Wednesday (12/17): reports from Greece
dim | 18.12.2008 03:06 | Repression | Social Struggles | World
It's more than 10 days since the murder of Alexandros and despite the government's wishes for the protests to stop, they are increasing!
The day started early. At around 5am a bank in Thessaloniki was attacked.
By the first light of day, whoever looked at the Acropolis hill (where the ruins of Parthenon are, the symbol of Athens) knew that the fight is not over. Leftists and students had unfolded a huge banner calling everyone on the big demonstration on Tuesday and with the world Resistance written in many languages. Photos:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948621
At 8am the building of GSEE (General Confederation of Workers in Greece) was occupied by workers. GSEE has been accused on numerous occasions in the past for going to agreements with the government and the bosses without fighting for the workers demands and selling out the workers' movements. During the afternoon, 50 bureaucrats of GSEE tried to take the building back but they were forced away.
Communique: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415649.html
Photos: http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948990
In Ioannina the city hall was occupied this morning. In the same city, the occupants of the Cultural Center and Municipal radio center of Ioannina, after 3 days of occupation, decided to leave on their own will, despite the threats from the mayor that the riot police will invade and arrest everyone.
In Athens:
A police van which had stopped in a traffic light was attacked by a group of anarchists with petrol bombs and was set on fire. Photo: http://www.occupiedlondon.org/kloubamat_B.jpg
The riot squads attacked students (14-15 years old) outside the courthouse.
A new demonstration of 4-500 in Halandri, it went through the residential neighborhoods, besieged symbolically the police station and threw oranges, eggs, paint and some rocks. The riot cops that were guarding the station threw flash-bang grenades and teargas. The demonstration continued and resolved peacefully in the main square.
During a demonstration in Virona, 2-3 rocks were thrown to the cops and they replied with teargas. The protesters then decided to occupy the city hall and stayed there until 11pm when they left the building and had a new demonstration.
In a symbolic protest against how the tv stations are covering the events and in general against the television, activists gathered and smashed television sets in downtown Athens. The national and international media that appeared were moved away. Photo: http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/metafiles/dsc00144.jpg
The ticket canceling machines in 4 subway stations were sabotaged and thousands of passengers used the subway for free. Slogans were written on the walls (again). Photos: http://prezatv.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post_8925.html
In Thessaloniki anarchists invaded into a big chain grocery store, filled the shopping carts with food and went to the nearby farmer's market (the cheapest place to buy vegetables) and gave them away to the people there. This type of activism has happened many times before in Greece.
The rest of Greece:
In Iraklio, students took over the soundsystem that played Christmas carols and songs in the commercial center and read communiques and had their own music set!
In Chania, students occupied a local television station and transmitted a video for 20 minutes.
Demonstrations took place in Lamia and Volos (despite the heavy police presence).
In Patras there was small scale rioting and clashing with the police because the scumbag Alexis Kougias, the advocative of the murders (and of other cops on trial for police brutality, read below) bought 50% of the local soccer team. The layer was having a press conference in the team's stadium and fans of the team along with local anarchists and protesters had a demonstration which ended up at the stadium. There, they broke one of the gates and got in, trying to disrupt the conference. The cops used teargas to push the people out. The cops once again didn't know what were doing and one of the teargas that they threw landed on a nearby house balcony! Video: http://patras.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=3406
While the “lawyer” Alexis Kougias was in Patras taking care of his business, he was supposed to be in Athens, in court, defending another cop who is accused of torturing two young men (17 and 20 years old) inside a police station by electrocuting them (possibly with a taser gun, by the way tasers are not used by greek police, it must have been his personal “toy”), while the two men were detained for checking their ids. That was just another “isolated incident” as the police and government call them. The trial was postponed for the second time.
In Patras a new pirate radio station has started transmitting today by the protesters!
There was an article on an online news site saying that the murderer cop has been acting mental in the past few days. It says that he attacked his guards and he was shouting that he is innocent, that the cell is full of... demons and that the other cop, which he shares the cell with is possessed. It is clear that this is a trick of his lawyer, so that he is claimed mentally ill and be released or moved to a psychiatric clinic but in case he is crazy, then who the fuck made him a cop and allowed him to carry a gun and kill an innocent boy?
Now about the case, there is more mystery. A woman claims that found a 3rd calyx in the crime scene (10 days later and when the road is open to everyone?). Moreover, 10 days have passed and the results of the ballistic tests have not come out yet. The rumors about the police covering up the case and changing the results are building up more and more.
The office of the lawyer Alexis Kougias is guarded 24/7, not by a security agency that he pays but from the police! During demonstrations, there are men of the riot police outside his office and normal cops during other times.
Some things related to the previous days events:
A few days ago while the cops were attacking the protesters in Athens, one of the flash-bang grenades that they threw on the crowd exploded on a kids lap. Here are the photos of his clothes afterwards. The kid was lucky that he was wearing 3 layers and he got away with some light burns. Imagine what would have happened to him if he was wearing just a t-shirt.
Photos: http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948941
Translation of the communique that the occupants of NET (national television station) left behind:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948843
More about the “sentences” of the cops who beaten up the Cypriot student in Thessaloniki last year: http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948306
Photos of the attacked riot police's headquarter (yesterday).
