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Athens Greece: Cops murder a 16 year old

At around 9.40pm on Tuesday night, four people on motorbikes opened fire against the police station of Ayia Paraskeui, a north-eastern suburb of Athens. Mainstream media report that five cops have been wounded, with one being in a critical condition. They also report that the type of weapons and ammunition used and the style of the attack refer to either the “Revolutionary Struggle” or the “Revolutionary Sect” – two of the many urban guerrilla groups active in the country lately. It is expected that whatever group is responsible for the attack will release a communique in the next few days.

More info as it comes.


Do not expect from me too many details for this incident, as all the info come from police sources.
 
At around 9.40pm on Tuesday night, four people on motorbikes opened fire against the police station of Ayia Paraskeui, a north-eastern suburb of Athens. Mainstream media report that five cops have been wounded, with one being in a critical condition. They also report that the type of weapons and ammunition used and the style of the attack refer to either the “Revolutionary Struggle” or the “Revolutionary Sect” – two of the many urban guerrilla groups active in the country lately. It is expected that whatever group is responsible for the attack will release a communique in the next few days.

More info as it comes.


Do not expect from me too many details for this incident, as all the info come from police sources.

:cool:
 
update on the wounded policemen, 3 are still in hospital all in stable conditions, one of which a police woman also in stable condition after successful operations last night (she had a wound to one hand and another bullet had damaged her lungs).

the only thing Dimitris didn't mention on his post (which is of course from police sources-from the greek media) is that they found on the scene 99 bullets fired and one unused, and also the three motorbikes used were found which might provide DNA information.

for more updates in English from Occupied London (they seem to have regular updates) : http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/...t-police-station-in-athens-five-cops-wounded/

http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/

also reported in the media : 6 policemen and one civilian were attacked and that they were 6 people on 3 motorbikes and that only the 2 opened fire (again this is info from the greek media -radio)

*Correction (from greek newspaper http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=96239 ) the civilian(who was passing) was not attacked but suffered shock and fainted, and he is being treated for shock not wounds.
 
"According to information that the greek newspaper has ( http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=96571 ) from next week the government puts an end to all the armed guards outside the police stations all over Greece .

The decision was taken by the minister of Protection of the Citizen (previously called Ministry of Public Order), obviously in an attempt to defuse the situation that has emerged with the armed attacks, but also to deflate the wave of fear which has affected thousands of policemen.

The investigation relating the bloody attacks to the police station of Agia Paraskevi is still undergoing, but up to now they don't seem to have made any progress." (translating from the article)


There seems to be a back and forth attitude of the ministry

It started with the provocative police presence in mass numbers, body searches and arrests in Exarhia - the first few days of the new government which continued for days - and in other areas
which resulted to many reactions and demonstrations against them from political/activist and neighborhood groups, especially after the arrest of left political figures in Exarhia after a book presentation,

afterwards the asking of the resignation of the chief of police (as if it wasn't a political decision to engage in those provocative "police excursions" in Exarhia and elsewhere),

then with the decision to abolish the outrageous law about "hooded demonstrators"(which stated that demonstrators with covered faces caught in demonstrations after engaging in some violent act could be prosecuted with sentences up to 10 years),

and now with this latest decision after the attack...

Anyway there are few "heated months" ahead with the anniversary of the 17th of November, later with the anniversary of Alexis death, and then with the trial of the 2 special guards (starting early in the new year ,if I'm not mistaken) which needs better thought out and clearer decisions of the new government... IMHO.
 
A bomb exploded early Friday in the center of Athens, outside the private residence of a Greek member of European Parliament (MEP). The blast caused damage but no injuries, according to reports.

The bomb was left in front of the entrance to the building where Marietta Giannakou, one of 22 Greek MEPs, lives. The bomb, which was inside a bag, damaged vehicles and the entrance of the building.

Giannakou, who was formerly the Greek minister of education and religious affairs, is a member of the center-right New Democracy Party, one of the two main political parties in Greece.

Anonymous warnings were called in to a local newspaper and television station 20 minutes before the bomb detonated.

Smaller explosions were also reported outside the Spanish consulate in Thessaloniki and a car dealership in Athens. No injuries were reported at the sites of these blasts.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4839873,00.html
 
Pagani Detention Centre is Closing Down!!!

