Riot

Exarcheia, Athens, Greece: Update from the rally-march against the release of cop Korkoneas who killed Alexis Grigoropoulos on 6th December 2008

Posted on 2022/07/06 by darknights

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” →

Exarcheia, Athens, Greece: Video from the Day X protest & riots to resist the occupation of Exarcheia square by cops and the building of a metro station

Posted on 2022/06/26 - 2022/06/26 by darknights

Exarchia, Saturday night, around 20:30, 26 June 2022. People are starting to gather in Exarchia Square for the march against gentrification, evictions, political denaturalization and state repression in Exarchia. In front of the astonished eyes of the assembled people 5-6 motorbikes of the police group DRASI are defiantly passing by Exarchia Square. Apart from voices denouncing this provocative move by the police and warning of the response they will get the next time they provoke, there is no aggressive move against the police.

What are the police officers going and doing on their part? They leave and come back with more reinforcements to provoke incidents, about 15-20 motorcycles. The result of this is what is recorded in the video.

During their panicked retreat and after once again suffocating the area with asphyxiating gas, they even left behind radios, according to witnesses.

The march through Exarchia moved dynamically with the participation of hundreds. Continue reading “Exarcheia, Athens, Greece: Video from the Day X protest & riots to resist the occupation of Exarcheia square by cops and the building of a metro station” →

Wallmapu: Conviction against those who attacked police

Posted on 2022/02/02 by darknights

After the repression of a Mapuche march in August 2020 in the city of Temuco, skirmishes spread throughout the city. It was just at that moment that a lone policeman received a well-deserved beating, leaving him with a fractured jaw and collarbone, leaving a beautiful image that went viral.

Following surveillance cameras and eyewitnesses, OS-9 personnel managed to arrest three people who had participated in the attack.

At the end of January 2022 they faced trial accused of serious injuries, being considered guilty. The prosecution is requesting 7 years in prison for the two adults and 3 years and a day in semi-closed regime for the teenager.

Sometimes it is costly to defend the order of the rich?
Solidarity with those who attack the police!

Source: Publicacion Refractario

Rotterdam, Netherlands: Reflections and Report on the Nov. 19 Riots

Posted on 2021/11/25 by darknights

A comrade in the Netherlands has sent a first-hand report from last night’s extraordinary anti-police riots in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, which included Dutch police firing their guns into the crowd.

Some out-of-touch “leftists” have tried to dismiss these riots because they coincided with and/or overtook a protest called by the right wing against new government restrictions. However, something like last night’s youth uprising against police cannot be so simply reduced— as our writer makes clear.

I don’t know where to start writing about this. On the one hand I’m overtaken by emotion, still processing the things I witnessed last night. On the other hand I’m trying to make sense of what has happened from the perspective of someone who believes in social revolution. I don’t think the latter will be something that I can fit into this short, emotionally laden piece of text, but some things need to be said about this right now. What happened last night was so much more than the supposed “fascist riot” many are dismissing it as.

Last night a protest against the (renewed) Coronavirus measures was called. This protest was clearly initiated by people that should, for the most part, be called fascist. These protests draw a crowd much more diverse than just fascists, however, and the discontent is broadening, especially now that the state is imposing more and stricter repression to control the spread of the virus.

In all this time I had not seen a single sign related to the protest, not heard a single slogan, not seen a single banner. This was about a collective and widespread hate for the police. You could taste, smell and feel it on every single corner of that street that night.

Continue reading “Rotterdam, Netherlands: Reflections and Report on the Nov. 19 Riots” →

Part Three: What’s happening in Cuba? An Anarchic look at the 11-J protests EN/ES

Posted on 2021/09/06 by darknights

ES: TERCERA PARTE: ¿QUÉ PASA EN CUBA? UNA MIRADA ANÁRQUICA DE LAS PROTESTAS DEL 11-J.

-Interview with comrade Gustavo Rodriguez (Third of three parts)

AI: To what extent was the 1959 revolution willing to destroy the system of domination and its protagonists determined to promote a Social Revolution?

