Familiar?

 

        As the lock-down continues, frustration will mount and tensions will grow. It is a tinder box and it will only take one incident of heavy handed police activity to light the fuse. There has been sporadic outbursts of anger here and there, the latest in Belgium. Though different circumstances, it does ring familiar with the riots that erupted in Greece, December, 2008, after the police shooting of 15 year old Alexandros Griroropoulos. 

 This from 325:

Belgium:
   Riot in Anderlecht area of Brussels after 19 year old killed by cops

      Enraged youth from the Anderlecht area of the capital city Brussels, Belgium rioted yesterday, attacking cop vehicles and hurled missiles at the cops, injuring one and beating up another. The riot was triggered when a cop patrol pursued a 19 year old on a scooter because he refused to stop for a curfew check. He hit an oncoming cop vehicle head on and died on the spot. Hundreds of angry youth from the local area instantly took to the street after a callout on social media attacking the cops who had arrived to reinforce those involved in the killing. Several cop vehicles were set on fire, one youth liberated a gun from a vehicle, shooting it in the air as he ran off.
       The local youth has been named as Adil and already the media is doing the state’s dirty work by sending out its appeal for calm, using his family as a weapon to suppress the anger of a local youth’s murder and against the curfew. The cops have further reinforced the area today (Sunday), even with water cannon because they fear that the area will breakout in further rioting. Belgium has been in a four-week curfew in an attempt to stem the spread of the coronavirus epidemic.
       This is a clear sign of the riots and insurrection to come that has now arrived in fortress Europe, after other outbreaks of rebellion in other parts of the world, we are even aware of scum media clearly attempting along with the authorities to suppress any outbreaks of rebellion against the coronavirus curfews*. It is only a moment of time before the global backlash erupts.
     First Wuhan, Now Brussels, Insurrection Everywhere!

    *Riots have erupted in Bristol, China & Palestine, even telephone towers burnt around prison island UK, along with reported raids on supermarkets in the South of Italy in response to ‘lockdown measures’ (curfew!)

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Money, Oil And The End Of The World As We Know It.

 

From subMedia TV:

      This we bring you a recap of the COP21 climate clusterfuck in Paris, with Jim Hansen’s reaction to the historic non-agreement and 350.org’s condemnation of comrades who defied the protest ban. Over in Greece we look at the yearly riots that commemorate the police murder of Alex Grigoropoulos. On the music break, deceased Greek anarcho MC – Killah P with “I Won’t Cry, I Won’t Fear” Our featured interview is with three brave comrades who managed to stop the flow of dirty tar sands oil to the entire eastern seaboard of Turtle Island, with three bike locks and some egg sandwiches.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Requiem For A Journey Of No Return.

       In Athens on December 6th. 2008, young 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot dead in the street by a cop, dying in the arms of his young friend of the same age, Nikos Romanos, who is now in a Greek prison.

    This event sparked some of the largest and most widespread riots seen in Greece, 

     Nikos has never spoken publicly about that night and the death of his friend, until now. 

      His public article, "Requiem for a Journey of No Return" can be read on Contra Info.
This is a small extract from that public letter written from prison:

  ------The most ridiculous part of it all is the fact that the propaganda mechanisms of domination attempt to portray murders committed by cops as isolated incidents caused by deranged personalities, as accidents that always occur due to negligence.
     Police murders are neither isolated incidents, nor a Greek phenomenon. They are an extreme manifestation of the democratic imposition upon social margins, poor-devils, delinquents, insubordinates, migrants. Furthermore, police murders confirm that the liberatory war exists, whenever they target insurgents who arm themselves and fight domination with the flame of freedom burning in their hearts.
     These killings are a logical consequence of cops’ perceptions of their role, perceptions with which these individuals are indoctrinated to staff the repressive machines that shield the social machine’s orderly functioning.
     Police firearms do not go off with murderous intentions only in Greece; they murder 15-year-olds in Turkey because they participated in anti-government demonstrations, they murder 16-year-olds in Italy because they didn’t pull over at a police traffic stop, they murder mothers and children in Palestine, they murder dozens of African Americans in the US on purely racist motives, they murder migrants in Sweden’s suburbs, they murder youth in England’s poorest hoods; they murder repeatedly and serially in all corners of the planet to impose social peace.
      And if the examples I’ve brought are known to many, because they have been linked with small-scale and large-scale uprisings in response to statist murders, they do not cease to be a mere drop in the ocean compared to the storm of murderous crackdowns launched by security corps in defence of capitalist domination.
     If we close our eyes and ears to the ceaseless flow of dominant propaganda, we’ll be able to listen to the thousands of anonymous deaths in police stations, terrestrial and maritime border areas, concentration camps, psychiatric institutions and prisons, war zones across the Middle East, and sweatshops that exterminate contemporary slaves. Anyone can hear the cries of people who are being tortured in police cells, who commit suicide in a confinement facility out of desperation, who are sunk by coast guard cops and drowned in the cold waters of the Mediterranean Sea, who are crippling their bodies over multinationals’ production machines in third world countries, who are buried under rubble after blind aerial bombardments conducted by capitalist empires.--------

Read his full account HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

Lest We Forget, Alexandros Grigoropoulos December 6th. 2008.

