Athens (Greece): Exarcheia self-organised park under police attack, 5 arrested

In the early hours of Friday 4. 9. 2009 the self-organised park in Exarcheia once again came under attack by the police. Earlier, police jeeps tried to cross through Messologiou Street: the very same street where Alexis Grigoropoulos was assassinated in December. People present tried to resist the shameless police provocation; only moments later a full-scale police operation saw riot units surrounding the area, tear-gassing the people present and throwing them a percussion grenade. During the conflict a cop pulled out his gun, threatening to shoot.

From those arrested, one (charged with a “misdemeanor”, that is, graffiti) will be at court on Monday and other four will appear on Tuesday. The four are charged with felonies: molotov cocktails and stone-throwing, except according to eye-witnesses, not a single molotov was thrown in the area last night! They are all held in detention until then and it is possible they might be ordered in pre-trial detention – in Greece this can last up to 18 months.

In an hour or so, an assembly will begin at the park, spontaneously called after last night’s events. More info will follow. A more detailed account of the events is up on Athens IMC:

More info: http://athens.indymedia.org/front.php3?lang=el&article_id=1074386

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