Police rioting in Greece against universities and students
After boiling situations for some weeks at the ΑΠΘ in Thessaloniki and in front of the Zografou campus in Athens about the implementation of a new special police force in the universities, the repression against the education sector escalated in the last days. For months now, a cycle of asymmetric violence has been opened by the Mitsotakis government in order to attract a far-right voter base, seeking revenge for the dissolution of the fascist organisation that expressed them under the name "Golden Dawn".
Thessaloniki, Friday night September 16/17 at ΑΠΘ
It was in this climate that the third day of the 3 libertarian festivals of occupied spaces and collectives inside the universities took place. The collectives of the festival were also guarded. The state allowed the concert to take place. Thousands of people attended the concert of Kadinelia and Thanasis Papaconstantinou. Shortly before midnight a group of people chose to raid the MAT near the concert while the live music was in progress (which has happened many times). The concert was in the philosophy department and the MAT were within arms length of the universities. The MAT made a murderous attack in a crowd of 6-7 thousand people with no escape routes, and the water cannon approached without being used. (there were 2 arrests). Chaos ensued. Small clashes followed, and a thousand people left. After 20 minutes, Thanatos' form came back out and played 3,4 songs unplugged. The festival people with some solidarity people stayed on campus and the crowd spontaneously gathered in the hall.
Spontaneously with incredible passion and pulse people headed back to the universities. Before the people reached the dean's office, they were violently attacked by the MAT and the chase began. A chase of hundreds of meters from the deanery to Athanasius Square, with police officers running around. The most murderous attack was at the point of the dean's office with tear gas and flash-bang in the crowd. A group of 50 people broke up and re-entered the universities. The MAT attack resulted in three more arrests and some injuries. One girl was taken down by the ambulance for respiratory problems, while dozens of people fell down and were injured, and there was a minor tear gas injury to the leg.
Unfortunately, once again the class base does not choose its revolutionary self-defense, and we continue to have injuries mainly only on our side.
See police attacking University in Thessaloniki: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52b8Qz4yUaw
Athens, September 17
In the early evening some hundred people followed a call from leftist student organisations, for a demonstration against the police violence in Thessaloniki. Police smashed this demonstration without any violence from the students before. Students defended themselves with sticks. At Omonia Square, MAT assaulted not only the rest of the demonstration but also everybody, tourists from nearby hotels and people in restaurants or passerbys. Many people were injured. This is a very serious message from the regime, that does not hesitate to create picture from dictatorship.
See police rioting in the center of Athens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvSNJFym3j0
Piraeus, September 18
A small response to the police oppression was given at the end of Pavlos Fyssas commemoration demo in the neighborhood of Nikaia. See attack with molotovs and stones against MAT platoon: https://twitter.com/partizanGreece1/status/1571568259551354885
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