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948494
By the first light of day, whoever looked at the Acropolis hill (where the ruins of Parthenon are, the symbol of Athens) knew that the fight is not over. Leftists and students had unfolded a huge banner calling everyone on the big demonstration on Tuesday and with the world Resistance written in many languages. Photos:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948621 At 8am the building of GSEE (General Confederation of Workers in Greece) was occupied by workers. GSEE has been accused on numerous occasions in the past for going to agreements with the government and the bosses without fighting for the workers demands and selling out the workers' movements. During the afternoon, 50 bureaucrats of GSEE tried to take the building back but they were forced away.
Communique:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415649.html Photos:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948990 In Ioannina the city hall was occupied this morning. In the same city, the occupants of the Cultural Center and Municipal radio center of Ioannina, after 3 days of occupation, decided to leave on their own will, despite the threats from the mayor that the riot police will invade and arrest everyone.
In Athens:
A police van which had stopped in a traffic light was attacked by a group of anarchists with petrol bombs and was set on fire. Photo:
http://www.occupiedlondon.org/kloubamat_B.jpg 
The riot squads attacked students (14-15 years old) outside the courthouse.
A new demonstration of 4-500 in Halandri, it went through the residential neighborhoods, besieged symbolically the police station and threw oranges, eggs, paint and some rocks. The riot cops that were guarding the station threw flash-bang grenades and teargas. The demonstration continued and resolved peacefully in the main square.
During a demonstration in Virona, 2-3 rocks were thrown to the cops and they replied with teargas. The protesters then decided to occupy the city hall and stayed there until 11pm when they left the building and had a new demonstration.
In a symbolic protest against how the tv stations are covering the events and in general against the television, activists gathered and smashed television sets in downtown Athens. The national and international media that appeared were moved away. Photo:
http://athens.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/metafiles/dsc00144.jpg 
The ticket canceling machines in 4 subway stations were sabotaged and thousands of passengers used the subway for free. Slogans were written on the walls (again). Photos:
http://prezatv.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post_8925.html In Thessaloniki anarchists invaded into a big chain grocery store, filled the shopping carts with food and went to the nearby farmer's market (the cheapest place to buy vegetables) and gave them away to the people there. This type of activism has happened many times before in Greece.
The rest of Greece:
In Iraklio, students took over the soundsystem that played Christmas carols and songs in the commercial center and read communiques and had their own music set!
In Chania, students occupied a local television station and transmitted a video for 20 minutes.
Demonstrations took place in Lamia and Volos (despite the heavy police presence).
In Patras there was small scale rioting and clashing with the police because the scumbag Alexis Kougias, the advocative of the murders (and of other cops on trial for police brutality, read below) bought 50% of the local soccer team. The layer was having a press conference in the team's stadium and fans of the team along with local anarchists and protesters had a demonstration which ended up at the stadium. There, they broke one of the gates and got in, trying to disrupt the conference. The cops used teargas to push the people out. The cops once again didn't know what were doing and one of the teargas that they threw landed on a nearby house balcony! Video:
http://patras.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=3406 While the “lawyer” Alexis Kougias was in Patras taking care of his business, he was supposed to be in Athens, in court, defending another cop who is accused of torturing two young men (17 and 20 years old) inside a police station by electrocuting them (possibly with a taser gun, by the way tasers are not used by greek police, it must have been his personal “toy”), while the two men were detained for checking their ids. That was just another “isolated incident” as the police and government call them. The trial was postponed for the second time.
In Patras a new pirate radio station has started transmitting today by the protesters!
There was an article on an online news site saying that the murderer cop has been acting mental in the past few days. It says that he attacked his guards and he was shouting that he is innocent, that the cell is full of... demons and that the other cop, which he shares the cell with is possessed. It is clear that this is a trick of his lawyer, so that he is claimed mentally ill and be released or moved to a psychiatric clinic but in case he is crazy, then who the fuck made him a cop and allowed him to carry a gun and kill an innocent boy?
Now about the case, there is more mystery. A woman claims that found a 3rd calyx in the crime scene (10 days later and when the road is open to everyone?). Moreover, 10 days have passed and the results of the ballistic tests have not come out yet. The rumors about the police covering up the case and changing the results are building up more and more.
The office of the lawyer Alexis Kougias is guarded 24/7, not by a security agency that he pays but from the police! During demonstrations, there are men of the riot police outside his office and normal cops during other times.
Some things related to the previous days events:
A few days ago while the cops were attacking the protesters in Athens, one of the flash-bang grenades that they threw on the crowd exploded on a kids lap. Here are the photos of his clothes afterwards. The kid was lucky that he was wearing 3 layers and he got away with some light burns. Imagine what would have happened to him if he was wearing just a t-shirt.
Photos:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948941 Translation of the communique that the occupants of NET (national television station) left behind:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948843 More about the “sentences” of the cops who beaten up the Cypriot student in Thessaloniki last year:
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948306 Photos of the attacked riot police's headquarter (yesterday).
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=948494
dim