434085.html
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