       Today, December 6th. this evening to be precise, is the seventh anniversary of the murder of a 15 year old youth in Athens Greece. That Saturday night, just after 9pm, some youths are chatting in a café in Exarcheia, just as they do most Saturday evenings, two police arrive, there are some words, the police leave, then return shortly afterwards, two shots ring out and 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos falls to the ground and dies in the arms of his young companion. This cold blooded murder by the police, sparked some of the worst riots in Greece. For weeks the righteous anger of the people of Greece spilled onto the streets. This callous murder lit the touch paper of the powder keg of anger that had been rippling just below the surface, an anger that to this day is still there, fuelled by the continued plundering of the people of Greece, by the financial Mafia and their cohorts in government.

      This is a very fitting video to the memory of young Alexandros, showing that the people do not forget their own. It is also a display of the desire for freedom that is locked in all our hearts. An awakening in the people's consciousness to the fact that, there is a better way, we do not need to be tied to the debilitating yoke of capitalism.

This from Anarchist News: 

      Outside Greece, solidarity demonstrations, riots and clashes with local police also take place in more than 70 cities around the world, including London, Paris, Brussels, Rome, Dublin, Berlin, Frankfurt, Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, the Hague, Copenhagen, Bordeaux, Cologne, Seville, Sao Paulo, as well as Nicosia in Cyprus, and Paphos proving for the first time before the “Arab Spring” that people could spread the news and react through protests for the same matter around the globe, from San Francisco to Wellington and Buenos Aires to Siberia.

      While the unrest was triggered by the Alexis Grigoropoulos murder by police, the reactions lasted for so long simply because they were rooted in deeper causes, like the coming economic crisis a year later, which was already being felt by poorer classes and younger generations through rising unemployment rate and a feeling of general inefficiency and corruption of the authorities, institutions and right wing politicians of the Greek state (mainly New Democracy and PASOK political parties).

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Black December.

       The Greek state is preparing for Black December, the police are organising to crack down on anarchists across Greece. The crack down has been going on for a considerable time, however, the call for Black December will allow them to escalate the brutal repression.

This from Greek Reporter:

       Greek police are on alert after jailed anarchist Nikos Romanos issued a written statement calling all anarchists to wage war against the state and “…take over city halls and blow up fascists and bosses.”
      As the November 17 celebration and the anniversary of the murder of teenager Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a policeman on December 6 approach, the 22-year-old man who is serving 15 years in prison for armed robbery sent a written statement to indymedia.gr website calling all anarchists to arms.
     Given that since December 6, 2008 when Grigoropoulos was killed there are extreme riots taking place in Athens and Thessaloniki with arson and injuries of policemen, Greek police are preparing to deal with the threat.
      In the long statement coming from inside Korydallos Prison, there is mention of a destructive “action campaign called ‘Black December'” which will “restart the anarchist revolution, inside and outside of prison.”
     “Let’s smash the windows of department stores, occupy schools, universities and city halls, let’s distribute texts that spread the message of rebellion, blow up fascists and bosses,” read the message co-written by Romanos and convict Panagiotis Argyrou, member of terrorist group Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire.
        “… Let’s blow up the homes of politicians, throw molotov cocktails at cops, cover walls with messages, sabotage the normal flow of Christmas trade,” the statement continues.
        “…Let’s paint with ashes on the ugly buildings of banks, police stations, multinational corporations, army camps, television studios, courthouses, churches and charity organizations,” the statement further reads.
      Romanos was with Grigoropoulos on the night the 15-year-old was killed by policeman Epameinondas Korkoneas. Since then, Romanos pledged to avenge the death of his friend and fight against the state that killed him. In early 2013, Romanos, along with Yiannis Michailidis, Andreas Bourzoukos and Dimitris Politis were arrested during an armed robbery attempt at Velventos in northern Greece. 

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5th Anniverssary Of The Murder Of Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

       Two days before the fifth anniversary of the murder in Exarcheia, Athens, by the police, of the youth Alexandros Grigoropoulos, plain clothes police shot and wounded an anarchist in the same area, Exarcheia.

This from Contra Info:

     Before I start describing the incident, I would like to mention the reasons why I haven’t initiated any formal complaint or lawsuit. First off, I declare myself an anarchist-antiauthoritarian. Therefore, my conscience cannot be misled by legal proceedings. Freedom combatants should draw the battle lines against the system and its “privileges” offered to us. In the following account of the incident (which occurred two days before the anniversary of the murder of comrade Alexis Grigoropoulos, in 2008), I want to make it clear that I do not consider myself a victim of the described attack, because the battle lines are drawn, and we stand against the enemy, as I already mentioned.

