Hands off our comrades!

greece / turkey / cyprus | repression / prisoners | press release Thursday March 01, 2012 06:31 by Dmitri (republishing) - MACG (personal capacity)

On comrade Panagiotis Giannikakis

The story behind the brutal police attack on comrade Panagiotis Giannikakis (Athens, Greece) [Italiano]

The story behind the brutal police attack on comrade Panagiotis Giannikakis (Athens, Greece)

On February 22nd, in Athens, our comrade Panagiotis Giannikakis fell victim to the fierce repression of the ‘law enforcement’ forces. He was detained, brought to Athens police headquarters and abused brutally. Takis Giannikakis is a former member of the Federation of Anarchists of Greece (OAE) and now a member of the anarchist group Kath’odon (‘Under way’). He is also author of the Greek edition ‘The Chronicle of the Fall of Slobodan Milošević’ (2007). Here’s what he says about his vicissitude:

‘On Wednesday, February 22nd, as you all know, there was a planned gathering at Syntagma square. The truth is that people’s participation this time was unfortunately small.

At around 19.00, after people had almost dispersed and traffic was back to normal, I left from the square walking on Panepistimiou Street. In about 300 metres, at the corner of Panepistimiou and Amerikis streets, as I progressed, I suffered a snap attack by an entire riot squad (MAT). The cops rushed on me catching me off guard and started to beat me with their shields! The beatings were so harsh that blood ran from my nose, and for a moment I thought my life was ending…

The police squad nailed me on the sidewalk and began to ridicule me, threatening and swearing at me. They grabbed the cap I was wearing, which bears the Circle-A. They had surrounded me, and I was not even visible to passersby. At the same time, one of the cops asked what the drill with me is and the others said that I’m an anarchist. What I point out here matters since evidently the whole scene was caused because I’m an anarchist.

Once they got my cap and identity card, they handcuffed me behind back and they forced me into a patrol car. I was transferred to the police headquarters (GADA) escorted by two random cops on duty. There, they took off the handcuffs, took my details, and after approximately three hours I was released.

Meanwhile, the police didn’t just arrest me; I saw others there, from youngsters to elderly people, who had been stopped by cops at different parts of the city, and all of them came from Syntagma. After I talked with a few of them, I realized that at least nobody else was beaten. The only one covered in blood was I. Even the waterproof I was wearing was full of blood. Also, there were blood stains on my pants. I mention all this to emphasize the intensity of the blows I endured.’

Humanguards–dogs of Power, hands off our comrades!

The people’s rage will sweep you!

Comrades/Friends of Panagiotis Giannikakis

source http://athens.indymedia.org

English translation and republishing: http://glykosymoritis.blogspot.com.au/