Just heard on the radio that the Pagani detention centre in Lesvos is closing down !!!!
The immigrants will be transported to Chios island - have no information about the conditions on that centre yet - the centre in Pagani will be closed from this Sunday and the authorities of the island stated that they will restore it and open it again -after a few months - but it will not house more than 100 people- compared to more than 700 that it had up to now.

That is only a first step but it is shows that all the actions -which were many!!! -of the last few months had a result.

-------------------------------

About the rest:
-As DeepStoat has posted there has been an explosion early this morning (around 4) and no injuries from that or in those in Thessaloniki

- also Eleutherotupia newspaper published today a communique from a new group (O.P.L.A acronym that stands for Groups of Proletarian Popular Self-Defence, also Opla as a word in greek means guns)
( http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=96747 ) which they characterize as strange
It quotes from the Communist International, it quotes Nikos Zahariadis, it finishes by saluting to OPLA (a group that was created during the civil war in Greece and it was the acronym for Organization for the Protection of the Popular Militia) and "long live the 28th of October 1946" and IMHO it is all over the place and a very weird piece ,to say the least, for one page of writing...

*Correction from earlier: i read it as salute to OPLA meaning the word not the historic group, not that this changes my initial "feel" about them, but in order to be accurate to their writing...
 
Because there is a foul smell in the Athenian air lately-from Wednesday actually- and I don't mean from the bullets fired from the attack last Tuesday, some things need to be said, I feel.

I do not feel very " comfortable " posting in an open forum about armed attacks and my views on the subject and I will not do that ,

but because of the attack,
some of the responses/re-actions from representatives of left political parties from Wednesday until Friday have been ,to say the least, from a different galaxy and left a very "alien" taste in my mouth...

so ... there is talk (so far) about a demonstration against the "terrorist attacks on our democracy" where left/or leftist if you like parties(at least in their names) together with right-wing parties (not if you like and not just in the names) will go "hand-in-hand" at a demonstration against the recent attacks...

It's not just because something like this has such a foul smell ,that is worse even than the smell of 1989 and onwards with the coalition governments of left, centre and right-wing parties...
It's not even because I have "certain allergies" to "certain co-alliances"....

It's because I did NOT hear any talk about joint demonstrations when workers are killed in factories or the workplaces (57 this year - not 1 or 2 in stable condition in hospitals with doctors doing their best ,and rightly so, to save them)

It's because I did not see any officials running to the site or to the workers families or make elaborate statements all over the place that "We will Stop this" ,when people lose their lives while working in jobs that do not include guns in their job description,

It's because I did Not see similar friendly cohorts and encouragement towards Joint Efforts when people lose their lives, lose their homes , lose their jobs, lose their neighborhoods or lose the environment...

OK . Enough. "Foul smells" cannot be put into words, so I'll leave it in the air and we'll wait and see..

some links and info in English for the latest, communiques and all.

- http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/ or http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/...armed-attack-on-the-police-station-in-athens/

- http://libcom.org/news/more-urban-guerrilla-attacks-greece-30102009
 
The trial of Alexis’ murderers will take place in Amfissa on 15.12.09

In English from Occupied London : http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/...on-15-12-occupied-london-migrating-to-athens/

"The trial of Alexis’ murderers will take place in Amfissa on 15.12; a whole month of tension coming up; Occupied London is migrating to Athens!

A few hours ago corporate media reported that cops Korkoneas and Saraliotis, the murderers of Alexis Grigoropoulos, are to stand trial on December 15th, in the town of Amfissa. With a population of just under 7,000, Amfissa lies approximately 120 km NE of Patras and 210 km NW of Athens. It has been chosen for its small size and poor transport access, in an obvious attempt to to make it harder for people to get there. As if! On December 15th, we’ll be in Amfissa then…

Before the cops’ trial however, there is the annual commemoration of the anti-dictatorial student uprising of November 17th, 1973. The ministry of public order (in its new doublespeak, ministry of “citizen protection”) is trying to keep the calm ahead of this date – and of course December 6th, the date of Alexis’ assassination, is not too far in the horizon.

Ahead of all these dates, we have been working round the clock to move Occupied London …to Athens, as we will be migrating to the servers of the new-ish tech collective espiv.net. This might mean downtime errors and poor updates for the next few days, but it should be worth the effort. OL will be broadcasting live from Athens, with a – very much – expanded group of comrades contributing news and updates from the capital and the other Greek cities ahead of the next intense month."
 
