Yesterday, August 2nd, members of Contra Info put up an English banner in solidarity with Skaramaga squat at the yard of Athens Polytechnic School (Polytechnio), in Patission street. Also, the following counter-information text regarding the police raid in Skaramaga squat — in English and French — was distributed during the solidarity gathering at Monastiraki square:
STATE AND BOSSES LISTEN TO THIS WELL
HANDS OFF SKARAMAGA SQUAT
On Friday morning, July 29th, 2011, in downtown Athens the repressive and persecutory forces of the Greek State once again performed a military style operation.
Murderers in uniforms — aka the Greek police — raided an anarchist squat at the junction of Patission 61 and Skaramaga streets, blocking the building for almost five hours and calling in a delegate of the ‘legitimate’ owner, the Mariners’ Retirement Fund (ΝΑΤ). The cops confiscated all the computers and an internet server from the squat’s workshop. Also, one squatter who had entered in order to be present during the investigations, was arrested and held in Omonia police department. He has been charged with three misdemeanours and was not released before Saturday, while his trial date was set for August 10th.
This police operation did not come out of the blue. In this particular downtown area, the anarchist squats Villa Amalias and Skaramaga had come under attack by cops and fascists during May, in the midst of fierce attacks against immigrants in the centre of Athens with devotees of fascism abusing the brutal murder of Manolis Kantaris, while neo-Nazi groups launched pogroms injuring a total of hundreds of immigrants, and fatally stabbed the Bangladeshian Alim Abdul Manan.
Skaramaga squat is one of the open anarchist projects that emerged after the revolt of December 2008. Ever since, it has stood as a meeting point for radical social movements, and as a hub of action for individuals and collectives that struggle for social liberation.
This raid happened just a few hours before the eviction of Syntagma Square tent occupation, on Saturday dawn, July 30th. The eviction of Syntagma Square was led by Eleni Raikou, the same persecutor who ordered the immediate eviction of Athens Law School where 300 immigrant–workers had began a hunger strike on January 2011.
Last week’s repressive acts of the democratic Junta took place one month after the State committed crimes against thousands of demonstrators during the 48hour general strike of June 28th–29th. At least 500 people were injured then, and 23 were arrested for demonstrating against the midterm memorandum and the deterioration of their lives.
We take a stand against fear, oppression and social genocide promoted by the State and the bosses, with resistance, solidarity, self-organization and uncompromised social struggles.
Squatters and comrades in solidarity have reoccupied the building of Skaramaga squat, and welcome solidarity actions worldwide. Any attack by the State and/or neo-Nazi gangs against squats such as Skaramaga, is an attack against the international anarchist movement, and will not be tolerated. We will stand in their way and we will fight back.
STOP ALL PERSECUTIONS AGAINST SQUATTERS NOW!
In solidarity,
Contra Info, Translation Counter-Information Network
contrainfo.espiv.net