Responsibility Claim for the Attack on the MAT (Riot Squad) in Athens, Greece

On Saturday 2/4, we chose to attack the MAT squad in front of the PASOK offices in Charilaou Trikoupis. The attack turned out exactly as we had planned where, with great ease and comfort, we arrived in front of the frightened eyes of the cops who started with quick steps backwards throwing tear gas from a distance, not having the possibility to do more.

The plan had two stages, with the first being to attack the cops at the PASOK offices with 30 Molotov cocktails and the second being to create fires in the surrounding streets simply as a demonstration and reminder of how easily we can be next to you.

While the second part of the plan was being implemented the DELTA/DRASI group made their appearance. Of course from our side there was no concern from their presence as their appearance was part of our planning and those comrades who had the role of attacking them attacked them. The reaction of DELTA/DRASI was to be expected, they stayed pinned to their motorbikes, sent from afar what they could send and did not take a single step to approach us. The mere sight of a few Molotov cocktails and the ready crowd terrified them and awakened memories of old times. As a consequence of this fear, we were given the comfort of entering the Exarchia neighbourhood with the crowd of people without any problem. We then remained for some time in the surrounding alleys observing their movements for future attacks.

The choice of the Exarcheia neighborhood to carry out the attack was not accidental. The rebellious Exarcheia is a reference point for the antagonistic movement, a neighbourhood of politicisation, fermentation and insurgency. From the anti-dictatorial struggles and clashes of the Polytechnic uprising of ’73, the murder of comrade Michalis Kaltezas* and the Chemistry revolt of ’85**, the murder of the student Alexandros Grigoropoulos and the December 2008 uprising to the defence of our neighbourhood against groups of fascists and parastatals in the ridiculous Macedonia rallies of 18-19, Exarcheia has always been a place of freedom, comradeship and struggle for those who fight to overthrow the rotten reality of the state.

The symbolism of the neighbourhood is recognised by the state by targeting and suppressing, over time, the structures, the centres of struggle and the insurgents of the area. The most recent example was the election campaign of the current pedophile government of the Nea Dimokratia Party, which relied to a large extent on the repression of the movement. From the very first days, it announced the re-establishment of the DELTA/DRASI group, hired hundreds of cops and spent tens of millions on equipment for the Hellenic Police. Of course there are no illusions that this strengthening of the repressive apparatus was done for the benefit of the ordinary citizen but clearly for the suppression of the movement and a possible upcoming social insurrection.

Inevitably, the neighborhood of Exarcheia could not be absent from their plans, since its geographical predominance was and will be an ongoing fantasy from above, a fantasy that among other things dreams of turning the site of the Polytechnic into a museum with shops and cafes for ”revolutionary” coffee, alternative tourism, Airbnb, the construction of a metro in the square and the general ”redevelopment” of political sterilization.

In conjunction with the above repressive measures, they have predictably upgraded their legal arsenal, bringing in bans on demonstrations and strikes, new labour and environmental bills, planning to bring cops into universities and culminating in the new penal code.

A criminal code under which the throwing, making and possession of a Molotov cocktail or any other incendiary weapon is upgraded to a felony. Clearly targeting the militant parts of the movement, they are trying to intimidate and weaken them through detention, exhaustive court proceedings, heavy sentences and imprisonment.

At a time when the state is hardening and upgrading its attack on us, a time of continuous impoverishment of society, but where social resistance is minimal and at the same time the movement still seems to be numb, we choose the path of conflict, returning to you a small part of the violence we receive every day.

This attack, on top of everything else, is also an action of practical solidarity with the two imprisoned comrades accused of the attack on the Piraeus traffic police, Fotis D. and Iasonas R.

Solidarity to all imprisoned comrades.

Until the demolition of every prison

Your bills, we turn them into mush and send them back to you

Anarchists

Comrades

Source: athens.indymedia

DN Notes

*Michalis Kaltezas, a 15-year-old who was shot in the back of his head by a cop assassin during the annual 17 November protests and ensuing riots in 1985. The assassination of Kaltesas lead to similar, if not more violent, insurrection to that of December ’08.

Revolutionary organization 17 November attacked a cop van to revenge the death of Kaltezas; the attack resulted in the death of a cop.

**The Chemeio, ’85 was a turning point for all those who lived through it and marks one of the most important moments in the history of the post-communist anti-authoritarian movement. The pogrom unleashed by the state on the occasion of a gathering in Exarcheia Square on 9 May 1985 and, in general, the merciless chase of the cops against hundreds of people (the notorious “Operation Virtue”), led many people to occupy the building of Navarino, resulting in violent clashes outside the Chemistry School and in many parts of the centre of Athens by people expressing solidarity.

Via Dark Nights

Note: Photo not associated with the action