From Occupied London
largest number of anarchists detained in a single day in 15 years; updates
(Follow today’s development via this ticker or via our January 9th tag)
UPDATE, 17.55 pm Earlier on, anarchists held a spontaneous demo outside the Ministry of Finance as PM Samaras held a press conference inside, in response to the Villa Amalias raid.
UPDATE, 17.50 pm More than 1,000 people inside the Polytechnic for tonight’s assembly. Meanwhile, a police water cannon has been spotted outside the police HQ on Alexandras avenue. The other two central universities in Athens, the School of Economics and the Law school, have been shut following orders by their administrations.
UPDATE, 17.35 pm The 40 anarchists detained earlier on inside the Democratic Left party HQ have all been released.
UPDATE, 17.15 pm News from inside the Polytechnic: the assembly location has changed, from Gini to the Max auditorium. Outside, riot police squads are stationed on most side streets off Stournari street and around the entire campus.
UPDATE 17.05 pm Photos and videos from today’s events.
UPDATE, 16.56 pm Short announcement by the collective of Skaramaga squat about today’s raid
UPDATE, 16.20 pm Solidarity actions and gatherings across Greece for Villa Amalias and Skaramanga
UPDATE, 16.00 pm Villa Amalias statement regarding today’s re-occupation and re-eviction
UPDATE, 15.50 pm Update on the arrested in Villa Amalias, the Democratic Left HQ and Skaramanga
UPDATE, 15.40 pm Video from inside Villa Amalias during its attempted re-occupation earlier on today.
UPDATE, 15.25 pm. Police have just raided the Skaramanga squat in Athens.
UPDATE, 11.45 am. If the numbers of detentions are confirmed (101 in Villa Amalias and 40 at the Democratic Left) this would mean today’s police operation will have seen the biggest number of anarchists detained at least since the 1998 Polytechnic riots.
At approximately 07:30 on January 9, dozens of people re-squatted Villa Amalias this morning, hanging a banner writing: “Squat for Ever – Villa Amalias”. Almost immediately, riot police that encircled the building threw tear gas inside. At approximately 09:20, the police’s special forces (EKAM) smashed the building’s windows and raided it anew, detaining 101 people who was inside.
Meanwhile – at approximately the same time – around 40 anarchists in solidarity occupied the HQ of DIMAR (Democratic Left Party), which participates in the governmental coalition. Police raided this building as well, detaining the occupiers.


Comments
http://en.contrainfo.espiv
http://en.contrainfo.espiv.net/2013/01/09/athens-police-raid-in-skaramag...
worker, can we have a
worker, can we have a "Squatting" tag? itd be a shame for someone to look for these articles on a squatting search and not find them..
lol @ anarchistnews being a
lol @ anarchistnews being a site where you can search for things and actually find them
like 93 people got their
like 93 people got their charges upgraded to felonies.
So.... the options are A) to
So.... the options are A) to continue as normal in the hopes that better times will come while recognizing that we are getting fucked with fairly bad, or B) mark a definitive break with the status quo through very obvious and clear means, like, outright war, recognizing that this will either result in near oblivion or temporary relief... right? Am I missing anything?
Here in the states I can see why so many people opt for A, since it would appear that the likely outcome of B would have probably more severe consequences. But in a place like Greece... it seems that a cost-benefit analysis would make risk of B look pretty reasonable...
Yeah but fear of option B in
Yeah but fear of option B in the states is a set up. Option B is coming whether or not we want it to. When the time comes, we can either clash with it head on despite the odds, or we can fall into obscurity, running, hiding and disappearing in the night.
Not trying to get all alex jonesian on you all but history does repeat and its fast upon us. And if we remain too afraid of the future to commit to action, then how are we ever going to get to the other side of what we're fighting for?
Part of the problem is that we keep waiting for the state to push us towards direct confrontation. logic that essentially allows them to engage us on their own terms.
Economic stagnation is
Economic stagnation is preferable to civil war for the vast majority of people, for very obvious reasons. Look at Syria for an example, then recalculate your "cost-benefit analysis".
Also, at this point, a full-blown civil war would probably be disastrous for anarchists in Greece anyways. The state is well-armed, and has the backing of foreign states as well as the resurgent Golden Dawn fascist movement and many other political "moderates" in Greece. The anarchists, by contrast, are poorly armed, outnumbered, and have the backing of no foreign states. Fighting a war takes a steady supply of arms, material, foodstuffs, medicines, and credit - none of which an anarchist army is going to get, from any foreign power, for very obvious reasons. Even a broad leftist coalition of anarchists, communists, and PASOK types would likely yield at best mild improvements in living conditions if it won a civil war, which it quite plausibly wouldn't (see: the last Greek civil war), or even potentially worse living conditions (a civil war being a bit of a drain on an already-battered economy and all).
The ideal situation in the short term would be some kind of clean uprising that didn't devolve into a protracted civil war, and which was able to reorganize economic life in such a way that Greece's hemorrhaging of wealth could be stopped as promptly as possible, yet without antagonizing the many foreign powers who would be more than happy to step in and put an end to such an experiment. It's a fine line to walk and I am not terribly optimistic at this point.
Sincerely,
- An anarchist who has been to Greece many times
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