World Thessaloniki EU Feature Archive

On Friday, February 13th, almost 8 months since their initial imprisonment, 13 people arrested during protests at the EU summit in Thessaloniki last June have had all charges dropped. 8 of the remaining cases are still under investagative review by the Greek Judiciary whilst the remaining 6 have had their charges dropped to misdemeanours. A final decision on whether to pursue allegations could come as early as next week. This is an enormous victory in the campaign against state repression waged by the Greek state against anti-capitalist protestors - although it must be remembered that the battle is not over yet.

Comprehensive coverage of the Thessaloniki Support Campaign can be found on the UK Indymedia site; Athens and Thessaloniki Indymedia sites both carry breaking news regarding the Thessaloniki 7 and the other accused.

[Castellano][Deutsch]

Legal Update 16th September here.
Samba player in deep trouble after having been badly beaten by police and spending two days at Charing Cross police station; Witness appeal.

Liberty are asking for reports from people who were stopped and searched, ASAP. An email list has been set up for people who were arrested / beaten etc..

Since the 1st of September, 144 people have been arrested in protests against the Defence Systems and Equipment international arms fair (DSEi) that has been taking place in East London. Policing tactics have been condemned by a wide range of people and Liberty is have won the right to seek a High Court injunction over use of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000; they have also offered to provide legal representation for anyone stopped or detained under this legislation. Bindmans Lawyers have also requested information or witnesses from DSEi.

• Legal resources:
  
• Activists' Legal Project
• Legal Defence & Monitoring Group
• free B.E.A.G.L.E.S. legal resource centre
• Urban75 legal page

Numerous requests for witnesses have been made on the UK indymedia newswire [1 2 3 4 5 6]. There have also been several videos posted showing police violence against demonstrators which may provide evidence [ 1 2 - more can be found on the full reports from the 9th, 10th and 11th September].

Meanwhile, Anti-War demonstrators are still being threatened with - and receiving - harsh sentences. Protestors from Fairford come to trial next week while some are still fighting to get the charges reduced before they come to trial (Background to the case). Yet others are still looking for witnesses and some, like Ulla Roder (who was arrested for damaging a Tornado war-plane), have had their trials delayed numerous times.

Further afield, Simon Chapman and the Thessalonikki 7 remain imprisoned in Greece (solidarity website). Simon's first appeal has failed (against the charges) and he is currently awaiting the results of a second appeal. Key evidence such as the video have been re-submitted. In the United States, webmaster of raisethefist.com Sherman Austin has been imprisoned for 1 year; he has since been subject to death threats and is being kept in solitary on the grounds of safety as a reason.

Update Saturday 19: Simon, thessaloniki prisoner, has just phoned and said that letters, which DO NOT have a return address on the ENVELOPE will not be delivered to prisoners.
If you want to send a card Simons 30th birthday is the 24th of july.
This new procedure applies to all prisoners.

Update Sunday 13: The greek government has seized the account at the Pireus bank which had been opened to receive fundings for prisoner solidarity (concerning the last EU summit in thessaloniki). It's important to avoid depositing any money into it, and to wait for more updates before sending more funds. Meanwhile for financial support please contact: financial2003@disobey.net

Update Saturday 12: On Thursday, 10th of July Solidartiy actions so far known of, were taking place in London, Brussels, Graz, Athens, Thessaloniki, Madrid, Bilbao, Torino, Rome, and Buenes Aires.

Update Friday 11: Letter received from Simon Chapman from Thessaloniki's prison.

Thursday, July 10, will mark an international day of solidarity with the eight protestors arrested and imprisoned after demonstrations against the European Union summit in Thessaloniki three weeks ago. In London, supporters will gather at 3 pm at the Greek tourism office and the Greek airline, on Conduit Street, to raise awareness about the injustice being perpetrated by the Greek government.