In English from Occupied London : http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/...on-15-12-occupied-london-migrating-to-athens/

"The trial of Alexis’ murderers will take place in Amfissa on 15.12; a whole month of tension coming up; Occupied London is migrating to Athens!

A few hours ago corporate media reported that cops Korkoneas and Saraliotis, the murderers of Alexis Grigoropoulos, are to stand trial on December 15th, in the town of Amfissa. With a population of just under 7,000, Amfissa lies approximately 120 km NE of Patras and 210 km NW of Athens. It has been chosen for its small size and poor transport access, in an obvious attempt to to make it harder for people to get there. As if! On December 15th, we’ll be in Amfissa then…

Before the cops’ trial however, there is the annual commemoration of the anti-dictatorial student uprising of November 17th, 1973. The ministry of public order (in its new doublespeak, ministry of “citizen protection”) is trying to keep the calm ahead of this date – and of course December 6th, the date of Alexis’ assassination, is not too far in the horizon.

Ahead of all these dates, we have been working round the clock to move Occupied London …to Athens, as we will be migrating to the servers of the new-ish tech collective espiv.net. This might mean downtime errors and poor updates for the next few days, but it should be worth the effort. OL will be broadcasting live from Athens, with a – very much – expanded group of comrades contributing news and updates from the capital and the other Greek cities ahead of the next intense month."

It looks set to be a rum old do.
 
thanks for the updates Stella

I'll try to keep you updated with informative posts/relevant links etc (and few posts of outbursts or ramblings- ways of seeing...) as much as I can

It looks set to be a rum old do.

I am not going to make a prediction of how heated the next few months are going to be (I'm usually wrong in my estimations...) but they will be active months, no matter how far they have the trial..
 

yes, it exploded yesterday around lunchtime and the target was a member of parliament (Mimis Androulakis, now a member of Pasok - the new governing party- but with long history on the left of the "spectrum" from the Communist party to the coalition of the left, he's also known for his action against the dictatorship and his imprisonment and torture from the junta) There were no injuries from the blast or major damages.

Now about yesterday's demonstration against the provocative stance and presence in mass numbers of the police in Exarhia, it was big and and there was a general assembly afterwards at the square in Exarhia. Later in the evening there were clashes with the police and there was at least 1 person arrested.
some photos from the demo : https://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1103926

I should also mention that the government + police/ or even together with the university authorities (not too sure about that) have closed down a few unis in Athens (ASOEE, the Law Uni, Panteio uni) in the spirit of a new style of "law and order" during the days of the anniversary of the Polytechnic. Paraphrasing a Greek saying "... different clothes/colours same old person..."

Also yesterday there was in the media (newspapers http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=101440 but also a post on Indymedia Athens https://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1103693 ) a statement from Alexis' mother about her sadness ,opposition and arguments about the trial taking place away from Athens.
She stated that the distance from Athens is going to make it difficult for witnesses to attend (some of which are students), that also the replacement of a local jury (from Athens) which has immediate / first hand knowledge of the events with a different jury that does not have that advantage is bound to make the trial unfavourable towards the vindication of her son's memory from the defamatory and slanderous statements of the accused and their lawyer and lastly that the transferring of the trial so far from Athens will immensely hinder the public's information about it and she closes with her request for the trial to take place in Athens and not far from it as the accused have requested through their lawyers.
 
An arrest this morning (5.30) of a Greek 22-year-old woman by the police -special crime unit - with 4 accusations relating to participation in explosions etc (allegedly she is one of the six suspects the police were searching for)
source for what it is worth (Greek newspaper http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=101956 and website tvxs.gr http://www.tvxs.gr/v26082 /the photo from previous detainees not today ) Two more people were also detained (but not arrested )on similar suspicions.
 
according to the "refreshed" article of the same newspaper the 22-year-old was not from the six that there was a warrant for their arrest, but from a different warrant issued for the arrest of 5 people that had not been publicized. The woman arrested (according to the article) is also accused of participating in the urban guerilla group conspiracy of cells of fire.
The "refreshed" ( 13.44 ) article of the greek newspaper : http://www.enet.gr/?i=news.el.ellada&id=101956
 
according to a greek website (zougla) the two men that were taken together with the 22-year-old to G.A.D.A.(police headquarters of Athens) were released as there wasn't any incriminating evidence against them. The rest of the article is ,to say the least, disgusting and that is the reason I'm not posting the link.
 