First of all, it is necessary to examine thoroughly who were the forces in conflict in 1959; what were the motivations and; above all, the ideological limitations of those involved. Of course, this is an exercise fraught with difficulties for those who continue to be fascinated by the official mythology1 and; equally difficult for those who -from different points of view, even dissidents- cling to the supposed tendencies raised by certain protagonists (Camilo Cienfuegos, Hubert Matos, Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Pastorita Núñez, for example), as if trying to decipher (at a distance of six decades) what would have been the attitude of this or that character in a specific situation or whether or not he or she was right at a given time and what would have been his or her action if he or she had greater political weight in the process. In that tenor, the legends of Camilo “anarchist”; Matos “socialist”; Che Guevara “Trotskyist” and Pastorita “feminist” arose. All dilettante speculations that in no way help to understand what those figures hypothetically opposed to revolutionary autocracy and bureaucratization represented. Unfortunately, these digressions do not manage to escape from the legends that must be demolished. Neither Cienfuegos was “anarchist” nor Matos “socialist” nor Che “Trotskyist” and, Pastorita, much less “feminist”. By the way, the latter came from the old nucleus of Fidel Castro’s nationalist militancy2 ; as did Huber Matos, Ñico López, Haydée Santamaría, among other members of the “Orthodox Youth” of the Cuban People’s Party (Orthodox)3 who would found the 26th of July Revolutionary Movement (MR-26-7).

The opposition to the Batista dictatorship was made up of a coalition of traditional nationalist (anti-imperialist) parties4 and the so-called “revolutionary movements” which -from diverse and equally nationalist perspectives- were articulated in the course of the struggle. Among the traditional parties, the following stood out: the Cuban Revolutionary Party (Authentic), which emerged after the nationalist revolution of 1933; the Cuban Orthodox People’s Party, -established in 1947 by Eduardo Chibás, after his break with the “authentic” ones-; the Cuban Revolutionary Nationalist Party (Authentic), which was formed in 1947 by Eduardo Chibás, after his break with the “authentic” ones; the Revolutionary Nationalist Party (PNR) of José Pardo Llada (co-founder of the Orthodox Party) and; the Free People’s Party, instituted by Márquez Sterling and a group of assailants of the Moncada barracks who had broken with Castro and precociously warned: “We come from armed struggle, exile and clandestinity. We have shed blood […] and we invite you to break the hateful conspiracy of silence and fear. Against Batista. Against the Dictatorship. Against the useless blood that serves as a pedestal for new pernicious dictators “5 . Among the “revolutionary movements”, the following stood out: the July 26th Revolutionary Movement (MR-26-J) led by Fidel Castro; the Revolutionary Directorate (DR), created by José Antonio Echeverría – assassinated during the ill-fated assault on the Palace – and led by Faure Chaumón; the Federation of University Students (FEU) and the Radical Liberation Movement, founded by Amalio Fiallo and several “moncadistas” who also distanced themselves from Castro’s dictatorship. Continue reading “Part Three: What’s happening in Cuba? An Anarchic look at the 11-J protests EN/ES” →

Bristol: Write to the Kill the Bill prisoners

Posted on 2021/09/06 by darknights

Source: Bristol ABC

USA: Looking Critically at the Brooklyn Center Riot – An Interview from Anathema

Posted on 2021/08/24 - 2021/08/24 by darknights

Originally published in Anathema, an anarchist publication from Philadelphia, the following interview talks about the realities of the Brooklyn Center riot that kicked off in the wake of the police murder of Daunte Wright in the spring of 2021.

This interview was conducted two months ago, which was already two months after the events this spring in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The riot in Brooklyn Center took place in the context of the Derek Chauvin trial, almost a year after he murdered George Floyd. This interview was an attempt to reflect on one participant’s experience of the events in Brooklyn Center and consider what they tell us about how things might unfold in the future. For many of us, the George Floyd uprising has weighed heavily on our minds as we try to imagine next steps to take. What became clear to me in this interview was that between the George Floyd uprising and the Brooklyn Center riot — despite the direct influence and geographic proximity — was an expanse.

