On Sunday, April 6th, 2014 comrades from several parts of Greece joined together to protest in close proximity to Domokos prison against the new prison reform bill of the ministry of Justice, and to send strength and warmth to the prisoners held in there.
At around 1pm, buses from Patras and Athens arrived straight to the road leading to Domokos prison, finding there was a police blockade half a kilometer away from the prison, so they couldn’t get any closer from there. Comrades from Karditsa, Volos, Trikala, Larissa and other cities had gathered beforehand in the central square of the village as planned, to march toward the prison. Protesters from Thessaloniki arrived later due to problems at one of their buses.
Some slogans were chanted initially, but people didn’t know whether inmates could hear anything due to the distance, so the cheers went down until there was phone communication with prisoners, who confirmed they were hearing the shouts on the inside. A smaller group of comrades found there was a way to get closer to the prison facilities going through the fields surrounding the prison, and from there they sent their warmth to the prisoners. Soon afterwards, there were small-scale clashes with the cops who were positioned on that side of the building. Tear gases were thrown but the wind did not blow in favor of police squadrons, so the effects were rather small. Intermittent clashes continued for more than an hour, with the rest of demonstrators waiting nearby not to leave others behind.
At about 3.30pm, there was quite a fun moment when comrades attempted to attack a patrol car and a secret police vehicle. When the three cops realized it, they jumped into their cars and drove the hell out of there, leaving a trace of tires on the asphalt.
Slogans against prisons and cops, but also for anarchy were mainly chanted, like:
Neither penal nor political prisoners; fire and explosives to all the prison cells.
Listen up you prison guards, hands off the fighters.
Those whose heads are full of shit cannot understand anything about freedom.
That’s right, that’s right, that’s right, bursts of Kalashnikov to make it stick in your mind.
Not a single teardrop for Tsironis; cops, pigs, murderers. (Giorgos Tsironis is the prison guard who was fatally stabbed by prisoner Ilia Kareli.)
Freedom for those who are in prison cells.