On
Sunday 23/08 at 10:30 in the morning, several squads of cops raided the
Libertatia squat in Thessaloniki. More precisely, during the reparation of the
building's roof that had been burned down by fascists, the cops broke the
door's padlock and raided the squat where they arrested 12 people that were
inside. After that, for one more time, they stole several building tools and
other necessary material for the reconstruction of the roof, as they had done
one month before, when they raided the squat together with Ephorate of Modern
Monuments-assistants and had taken a part of the squat's equipment for the
rebuild project. Right after the raid, comrades that were rallying outside the
building, came in and re-occupied it. Other than the 12 arrested people, the cops
held two more comrades that were standing outside the building and released
them a couple of hours later. The arrested comrades spent the whole day both in
Toumba's Police Department and the General P.D. Of Thessaloniki where they have
been released late at night, The accusations that have been charged to the
comrades are : illegal working, damaging a monument of cultural significance
and disobedience. It is also worth mentioning the disgusting tentative of the
police and some media to connect the accidental arrest of a woman for drugs
possession with the 12 arrested comrades.
This raid is the third in order in less than a year and aims to stop the
rebuild project for Libertatia squat. All these attacks shows that the state
continues targeting the structures of the movement, as also the timeless
cooperation between the State and paramilitary-fascist groups against the
libertarian movement. At the same time that the state's mechanism supports
those who burned Libertatia, it releases its stooges in order to arrest
the comrades that chose from the very beginning to defend politically the squat
and reconstruct the burnt building. As for the accusations for “damaging an
historical monument”, against the people who undertook its conservation and its
reparation (before and after the arson), they can only consist of a
surrealistic and unsuccessful attempt of reversing reality about who's the real
destroyer. Additionally, the role of
the Ephorate of Modern Monuments as a
legal representative of the above accusations, with it's sudden intrest can only be characterized as ridiculous. It is more than
obvious who's really interested in saving this building. For those who are
still wondering, let us ask rhetorically where was the Ephorate when the so
called “Stratou street jewel” completely abandoned and ruining over the years.
Where were they when the fascist groups burned down the whole building. To
conclude it is quite obvious what are the interests
that the Ephorate serves, who are they covering and protecting and to who they
are against. In the case of Libertatia things are quite simple and clear. All
these facts -that Libertatia's neighborhood was witnessing the last two and a
half years- is now clear to every corner of Greece. Once again the neighbors
showed to us their solidarity in several
ways, booing the police forces during the raid, informing us of the police
presence and supporting us morally.
This particular attack against Libertatia squat cannot
be disconnected from the previous repressive actions and evictions of squats,
with the most fresh example being the eviction of Terra Incognita squat.
During
a tense social condition, where the lives of people are more and more devaluated and
impoverished and the management of the Covid-19 pandemic
puts in danger thousands of people, the State decides to strike and intensify the repression in order to
weaken the revolutionary movement. Fearing the social upheaval and the
generalized indignation of people, the State tries to destroy every resistance,
targeting once again the anarchist movement and its structures as places of
resistance against the State and Capialism. It is in this condition that the
revolutionary movement shall respond actively, defending its structures, its
political presence and its history of social struggle. The rebuild project of
Libertatia is an objective for all the squat movement. The victory in this
struggle will be our answer against State and fascist attacks to our
structures.
The reconstruction of Libertatia squat is not only an affair concerning itself.
On the contrary it concerns the whole antifascist, anarchist and revolutionary
movement. It is about the all-encompassing defense of the squats, as the whole
rebuild project sends a very powerful message against State's repression and fascist
violence and establishes a strong symbolism during a generalized repressive
condition. Our political presence in the squat has been already assured a
couple of weeks after the arson attack. Libertatia squat will survive and will
continue to exist as already does, by organizing plenty of demonstrations,
political discussions, movie projections etc. The whole point is the completion
of the rebuild project by revolutionary means, in order to highlight both the
political responsibility of State's repression and the political defense of the
revolutionary occupied spaces. The State
will exploit every retreating-step we are making. That is why, we have to stand
up, resist, defend our structures and our struggles, organize ourselves better
and broaden the ongoing class war.
Libertatia 26/08/20
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