Although the Brooklyn Center riot was an outgrowth of the George Floyd uprising, it was also a reminder that the previous summer’s events would not be repeated. Now, after a relatively quiet summer, it seems all the more important to be looking toward the future rather than fixating our gaze on last summer’s uprising. In this interview, we explore some of the developments and unique characteristics of uprisings in the aftermath of the George Floyd uprising.

You were in Brooklyn Center in April. Can you describe what happened?

Yes, there was a police murder: Daunte Wright, 20 years old. He was basically trying to flee the scene where he got stopped. There was two nights of rioting — I am going to say rioting. Some people want to say “it’s not a riot, it’s a rebellion.” I am just going to say it was a riot.

People were throwing stuff at the cops. There was looting by car in the Brooklyn Center area, also in Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. The first night the neighboring police station got shot up; someone shot the front doors of it. Someone else shot at a cop — maybe 3 days after it started.

All throughout people were calling for the burning down of the police precinct (that was the focal point of the riot). They never succeeded. People tried. The police set up a gate. It was similar to what happened in Portland at the courthouse. But they didn’t actually breach the gate.

After the first two days of looting, arson, street fighting, and property destruction, there was basically a week of confrontational protests in front of the police precinct. Continue reading “USA: Looking Critically at the Brooklyn Center Riot – An Interview from Anathema” →

PDF: August 2011 Revolt – Anarchy in the UK

Posted on 2021/08/06 - 2021/08/09 by darknights

“Now a hostile minority of unmanageable and nihilistic ‘internal enemies’ stands against a society of consumers and citizens who have internalised the system and whose socialised group-think is an endless closed circuit of obedience (of course including the political Left, most “anarchists” and eco activists, in the UK at least).

In fact the August insurrection showed up the majority of UK “anarchists” and “revolutionaries” as cowardly citizens who though they like to whine and complain about the “evils” of the world, are fundamentally content as passive slaves. Currently most UK “anarchists” appear happily bitter simply tagging along behind state socialists and liberals as the impotent “good conscience’’ and/or the “rowdy margin’’ who wear black and use swear words. This is pathetic. Speaking the language of politics, of creating a reasonable and programmatic anarchist project, the result is an anarchism that’s neither fish nor fowl. Failing both as political pragmatics and as anarchic rebellion, civil anarchism limps along sadly. The idea that reasonable ideas of social transformation are what draw people to rebel is totally false, although it does draw leftists and liberals to the political philosophy “anarchism” who generally remain such though calling themselves anarchists. I have never had any non-political friends or acquaintances EVER be interested in the boring dribbling of “social anarchism‘’ but many who have been interested by anarchism as an extreme position of proud revolt. “Talking serious to the people”generally means churning out sub-leftist rhetoric thatfails as political leftism because it is unrealistic and fails as anarchic agitation because it doesn’t break with the certainties of society. Leftism has proved to be a social force for improving existing society in terms of the rate and conditions of exploitation, acting as a barrier to the excesses of the elite in highly industrialised and post-industrial societies, while acting as a vanguard of the capitalist mode of production in non-industrialised and semi-industrialised areas. Leftism (including leftist anarchism) is an expression of social struggle over the terms of social oppression. The point is to create insurrectional openings, lines of flight beyond normality that go beyond representation and mediation, which broaden the destruction necessary to free ourselves (or at least to satisfy our desire for revenge and moments of liberation).”