a video was uploaded on youtube of the time of the arrest of a young man yesterday close to a Self-Organized Park(Autonomous Park Navarinou & Harilaou Trikoupi, former parking space http://parkingparko.blogspot.com/ ) where the police presence for the arrest of 1 man was 8 cops, but I'm dyslexic so probably I counted wrong, where according to tvxs.gr ( http://www.tvxs.gr/v26084 ) which quotes posts from Indymedia the young man was drugged along the ground and beaten. In the beginning of the video one of the cops keeps repeating to a man trying to either help or was complaining about the treatment : " Go away, don't you get it, go away, what are you a doctor?" on the video there are other people around shouting "he didn't do anything wrong, they hit him".

 
some quick updates:

The 22-year-old arrested on Saturday appeared in court today (there was a group outside in solidarity) denied all charges and was given until Wednesday to prepare for her defense. From the radio I heard that her fingerprints were found on a moving object (candlestick in the house the police raided after the first arrests last month) which from previous cases does not prove to be solid evidence of anything.

Also there has been talk (in the media) of the possibility of postponing the trial of Alexandros' murderers to a later date.

About the 24-year-old beaten up and drugged on the ground of Navarinou Park (video showing him on the ground with many cops around him has been all over the internet / greek blogs etc already )the latest info is that they found nothing on him or his bag, but he is still detained and charged under the hoody law which supposedly the new government claimed they aim to abolish and considered it a stupid law...It is worth mentioning that he was beaten up and drugged on the ground only a few blocks away from where Alexandros was murdered last year. The reason the cops gave for arresting him was that he was wearing a green hooded jacket and that earlier during the attack on a police squad 300 metres away one person wearing similar clothes was involved in that attack.

And a last note
Since yesterday the gates of the Athens Polytechnic have opened for events/talks in commemoration of the Popular Uprising of November 1973 -14th-17th of November 1973- against the US and NATO backed military dictatorship which revolt the junta drowned in blood with the crashing of the gates of the Polytechnic on top of which were still people hanging from the railings. The commemoration ends with the demonstration on the 17th starting from the Polytechnic and ending outside the US embassy. The demonstration is led by current students of the Polytechnic holding the bloodied flag of that time.

One of the slogans/songs heard during these days' events is from a poem by Yannis Ritsos "Romiosini" (Greekness)

"... When they clasp hands the sun becomes certain of the world,
When they laugh a tiny swallow flies from their bristled beards,
When they sleep twelve stars tumble from their empty pockets,
When they are killed life tramps uphill with drums and banners..."
 
an extremely quick update and I'll get back with more later.

The demo was huge with extremely healthy "pulse" , slogans and banners, some : "the Polytechnic was not a celebration,it was Uprising and Popular struggle", " Forwards for our generation's Polytechnics " and "We are the generation of 700(euros) Let's become the nightmare of the 300(members of parliament) . From a friend who was on line and was checking the spy's (zougla.gr) camera he confirms that it was huge as well & two more people from different parts of the demo said it was the biggest in years.

From what I've seen with my own eyes , the part I was -and I walked along from the beginning of the assembled groups up to the front with the flag there weren't any clashes with the provocative mass amount of cops of all kinds and plain clothes' cops (I haven't seen so many "plain" clothes' cops before -my foot mr. Chrisohoidis(the protector of his citizens) the police presence was going to be discreet - but there were many clashes from what I've heard and not just few, like the media claim from the quick check I had so far.(I'll get back on that). The main info which is kind of confirmed although i did not manage to get to GADA (police headquarters) is that they engaged in mass arrests some said more than 200 people and a couple journalists. I don't know if they are arrests or detainment for "their style of identification purposes", but they were definitely taken to GADA and the surrounding areas and not just the surrounding streets were so heavy with chemicals and cops of all kinds it was impossible to reach, even after around 8.30 the stench was too painful.
Before I start using 4-letter words I'll calm down a bit and get back with more info, but I'll just say this. This government has proven to be very stupid if they think they are going to introduce these kind of "discreet" and "protective" stance without getting some strong responses.

also , the Anarchist block was very very big :) :)
 
latest:
They are prosecuting the Head of The Athens Polytechnic(sorry I can't think of the right word right now) for "allowing" the Indymedia Athens web site.
 
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