On Tuesday 5 July a rally was called against the release of Korkoneas. The meeting was called at 20.00 at the intersection of Messolongiou and Tzavella. The response of the people was quite large, and it was decided to hold a march through the streets of Exarchia. The pulse was strong from start to finish, and slogans were constantly shouted, with the aim of demonstrating that “justice” is clearly class-based: On the one hand, it releases the cop-killer of Alexandros, by decision of the Lamia Court of Appeal, the same court of appeal that on the other hand deprives the anarchist hunger striker from 23/5, Giannis Michailidis, of his freedom. The march moved through the streets of Exarcheia, and ended exactly at the point where it started, namely at the monument of Alexandros.
After the end of the march, people chose to clash with the repressive forces that were positioned in the vicinity of Exarcheia, but also in many places in the neighbourhood. Another extreme form of authoritarianism and indiscriminate repression unfolded in Exarchia by the Greek Police assault battalions. Following the attacks by the riot police and DELTA forces, the repressive forces surrounded Exarcheia, drowned the neighbourhood in chemicals again and stormed the shops in the area, where patrons were having a drink. They began to bully and drag people into the pile. Specifically, in the bar “5 streets”, despite the strong protests and disapproval, all the people were brought to the GADA by MAT and OPKE, while not even the employees of the shop were spared from the “sweeping” operation. A spontaneous solidarity gathering was immediately called outside the GADA, where a large number of people in solidarity were present. The people who were arrested were released a few hours later. Continue reading “Exarcheia, Athens, Greece: Update from the rally-march against the release of cop Korkoneas who killed Alexis Grigoropoulos on 6th December 2008”