On Friday 22 November 2024, after an adjournment, the trial of the 72 arrested comrades from the battle of the Squatted Prosfygika* on the 22nd of November 2022, resumed. Before the proceedings of this third trial began, a counter-information channel claimed with strong support from our lawyers an official coverage of the session, but tension ensued and then an adjournment for some time, as the court rejected this possibility. In the spirit of the recently passed general rule prohibiting total or partial transmission of trials “by any means”, it becomes virtually impossible for observatories covering trials of major social and political importance to operate. This is yet another restriction on the need for direct update on socio-political events, in the context of the silencing of information and the authoritarian control of its circulation, within limits and rationale that faithfully serve the interests and maintenance of the ruling regime.
During the proceedings of the third and final court session, the statements (“apologies”) of the arrested comrades continued, in the same spirit of diverse collective relevance to the node of defending the Community of Squatted Prosfygika and what it stands for. In the following statements, both comrades from Greece and internationalists, solidarians and residents of the Squatted Prosfygika [with no divisions between us, despite the diligent effort of the court to reestablish the border between us], highlighted again the social-political context as an integral part of free coexistence, as well as the sense of mutual help and solidarity that prevails within the social structures to meet the needs of the community, in a surrounding condition that privileges indifference and self-centredness.
There were also references to the fierce police violence on the part of the various police groups that operated together, pointing guns at the people of the 6th block during the invasion, as well as to incidents of sexual harassment during the immobilization of comrades by the cops. Additionally, comrades referred to the classic conditions of detention in the Attica General Police Directorate-GADA (along the lines of torture patterns), with the deprivation for hours of even access to drinking water and food, and the lack of information for many hours concerning the prosecution which this way transforms into an arrest. There were also references to the attack on the arrested comrades and solidarity activists after the end of the court procedure on the day of the invasion, in the area of the Evelpidon courts of law.
The spectacular invasion in the Community of Squatted Prosfygika on 22-11-2022, with the political-military characteristics of a full-scale military operation (even a helicopter was flying over the blocks), apart from its terrorist character, constitutes, as noted by comrades, a possible rehearsal exercise and mapping of the area for a generalised evacuation operation. Since the 1990s already, the “fillet” of profitability for the appetites of the state and capitalists, and at the same time already a place of housing for squatters, the socially oppressed, the poor and migrants from the Middle East, Africa and beyond, has been in the midst of the controversy over whether the Prosfygika should be preserved as a “cultural heritage site” or whether the operational plans of Vovos (a Greek engineer and entrepreneur in the building construction sector) for a mall and
underground parking should prevail. In place of the old plans, now comes the memorandum of (re)launching of the Double Redevelopment in the areas of Alexandra Avenue and Votanikos, in close cooperation with the state and (construction, tourism, etc.) companies, to install Vovos’ mall on the site of the stadium across the avenue and to turn the Prosfygika into an Airbnb and underground parking -with the help of the State Security Agency, of course.
The attempt to implement fear with the armed repression operations and the provocations of cops and fascists (always in operational cooperation), constitute a political-strategic plan of the regime. The state, capital and those who support them, produce terrorism on the backs of the residents, in order to then force them into gradual displacement and withdrawal. This is the political-state planning. A death project that will always find mounds of life and resistance through the power of self-organization, self-administration of the society and social solidarity.
After the speeches of the four defence lawyers, the trial at first instance concluded with the decision (in the spirit of the previous prosecution proposal) to acquit the 72 arrested comrades for all charges, except for the charge of “disturbance of the peace”, which was changed from “aggravated” to “simple”, and for which an appealable sentence of 9 months with a 3-year suspension was imposed.
The dynamic, multiform social movement and the responses of solidarity stood with courage against the “little shop of the law”, forming a strong cohesive mound against the plans of repression and exploitation by the state and the bosses.
It should be noted that while the last session of our trial in the first instance was taking place, other solidarity gatherings were also taking place in the courtroom of the Evelpidon, and the loud and uninterrupted slogans of the comrades were flooding all the halls and buildings of the “law factory”!
Freedom to all captive comrades around the world!
Redevelopment means that the poor are displaced.
10, 100, 1000 SQUATS, AGAINST A WORLD OF ORGANIZED CRIME
NOONE ALONE IN THE HANDS OF THE STATE
The arrested comrades from the battle of the Squatted Prosfygika
*Prosfygika in Greek is the name given to the neighbourhoods that were built for the migrants
coming to Greece in the 1900s.
** You can find the audio files of the 3 trial sessions from the counter-information channel “Cries from the Cells (Κραυγές απ΄τα Κελιά)” here: https://athens.indymedia.org/post/1634085/. The audio of the 3 sessions were received with
great difficulty, as the court of law unreasonably prohibited the recording by the counter-information channel “Cries from the Cells (Κραυγές απ΄τα Κελιά)” in the courtroom during the trials, while permission was sought.
Received by email.