Athen

As part of an international call for solidarity, We, an anarchist initiative in Athens, responded by targeting the French institute, a diplomatic institution under the French Embassy and State. The French Institute’s purpose is to legitimize the legacy of French colonialism and perpetuate its nationalist identity. France is erecting murderous borders and prosecuting those who struggle to destroy them. Under the repression of the French state, all institutions that normalize its existence become legitimate targets for our struggle.

Am Freitag, 21. September, vermeldeten nachmittags griechische Agenturen und Polizeiseiten, nicht ohne Genugtuung, dass im Bereich Omonia, nähe Platia Kannigos, ein bewaffneter Räuber bei einem Überfall auf einen Juwelier ums Leben gekommen sei. Ein Drogensüchtiger hatte ein Ende gefunden, wie es ganz nach dem Geschmack der Boulevard Presse ist.

On Thursday 27th of July around 2 in the morning in Athens, on Bouboulinas st. in Exachia neighborhood, a squadron of greek cops kidnapped and tortured an anarchist immigrant. Straight away they began to torture me with a barrage of kicks, using racist and fascist insults. Meanwhile, the police stated that my offense is that I am an anarchist and belong to a known political group of Exarchia. Then the squadron of riot cops forced me into a dark alley. They laid me on the ground and they tried to break my ribs by kicking; I placed my hand on my ribs to protect them. They took away my hand from my ribs and tried to break my fingers with their shields. In order to protect my fingers, I pulled my hand under my belly. At that moment, they hit my ribs again to break them. This action lasted a long time, until one of the cops proposed to break my wrists. So they placed my hands on the curb stone to break them with batons, but I managed to pull my hands away. This escalated their anger, and by saying fascist and racist insults, they all started to beat me. They beat me for more than one and a half hours. All the while they were taking several photos of me getting beaten up, as well as when I was lying semi conscious on the street. When cops realized that my body had been seriously damaged and I was not able to move, they started to play a game with me, telling me “you have ten seconds to leave from here, if we catch you again, we will kill you”, and two cops moved a little bit ahead of me to catch me again. They hit my knee several times with batons to make sure that I can not escape. When one of them turned to look behind him, with all of the pain that I had, I started running. One of the cops tried to catch me again but I could escape by running up Tositsa and seek help at a nearby house of comrades.

Nach einigen Veranstaltungen zu dem Thema Umgang mit Repression, Deals mit dem Gericht und Solidarität mit Gefangenen, die in letzter Zeit in Berlin stattgefunden haben, kann vielleicht der Blick auf den Umgang in anderen Regionen damit, neue Perspektiven eröffnen.

Nicht jede/r Gefangene in Griechenland ist dafür bereit und nicht für jede/n dreht die Bewegung voll auf. Aber zwei Fälle der letzten Zeit sind exemplarisch für die aggressive Soliarbeit in Athen.