A noborder demo in Warsaw on June 30 ended with 16 arrests. A website with templates for appeals to authorities and more info is prepared. The demo ended a noborder conference and an International Anarchist Meeting preceding the Krynki bordercamp which starts on June 2nd.
A Financial Call for people arrested and injured during the Evian G8 Protests was sent out.
The Uk supporters for people held in prison following the EU summit in Thessaloniki are sending regular updates [Update #2 | Update #3].

On 25 June, a court hearing took place against 8 protesters who were arrested during the demonstrations against the Thessaloniki EU Summit on June 22. A British protester, and 6 other people from Greece, Spain and Syria will be remanded in custody for the next three months until their cases are dealt in Court.
They were charged on three separate counts, all of which carry sentences ranging from 7 to 25 years in prison.

Supporters are calling for a protest at the Greek Embassy in London on Saturday 28th June, 2PM. Reports [1 | 2 | 3].

Update #3 | Update #2 | Support for Simon (UK) and Jonathan (US) | Anarchist Call | Situation in Thess Prison | International Solidarity Group

Latest reports from the legal team state all 22 accused of minor charges are already or will be released tomorrow.

The 2 Austrians have been released on Tuesday morning, one of the Spanish activists is due to be released tomorrow, the US cititzen has apparantly been released on bail and then been rearrested for deportation, whilst trying to fetch his personal belongings.

However, due to the mainstream media hype and political pressure in Greece, all remaining minor accusations were changed into major offences, with charges constantly changing.

According to reports, all prisoners have been tortured in jail, all of them were beaten up, some had parts of their hair pulled out. One person was treated in hospital because of a leg injury, all others were not allowed to see a doctor, although rips of one person have been broken.

First solidarity actions for the prisoners have been taking place, such as the occupation of the greek embassy in Berlin, a solidarity demonstration in Graz, Austria and an antirepression demonstration in Milan. More solidarity actions in Berlin, Barcelona,Graz, Vienna, London and elsewhere are announced and called for.

Already, on Monday, the legal team has issued an urgent call and momentarily still continues to search for witnesses, film and photo material to prove that the police assignes self-produced, fake evidence to the accused.
The other 8 activists, accussed of major offences, were brought in front of the magistrate on Wednesday. It was decided, that 7 of them have to remain in prison. Amongst them are 4 internationals, one Briton, one Spanish and one Syrian, whom awaits the death penality if deported to Syria. All the other 3 activists are greek. In front of the court building an solidarity demonstration including banner drops, took place.

After Saturday's siege at the university, people could finally walk in and out since the early hours of Sunday, and police, both riot and plain clothes, left the area. People in the building earlier in the night gathered for a meeting and prepared this statement in solidarity with the prisoners.

This building was used for an Independent Media Center (IMC), the radio station and the medical teams. They made a video to show no damage had been done to the building. At noon local time, the occupation was ended peacefully.

At the Courthouse in Thessaloniki there was a solidarity demonstration for the arrested activists. Reports say there were over one hundred arrestes saturday, of whom at least 25 will appear in front of a magistrate. However, this appointment was postponed for several activists. Currently, there are still twenty to thirty five person in jail linked to Saturday's events, all others have been released. The demo at the Court got surrounded. Heavy police attacks and violence... Read information from Indymedia Athens.

Earlier in the afternoon people showed what they thought about the Greek court and police (see picture).

[Dispatch].

In the afternoon several hundred people demonstrated outside the Courthouse, supporting people who have been arrested. Some of these people have suffered beatings and tortures.Police release here.

Timelines:
sunday evening, from alasbarricadas.

foto's [ 1 | 2 ]

Saturday sees the continuation of demonstrations in Thessaloniki. There are reports of more than 100,000 people in demonstrations called by the Greek Social Forum, Action Thessaloniki 2003, and other organizations. Summaries: [1] [2][3].

An international march started at 5.00pm in the city of Thessaloniki, in protest of EU policies on immigration [1|2|3] war, pension reforms and a European common army. An Anti-EU-summit concert with the participation of Greek and international groups is planned for the evening.

