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Counter-information bulletin, September 2010

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September 2nd

  • Occupation of the state conservatory of Thessaloniki in protest at the obligation to pay fees in a state faculty, where studying is supposed to be free of charge.

September 11th

  • Athens: the tax office of Exarchia is set on fire. A group of 10 people climbed through the neighbor building, that is not inhabited at the moment, broke the windows of the tax office and set fire while a large group of people was downstairs in support. No pogrom followed this time.

  • The annual Thessaloniki international fair was held with 10.000 cops in the city. The demo that had been called at Kamara (city centre) from base unions etc. from all over the country attracted more than 5000 protesters. Minor clashes took place outside the fair venue, and the riot police teargased. The demo organized by the trade unions gathered around 10.000 people. Some groups blocked the motorway toll stations on their way from Athens to Thessaloniki.

September 13th

  • A rally was organized by the Initiative of citizens of Heraklion against the destruction of the Georgiadi park in order to build a parking.

September 18th

  • Athens: Saturday was the peak of the European mobility week fiesta, sponsored by state and private sources. A rally was made on Syntagma Sq. on the occasion.
  • A concert took place at Propylaia against the covering up of the trial on the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos. 5 persons were busted after the concert and were taken to the police headquarters, only to be released after a few hours.

September 24th

  • Student demo in Korinthos; one of the first ones this academic year. Occupations and protests take place in big cities, but also smaller towns in the following weeks, triggered by the new measures announced by the ministry of education, in line with the government’s austerity measures.

September 25th

  • The building on 11 Zaimi Street (Exarchia) that had been evicted by cops (see 5 May) is occupied once more. The “Open assembly of anarchists for a unified multiform movement” invites those in solidarity to participate.

Labor – Actions/Strikes – Lay-offs

September 1st

  • Victory for the fired workers of the company METKA in the city of Volos. After a series of actions in every level, the company was forced to rehire the workers.

September 3rd

  • Lambrakis Press S.A. (Lambraki’s journalist organization) is closing down its press branch company named “ellinika grammata” firing 94 workers and leaving unpaid many of the external cooperators.

September 7th

  • Lorry drivers protest takes place in the center of Athens. This is the first action of the lorry drivers on their second strike wave. They are protesting against government’s plans for opening up their sector to new licenses. The strikes have lasted for about 3 weeks including clashes with cops, blocking of the national motorway and other highways resulting in the blocking of the markets. The government didn’t cancel the measures and the drivers were pressed to end up their strikes since the suppression became tougher and tougher. Read more: www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/tag/lorry-driver-strike

September 14th

  • Workers of OSE (Greek railways organization) occupied the organization’s offices as a reaction to the abolition of the collective conventions and the privatization of OSE .

September 15th

  • Solidarity protest of approximately 300 persons takes place against the closing down of the branch of press company “Ellinika Grammata” and the layoffs of its employees.
  • Banquet restaurant: after continuant lawsuits by the employers against the employees and the members of the solidarity committee and constant raids by cops and secret cops in the houses of the activists, Margarita Koutalaki a member of the solidarity committee and member of the administrative council of the syndicate, was arrested.

September 16th -17th

  • Two interventions took place in Patras from the anarchist assembly against the wage slavery “the tool bringer”, in solidarity with the fighting workers.

September 21th

  • Lay-offs of another 150 administrative employees in Lambrakis Press S.A. The organization publishes 4 popular newspapers, owns TV channels, press companies, tourist offices and has a first role in the employers terrorism.

September 22th

  • A caustic text posted on the Internet signed by dozens of well known authors, in solidarity with the workers of Lambrakis Press S.A.

September 23th

  • Gathering and demonstration of 3,000 contract workers towards the parliament against the measures taken by the government. The protest was not mentioned by the media since it was not supported by the sold out unions.

September 27th

  • The administration of OSE (Greek railways organization) canceled all the programmed routes of Monday 27th till Wednesday 29th “so that the public does not get in trouble”, due to work stoppage declared by the workers. This is a form of a lock out by the administration and the new managers that no public prosecutor and no court judged it as illegal and abusive. The workers complain that OSE administration tries to terrorize the strikers and has an organized plan in order to turn the public opinion against the strikers.

September 29th

  • The Association of Employers in Book and Paper went on a strike gathering outside the bookstore “Politeia”and then marched on the Ministry of Employment against the lay-offs in Lambrakis Press S.A. and the press branch company “Ellinika Grammata”.

