Anti-immigrant terror in Greece continues...

greece / turkey / cyprus | migration / racism | news report Saturday August 01, 2009 20:54 by clandestinenglish

Government collaborates with fascists

The Greek government continues its crusade against migrants with continuing evictions, sweep operations and police collaboration with neo-Nazis.

ABDUCTIONS AND PUSHBACKS

After a police abduction that took them from the southern end of the country to the northern, the Kurdish refugees who reached the shores of Crete seem to have been transferred to Rodopi, Thrace. There is an ongoing campaign against their deportation, especially the deportation of the children among them and of the ones that have already filed asylum applications in Chania. In Greek, see http://fmkritis.wordpress.com/ Same with the Chios refugees, who are now detained in Tychero, Evros, near the border with Turkey. The police chief of Alexandroupolis has been contacted by journalists and there are two important facts : first, that there were children among the immigrants, who have now been tranferred to Thessaloniki (the exact place is unknown) and, secondly, that he does not want to give a clear answer on what they plan to do. However, it is considered certain that the police wants to «return» them to Turkey. In Greek see http://indy.gr/newswire/sto-ty3c7ero-toy-ebroy-kratoynt...b.jpg There are also reports of ca. 61 arrested immigrants reaching Peireus port with the Mykonos F/B.
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_...64479

SWEEP OPERATIONS AND POLICE – FASCIST SCUM COLLABORATION

According to the police, yesterday, 109 people were arrested during one more storming of the center of Athens by various police forces. About 90 of them were sans papiers. What is more, at evening at 9.00, fascists went down in Attikis square - around which many immigrants live -, without even previously announcing their presence with the infamous "committees of residents” rally calls. The fascists came to the square and began to bludgeon whatever laid ahead of them; they also sprayed faces with some unknown gas . At least three refugees were transported to hospital, many others were injured. Among the injured people was an American professor who was in the area and attempted to photograph the racist pogrom. He spent the night in the hospital, with blows to his head. The fascists took his the camera. Around the square there was a large police force, who not only did nothing, but went on to mass arrest mainly Afghan refugees! In Greek, see http://indy.gr/newswire/agria-epithesi-fasistn-kai-mazi...ttiks

EVICTIONS, MASS ARRESTS AND CLASHES

Today the police evicted immigrants en masse from two buildings in the center of Athens, which had been designated by the prefecture of Athens as dangerous for the public health or something. Police forces invaded the buildings at Sachtouri 7, and at Veranzerou str. near Omonia, and arrested a total of 86 immigrants. During the eviction at Verantzerou street neighbors and immigrants with flags of Somalia were gathered in support of the arrested people, as well as some PAME (Communist Party trade union) members and a Communist Party MP. The Somali women at some point reacted vocally and attempted a sit-in protest, but the cops confined them again in the building to isolate them from journalists. According to the cops, the building was rented to a company which sub-letted it illegally to immigrants for of 5 euros a day per person. When the cops tried to transfer the arrested immigrants from the rear street where they thought they would face no obstruction. Once this was understood by the assembled immigrants, some óf them moved to the rear of the police vehicle to prevent it from departing. Some of them clashed with riot police men and other police forces with sticks, punches, etc. The police vehicles made it to leave afterwards, leaving behind women and children. A few minutes later the large police forces withdrew from the point and concentrated their attention to guarding the nearby police department. During the operation, a passer-by woman of about 50 years complained loudly about the police brutality calling the cops fascists for behaving this way to the immigrants. An undercover cop grasped her by the head and attempted to take her to the police station but people protested and intervened and the woman managed to escape. Angry Somali men and women broke the window of a shop on the ground floor of the building where the immigrants lived. The squads were on the corner and intervened directly and there were more clashes. Indeed, the shop-owner had been insulting the immigrants everyday by calling them racist names, and has been a pioneer member in the “committees of residents and shop-owners” of the center – perhaps this is why the passing police patrols salute him. The building was not completely evacuated, there were immigrants left inside when the police left.

About the evictions see
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_...64260

The Somalis took it to the street on a protest march later in the day – photos at
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_...64493

As an Athens Indymedia user commented, this day was an Ode to the Barbarity of Democracy -5 days ago was the anniversary of 35 years of Greek Democracy after the fall of collonnels’ junta back in 1974.

Many photos at:
http://indy.gr/newswire/odos-beranzeroy-i-ellinik-dimok...7rono
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_...64459
http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_...64459