Anarchists occupying Thessaloniki University marched this morning through Eganatia street, damaging two banks and a McDonalds restaurant. There are also conflicting reports about anarchists vandalising offices of the Greek Communist Party. The police responded with a lot of tear gas, and repelled the demonstrators. Reports of anarchist marches [ 1| 2 | 3] Photos [1| 2|3| [4]

In the evening the University campus was surrounded by riot police and the demonstrators withdrew into the campus, which police are not legally allowed to enter. The campus is surrounded by police, although everything is reportedly calm at this point. The live stream radio stopped its work. People remaining in the University have constituted an assembly which has issued a declaration. Read the latest information from the university: [1] [2 (audio) | 3 ]

Timelines:
translated --from la haine
--from Neos Marmaras area
-- ImcSwitzerlands timeline

Breaking news as it comes.
Personal reports: [1,2, 3, 4]
Summary: collection and translation of personal reports.

Friday, 20 July, Thessaloniki (Greece)
The Day of action in Thessaloniki against the EU summit sees two demonstrations proceeding against the institutions of power.
The red zone was attacked. The police fought the demonstrators, including the Disobedienti, off with CS-gas. Another demonstration went to the Macedonian/Greek Border to support the Roma in the refugee camp with food and medicine, but the activists were refused entry to Macedonia.

Reporting Both IMC Athens and IMC Thessaloniki are momentarily experiencing technical server problems.
Quick,comprehensive coverage at our timeline | Personal Reports [1|2|3|4|5] | [Short Update|Longer Update| Legal Team Update | report from Struggle Initiative | Pictures: [LaHaine|2|3]

Thursday 19 June The three days of protests at the EU summit in Thessaloniki have started today with two large demonstrations in support of refugee and immigration rights. A summary of the whole day is available.IMC Athens report

The anti-authoritarian/anarchist demonstrations [videos 1 2 | photos 1|2 |3|4|5 |personal reports 1|2|3] started from the occupied university campus, and went around neighbourhoods where refugees and immigrant workers live to show their support and solidarity...

Antiauthoritarians have squatted the Law School of the Faculty of Legal and Financial Studies at the University of Thessaloniki, and set up an Independent Media Center and a medical centre inside. The Faculty of Philosophy has been squatted by anarchists. A group of women took over the stage briefly during a concert in front of the theology faculty to demand an end to sexism within social movements.[report, anarcha-feminist workshop]

Anarchist techs have installed their radio broadcast software on Law Faculty computers and are currently broadcasting Ozzy Osbourne tunes and news updates in 4 languages including English. You can listen to the broadcast in MP3 software such as WinAmp, iTunes, or XMMS - just open the stream at http://dimitra.law.auth.gr:8000. The US consulate is closed although everything remains peaceful at this point. There are nearly 20,000 security personnel including a division of the Greek army around the Summit.

This year's EU summit takes place in Chalkidi near Thessaloniki, 19 to 21 June, under the Greek presidency of the EU. Several groups have called for actions: Struggle Initiative Thessaloniki 2003 set up camp in the university campus in the center. Antiauthoritarian Movement Salonika 2003, also camping at the University, is organising an antiauthoritarian festival. The platform Action Thessaloniki 2003 are preparing conferences and demos.
Thursday 19 June The Greek Social Forum, an umbrella of leftists, NGO, trade unions and students, called for a demo about immigration in the center of Thessaloniki [Report | Pics | collection of pics] | Friday 20 June Demo in Chalkidi | Saturday 21 June Demo in the city of Thessaloniki.

Practical Information | Schedule [1 | 2]

Reporting Up-to-Date confirmed and unconfirmed information from the streets -> Indymedia Dispatch | Timelines (es) | Live multilingual radio stream being broadcast by anarchists who have taken over the University Law Faculty's computer lab. Use Zinf, WinAmp, iTunes, or XMMS to open the stream from http://dimitra.law.auth.gr:8000 .