그리스 봉기 #3

THE UPRISING IN GREECE

Latest news:
1. Today's General Strike brought Greece to a complete stillstand!
2. Since the early afternoon the street protests led to renewed street battles...
3. According to a German report: (at least) in Patras the cops are collaborating with armed nazi/fascist groups, such as the "Golden Dawn" (Chrysí Avgí) and the youth organisation (ONNED) of the ruling party (Nea Dimokratia) to smash the street protests and get back the control over the entire city! (*)

"The best thing the gov't can do is resign

and let the people find a solution."

That was a view widely shared by many of the leftist and anarchists fuelling the riots. At the Athens Polytechnic, now the centre of the groups' operations, young men and women broke up marble slabs and quietly stocked up on the firebombs they have been throwing at police. Standing behind makeshift barriers of burning rubbish bins, they promised to turn the unrest into "an uprising the likes of which Greece has never seen".

"This is not just about the kid, it's about our dreadful education and economic situation. That's what pushed us on to the streets," insisted one youth who called himself Andreas. "It's our belief and hope that this is the beginning of a rebellion against the system."

The chaos, he said, had exposed the deep-seated anger of Greeks who after the introduction of the euro have not only struggled to make ends meet but have increasingly felt deceived by a system that thrived on corruption, party political affiliations and patronage.

"All of us have poor parents who are really struggling," said Andreas as he sat cross-legged before a makeshift fire blazing in the polytechnic's courtyard.

For young Greeks like Andreas, who belong to a lost generation without work or hope, it is a rage that has been fuelled by allegations of corruption and the seemingly relentless scandals involving sex, money and the church which have swirled around the conservatives - and for which, despite public outrage, no one has been punished.

"We all thought it would take one incident for things to go up, and with the police killing of the teenage boy that is exactly what happened," said a veteran political analyst, Konstantinos Angelopoulos.

Zoe Papanidou, 19, student: "There were many reasons why these riots happened. The situation was explosive, socially and economically. The state undermines people. You feel it is violating your rights. At some point the lid was going to burst from the pot."

Andreas, 19, student protester: "The police are pigs and they deserve what they get. They don't have the balls to go after the anarchists. Instead they pick on us kids, stop us in the streets all the time. It's wrong to smash up shops, but personally I see it as a symbolic act to throw stones and rocks at the police, because they're bastards."

"For me, only two scenarios are feasible: Either the protests will calm down over the weekend or the government will call in the army to help. But if that happens, there will be even more deaths.", says Yannis, a 35-year-old filmmaker.

(sources: Der Spiegel, indy athens, Guardian)

* more about it here:

☞ Use of fascists by gov't and police (Indymedia NL)

☞ Photos published of Greek police/fascist collaboration (libcom)