  • European action day against the new measures and the cooperating-with-the-state unions GSEE and ADEDY were enough with a hollow protest towards the E.U. offices. They didn’t call on a strike or work stoppage and made clear that they have no such plan in the near future. Gatherings and demonstrations took place in Athens and Thessaloniki .
  • The gathering of GSEE (one of the sold-out Unions) at Klathmonos square (with its leader not daring to show up) was booed from the main demo “class demo”, when the last passed from there.

September 1st -30th

  • “Typoekdotiki” the press company of the Communist Party in Greece, “KKE” declared the layoff of 40 employees until the end of October due to the economic crisis!

Repression – Prisons

September 4th

  • Riot police (MAT) raid Exarchia after a parked riot police vehicle is attacked with molotov cocktails in the area. The riot cops chased the people sitting in the self-organized park on Navarinou Street, throwing flash bang grenades and tear gas. Then, they vandalized the park, made 2 arrests and beat up badly one of the two arrestees, who just happened to be passing by on his scooter!
  • Dynamic anarchist demonstration in the provincial town of Trikala in solidarity with imprisoned Vangelis Palis, who was in intensive care at the time after a mysterious “self-injury.”

September 7th

  • 2 students were rejected from a graduate program of the Physics Dept. of the University of Crete because of their involvement in self-organized political actions (squats etc.). Specifically, the students were not accepted (although they fulfilled all the criteria), on the pretext that they had no academic ethos.

September 17th

  • Unrest in the prison of Alikarnassos in Heraklion, Crete. The imprisoned refused to return to their cells because of the humiliating controls, the unprovoked disciplinary sentences and the inhuman conditions that steadily worsen. On the same evening, a motor-demonstration numbering about 50 people drove past the prison in solidarity.

September 20th

  • Do you remember the obligatory chips for the dogs? Well, the government announced that the process of issuing the new digital “Citizen Card” will begin in early 2011. This will be like a credit card with chips, in which a variety of personal information of the card holder will be recorded. In addition, all the transactions with the state and itineraries within the EU will be recorded. A similar card will also be issued for immigrants after May 2011, namely the “Immigrant Card”.

Solidarity Actions

September 18th

  • Arson attack with dozens of Molotov cocktails against the police outpost of the Turkish consulate and two parked police cars, in solidarity with imprisoned fighters and the Chilean anarchists persecuted by the Chilean state.
  • On the same evening, a car of the multinational corporation Canon was set on fire in eastern Thessaloniki. The action was dedicated to the fighters Marco Camenisch, Silvia Guerini, Luca Bernasconi and Constantino Ragusa, incarcerated in different Swiss prisons. They were on hunger strike from September 10th to protest for their detention conditions.

September 23rd

  • A rally in solidarity with the 4 persecuted of the 2003 EU summit was held in Xanthi (northern Greece). Texts were handed out and a banner was hanged. The trial was postponed for 14 January 2011.
  • Rally outside the Russian embassy for the case of the persecuted Russian fighters Maksim Ivanov and Aleksey Dmitriev, who were arrested by the Russian authorities for hooliganism the day after an anti-fascist demonstration in defense of Khimki forest near Moscow.

September 24th

  • Gathering outside of the Chilean embassy in solidarity with political prisoners. A banner that read ”freedom to the fighters in Chile” was hang, texts were shared out, leaflets were thrown, and a text in Spanish was handed out at the entrance of the embassy.

September 27th

  • Occupation of the Foreign Press Correspondents Union in Athens in solidarity with the political prisoners who are accused for the Revolutionary Struggle case, in order to spread counter-information on this case.

Immigrants

September 10th

  • Clashes between immigrants in Igoumenitsa and Manolada. Then, some immigrants were arrested by cops with the help of other migrants.

September 13th

September 14th

  • A group of Afghans attacked a group of fascists in the district of Agios Panteleimonas, in central Athens. Migrants have to deal with fascist attacks on a daily basis in that area.

September 26th

  • The third Festival of Solidarity and Culture of African Women took place in Ameriki Square in Athens with great success, despite the efforts of the mayor of Athens to cancel the event supposedly due to “anonymous” information coming from some fascists that call themselves “exasperated citizens” and the Police Department, warning that there was danger of potential attacks by “several groups that are opposed to the realization of the event.” www.africanwomen.gr

September 29th

  • Nearly 80 fascists under the protection of police forces gathered once more at Attiki Square (centre of Athens) to propagate their racist hatred against the presence of immigrants in these neighborhoods – in the midst of the election campaign by the leader of the fascist organization “Chryssi Avgi.” Then they arrived outside Villa Amalias squat. The response of comrades to this challenge was immediate; within a short time an anti-demo of 300 people took place in the district of Agios Panteleimonas. Later, police squads arrived outside Villa Amalias squat and used teargas, causing the inhabitants’ indignation.