Massive protest marches in Athens and Salonica in solidarity to squats

[karma]

Athens and Salonica streets flooded by mass protest marches in 
solidarity to squats threatened by anti-anarchist measures

On Tuesday 29/04 protesters flooded the streets of Athens and Salonica, 
in coordinated mass protest marches in solidarity to squats and occupied 
public spaces. With slogans like "10, 100, 1000 squats against a world 
of organised boredom" and "nor with bulldozers nor with tanks can you 
evict the punks" protesters in Greece's two major cities defied the 
draconian police measures and mounting anti-anarchist media pressure, 
surpassing in numbers any previous anarchist protest march in the 
history of the republic.

In Athens the protest began from the liberated park in Exarcheia where 
two weeks ago two students were seriously injured during a brutal police 
raid. The march then passed from the Polytechneio and a series of 
occupied buildings in down town Athens before terminating after 5km to 
the liberated park of Kyprou and Patission. Limited skirmishes between 
protesters and riot police forces occurred only once during the march, 
while dozens of CCTV cameras, bank windows and ATMs were destroyed. A 
district office of the rampantly anti-anarchist Communist Party (KKE) 
was also attacked. After the end of the march, unprovoked riot police 
forces tried to stop a trolley bus linking the park with the Polytechnic 
carrying many protesters. Their attempts to terrorise the strugglers 
were hampered by their firm stance and bystanders' vocal condemnation.

The protest marches form the pinnacle of the solidarity campaign towards 
squats that have come under fire by the notorious "legal putschist" 
general persecutor Mr Sanidas since December's uprising. Besides 
ordering procedures of investigation and eviction against dozens of 
occupied buildings and public spaces, the government has also proclaimed 
a packet of anti-anarchist laws including the upgrading of breach of the 
peace (under which squatters are being persecuted) from a felony to a 
crime. The occupation of university buildings forms a long tradition in 
the country's revolutionary movement, while political squats have been a 
centerpiece of the anarchist struggle since the 1980s.


http://libcom.org/news/massive-protest-marches-athens-salonica-solidarity-squats-29042009