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Solidarity in arresting Thessalonica
Whilst Europe's powerful men gather behind their fortresses and decide on our lives, some people choose to react against the omnipotence of the sovereign. Some people decide to respond to those whose greed grows day after day. The views and practices of these people are different. The State's reaction to this, however, always the same: Repression.
The cops, working under a strategically organized plan, experimenting in advance for the Olympic Games (Athens, 2004) : many days before any riots occured paper checks and arrests were more than intense, they were provocative. Aided by the irrationally extensive use of CS gas, they managed to capture more than a hundred people -- 27 of which remain under their custody. Those arrested were brutally beaten at the time of their arrest and later on, inside the police departments. Some were forcibly uncased and humiliated by the cops. Despite the poor physical condition of some of them (broken hands, faints) none was allowed to be examined by a doctor. The next day, the courts fell under a veil of terror by the presence of police forces who proceeded to break the solidarity demo appart, arresting 8 people in the process.
The general attorney has issued a decree changing the charges of twenty of the arrested from misdemeanors into felonies. These twenty have now been set free under restrictive terms and the deposit of a financial guarantee. The rest of them, all accused with felonies, have appeared before an interrogator and all 7 of them remain imprisoned.
Many incidents have been reported where the police has set up the accused with incriminating evidence and bags with which they had nothing to do.
This travesty of unsolicited arrests continued to take place long after the end of the riots and in places far away from ground zero.
Foreigners who have been arrested are in danger of facing deportation not only into countries of the European Union but in countries where their life is in risk.
Our solidarity is self-evident and expressed through our efforts, by all means, for their liberation. What is more, it is expressed through the continuation of our struggle.
in solidarity, squatters of the Law School and comrades from Athens and Thessaloniki IMCs