– ‘No Future, Just Vengeance’

PDF: August 2011 Revolt – Anarchy In The UK

London, UK : 2011 – 2021 ,10 years since the murder by cops of Mark Duggan

Posted on 2021/08/06 - 2021/08/06 by darknights

UK – The struggle against the existent continues

Thursday, August 4, 2011 Mark Duggan, a ‘real straight up and down respected man’ (words of London rapper, Chipmunk) from Tottenham in London, was blasted to death while on his way home in a cab by a mob of cops wielding Heckler & Koch MP5 carbines. 29 year old Mark, father of four young children, lived on the housing estate known as Broadwater Farm, a depressed predominantly Afro-Caribbean area. The area is infamous since the riot of 1985 after 49 year old Cynthia Jarrett collapsed and died of a heart attack as police raided her home. (During the riot a policeman, PC Blakelock, was hacked to death with a machete.) Today, in the words of a resident, ‘if you’re from Broadwater Farm, police are on you every day, you’re not allowed to come off the estate. If you come off the estate they follow you.’ They followed Mark Duggan and he ended up dead.

August 6 – The arrogance of the killers in uniform in the face of the protest by the victim’s family and supporters, plus the brutal attack on a 16 year old girl by police during the vigil was the last straw.

That night in Tottenham the police station was attacked, police cars set on fire, a double-decker bus ends up a twisted wreck after being engulfed in flames, press photographers are beaten and relieved of their equipment for the decades of lies they have propagated. Bank windows smashed. Countless shops looted, stuff thrown all over the streets. Young guys storm McDonald’s and start frying up burgers and chips. Indignant anger clears the brain, flushes out the cops in the head. Collective fury at this latest police murder combines with the daily bullying and humiliation of being stopped and searched, the moralising, the false promises, useless lives, no future, desire for status-affirming ‘needs’ unattainable due to increased taxes, unemployment and cutting of benefits, 4 million cameras, glaring security cops at the entrance to every store, the colonization of all remaining urban space by trendy bars filled with the noisy chatter of the carefree… that and much more that we don’t know and will never experience welled up and fueled the will to smash through the invisible and plate glass barriers that hold everything in place.

The hostages of the open prison, the young people of the ghettos of London, rise up and the capitalists’ nightmare finally materialises, as the last link in the consumer chain of submission snaps. It explodes into a free-for-all when, in a flash of illumination the solution to the existential dilemma is found: MUST HAVE/CAN’T HAVE = TAKE. It’s simple: learn and apply, possibly burning store to ashes on retreating.

The rioting escalates, scores more people come into the area responding to call outs on twitter to come up and fight the cops and loot shops. Over the following days it spreads to many other parts of London and onward towards other cities.

The rage also spreads beyond the main clashes in Nottingham, Manchester, Bristol, Gloucester, Liverpool, Birmingham. In many incidents the stories escape categorisation or quantification. One thing sure that is not reported and deliberately ignored is the chiefly anti-authoritarian flavour to the uprising, the government and corporations relentlessly branding the people ‘scum’, ‘thieves’ and other low simple catchphrases of demonisation. The failure in this to stop young people identifying with the uprising is obvious when it is seen how quickly the riots replicate and need little trigger to begin breaking the Queen’s peace. Mainstream media reporting becomes incredibly formulaic, and the bosses make mileage from their scenes of interest in reaching their political objectives, looping the same images over and over, overlaid with the stereotypical talking heads’ condemnation and reassurance.

The widespread disorder does not stop. The people who lost their fear go outside, collect themselves to attack and take as much as they can.

also read : Dark Matter Publications ‘August 2011 Revolt: Anarchy in the UK’ contains a rough chronology of events during the rebellion, and action communiques during the period from anarchist groups aiming to deepen and extend the conflict, as well as a couple of essays written after the main events analysing the nature of the revolt and prospects for the future.

Source: Act For Freedom Now!

Bristol: Support Ryan Roberts

Posted on 2021/07/13 - 2021/07/13 by darknights

Ryan Roberts is currently on remand in Bristol Prison. He was arrested after the confrontation with the police at Bristol’s Bridewell police station. He has been charged with riot and arson.

He has asked for letters of support. Please write to him at:

Ryan Roberts
HMP Horfield
19 Cambridge Road
Bristol
BS7 8PS
Prison Number A5155EM