      On the night of December 4, 2013 I was in the downtown area of Exarchia alongside other comrades, when we understood that we were followed by three plainclothes cops close to the corner of Benaki and Eressou streets. We briefly talked about what to do, and then we chased and harassed the cops. Two of the plainclothes ran away on Dervenion street toward Zoodochou Pigis street, while the third cop ran off to Eressou street, heading also to Zoodochou Pigis. It came as no surprise when we saw the first two thugs making a turn into Valtetsiou street and then on to Charilaou Trikoupi street, exactly where an anti-riot squadron is permanently stationed. We looked back, towards the third cop, and I yelled at him: “Where do you think you’re going, you fuckin’ undercover?” Suddenly I noticed that he was holding a gun pointed at me, and he shouted: “Come here… I’ll fuck you over” pointing his gun at my chest. In the next few seconds he cocked his pistol, ready to fire, and I shouted back at him: “What are you going to do, shoot me?” He shot me in the leg. At that precise moment, I didn’t realized that I was injured however, and the thought that his next bullet would hit me made me run towards Exarchia square, where I finally saw I was wounded in the leg.

       I considered useful to disclose this information not to spread fear but rage. We won’t chicken out no matter what; they must get it through their heads we don’t bend, not even with bullets.

      Attack first and always, with every possible way and every means, against the State and its minions.

See each other on the streets today, December 6 and every day.

The bullet will be returned to both the instigators and the perpetrators of the shot.

        Strength to the vagabonds who are accused in the cases of Velventos and Nea Filadelfeia.

     Two days later, on the anniversary of the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, the people of Athens took to the streets to mark this cold blooded murder of the young Alexandros, and as normal in Greece, when you take a protest to the streets, you are met with the full force of the state apparatus. As well as the usual stun grenades, baton attacks and detentions, the police spent a considerable effort trying to remove radical posters from the walls in Exarcheia.

These details From The Greek Streets:

20:48 GMT +2 Police have cordoned much of exarcheia.

20:16 GMT +2 The police have already attacked the square in exarcheia. People are gathering and setting up barricades on Benaki street and sidestreets.

19:56 GMT +2 The demonstration in Athens has ended, people are gathering at the place where Alexis was murdered. A couple of hundreds are there already, gathering is called for 9pm local time – the time that Alexis was shot.

14:27 GMT +2 Cops are slowly leaving now and students are being released after being searched by the cops. Seems to be the first time the cops have used the “kettling” technique (well-known in the UK) in a greek demo.

14:16 GMT +2 More students trapped, probably about 300 now.

14:02 GMT +2 They are now pushing all journalists away and more cops are arriving.

13:45 GMT +2 Student demo of approximately 2-3000 people is coming to an end. The cops have kettled about 200 people outside the university.

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The Many Paths Of Anarchism,

      The following is extract from a Reuters report on anarchist activity in Athens. Of course the anarchists in Greece, like anarchists the world over, are a many faceted bunch who cover the whole spectrum of direct action, with the same aim, to create a free, fair and just society, based on mutual aid, voluntary co-operation, justice and sustainability. It certainly will not come about by asking the authoritarians who oppress us and who try to govern us, "Please will you let us build our free new world?"

(Reuters) - Not far from the Athenian ruins where democracy was born more than 2,500 years ago, young anarchists intent on toppling Greece's political system run a cafe where the beer is cheap and the artwork features police cars set on fire.
     At first glance K*Vox, started a year ago by anarchists who occupied a shuttered building, looks like any other cafe in the bohemian Athens neighborhood of Exarchia. But inside posters show gun-toting guerrilla fighters and the symbol of anarchy - a circle with an A.

Read the full article HERE:

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CONFERENCE TOWARDS DIRECT DEMOCRACY.

       It seems only natural that since Greece, (for the moment, others are to follow.)  is at the sharp end of the financial Mafia's onslaught on the social fabric of that part of society where we the ordinary people live, that they should be calling for a conference/discussion on where to go from here. It is important that we realise that this is not a Greek problem, it is the same ongoing struggle of people verses capital that has been waged since the advent of capitalism. Capital has devastated lives across the globe for centuries, but never on such a wide scale and never with such savage brutality. Today it is determined to install wide spread poverty and deprivation across the continent, in an endeavour to recoup the billions that it gambled and lost. As the  dissatisfaction grows among the ordinary people, so the opportunities arise to change the entire economic system under which we have suffered for centuries.

A call from comrades in Thessaloniki for a festival of direct democracy:

We are standing on a crossroad, where we were led by an on going long procedure during the last three years. The riot of 2008 was followed by an open public discussion in the squares of greek cities, where a huge part of greek society showed an active participation. Before the riot of December 2008 the state devaluated life by murdering a 15 year old boy (Alexandros Grigoropoulos), while during the summer of 2011 life devaluated the state by breathing free and fresh air in the squares, without and against the state’s authority.
The idea of direct democracy came in public discussion and managed to crack once and for all the “wall” of representation. The path is now open, but the question still remains, who is going to walk this path?
The topics of this festival deal with
the update of the meaning of direct democracy he presentation and networking of the new projects of a social and solidarious economy that [...]

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