Roundup of recent actions in Greece

From Culmine (April 1, 2011) via Indymedia Barcelona (March 21, 2011):

It would be impossible to keep track of every sabotage that has taken place during the past few weeks in Greece, and we are therefore limiting ourselves to details about attacks that have been claimed.

In the early hours of February 20, a Piraeus Bank in the Athens neighborhood of Votanikos was attacked with hammers and then set on fire. The action was dedicated to those being charged with membership in the Fire Cells Conspiracy, but the accompanying communiqué was unsigned.

In the early hours of February 21, a gazaki (camping gas canisters plus a flammable liquid, like gasoline) exploded at the Treasury Office in the Thessaloniki neighborhood of Touba. The action was claimed by the International Revolutionary Front: Arson Attack Cell and dedicated to “those being charged with membership in the Fire Cells Conspiracy, social bandit Rami Syrianos, and all dignified prisoners in struggle.”

On March 1, a Zografos driving school was torched in the Athens neighborhood of Kaisariani. The accompanying communiqué—simply signed “Action”—explained that Zografos was attacked because of its collaboration with the pigs, as evidenced by its participation in the Police Day celebrations at the Hellenic Police Academy’s Officers’ School last October. Like many other communiqués connected to actions commemorating the one-year anniversary of the death of Revolutionary Struggle member Lambros Fountas (shot and killed by the pigs on March 11, 2010), it ended with the slogan “Honor forever to Lambros Fountas.”

A group called Shadows for the Instigation of Nighttime Sabotage claimed responsibility for a series of arsons that took place in Athens on March 2. A Eurobank EFG branch in Kaisariani, the Treasury Office in Holargos, and the local New Democracy party headquarters in Tavros were all set on fire. These actions were dedicated to anarchist prisoner Christos Politis and the five others being charged in the same case (all six comrades were arrested on December 4, 2010), anarchist prisoner Aris Seirinidis, and the hunger-striking Chilean comrades being charged in the “Bombings Case.”

In the early hours of March 6, the Lambros Fountas Guerrilla Formation set fire to an Emporiki Bank branch located right in the middle of the bourgeois Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki. The action was dedicated to the “captive Guerrillas of the Fire Cells Conspiracy, Revolutionary Struggle, and November 17,” as well as the Chilean comrades on hunger strike.

That same morning, a KION construction site was torched. KION is one of the companies that constructs prisons and courthouses in Greece. The unsigned communiqué dedicated the arson to Aris Seirinidis and “all dignified prisoners of the war on the regime.”

In the early hours of March 14, the local PASOK party headquarters in the Thessaloniki neighborhood of Sikea was set on fire. The accompanying communiqué was signed by the International Revolutionary Front: Incendiary Plans for Nighttime Disorder. It mentioned the Chilean comrades caught up in the “Bombings Case,” the imprisoned Fire Cells Conspiracy members as well as the other prisoners being charged with membership in the group, and the five imprisoned Thessaloniki anarchists (Yiannis Skouloudis, Dimitris Fessas, Dimitris Dimitsiadis, Haralambos Stylianidis, and Sokratis Tzifkas) being charged with the arson of Public Power Corporation (DEI) vehicles.

In the early hours of March 15, the Chaos Warriors torched two Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE) vans parked in the city of Gerakas, just north of Athens. The arson was a display of solidarity with the five comrades arrested the previous day and charged with membership in the Fire Cells Conspiracy.

During the afternoon of March 18, a gazaki exploded on the doorstep of Health Minister Andreas Loverdos’ office in downtown Athens. In the accompanying communiqué signed by Revolutionary Liberatory Action, the arson was dedicated to Aris Seirinidis, Christos Politis, and the six prisoners being charged with membership in Revolutionary Struggle (three of whom deny the charges). The communiqué also made reference to Loverdos’ vile career as Labor and then Health Minister, the recently ended hunger strike by 300 illegal immigrants in Athens and Thessaloniki, and the revolts sweeping through the Arab world.

Additionally, there have been a number of solidarity protests in front of prisons. On March 13, 100 comrades demonstrated in front of Grevena Prison (photos), where Christos Politis has been locked up since his December 4, 2010 arrest during an Antiterrorist Unit operation. And on March 19, there was a demonstration in Ioannina in support of Rami Syrianos, who is imprisoned there (photos).

Apart from the above, there have been several anarchist “invasions” of Athens metro stations, during which ticket validation machines were destroyed (last month, the price of a trip on public transportation rose from 1 to 1.40 euros). There have also been a number of semi-organized stone and Molotov attacks on riot police in Exarcheia, as well as a few clashes with Nazis. In addition, the Keratea residents’ struggle against the construction of a local garbage dump continues in full swing, with support from a large portion of the anarchist milieu. Finally, several luxury cars have been torched in immediate response to the arrests of certain comrades, and there have been numerous protests and demonstrations in solidarity with anarchist prisoners Aris Seirinidis and Simos Seisidis, whose trials are both currently underway.