REPRESSION AT THE F15 ANTI-WAR DEMO IN ATHENS 24 PEOPLE ARRESTED -13 WITH
CHARGES- ONE PERSON IMPRISONED
2)a letter from one of the arrested published in athens.indymedia
1. 24 people were arrested in Athens during the F15 anti-war demonstration
and in surrounding streets after it has finished, while the police was
throwing loads of tear-gas in front of the US embassy and some roadblocks
before, so that part of the -150.000 people- demonstration never get there.
In police headquarters, the 24 arrested, high-school students among them,
were physically and psychologically tortured and sexually harassed by riot
police squads who had them on their knees for more than three hours,
punching them with globs and kicking them. Despite that, all, apart from a
17year-old, refused to give any testimony to the police. Eleven of the
arrested were released without charges later on. The other 13 persons, all
accused for a dozen of misdemeanours (like causing damages, resisting
arrest, threatening authorities etc) and 2 of them for three felonies
(possession and use of explosives + arson) were first taken to court on
Sunday, with the signs of torture evident on their faces. There, the police
forces intimidated their friends, comrades and relatives and didn't let
anyone go close to the arrested. They took them back to Police h.q. for
another night.
The only thing there is against them are cops' "testimonies" and
"identifications". These "testimonies" are constructed in a way that burden
those arrested for all the minor violent incidents that happened in three
different points of the demo: In the beginning, where there were some
molotov and stones thrown against riot police + a bank with smashed
windows, in the middle, near the British Embassy where there was an attempt
to set a riot police van on fire with molotovs, and in the end, outside the
US embassy, where stones and sticks were thrown against riot police who
used massively tear-gas. None of the persons was arrested in the time and
place of these incidents, but only afterwards ...some of them even
earlier(!) from the time of the incidents they're accused of. Others were
arrested during strong police attacks at the demo with tear-gas near the US
embassy...
On Monday, February 18, the 13 arrested were examined by a public
prosecutor. He decided to set free 10 of them who had only charges for
misdemeanours. They are still going to have a trial. Until then, five of
them will have to present themselves in a police station twice a month. The
other three were taken back to police hq.
On Tuesday, F19, Two of the persons still in custody were taken to court.
One of them, 24 years-old Thanos Michalakelis, facing felony charges for
the incidents in the beginning of the demo, even if he was arrested in a
metro station and with no evident against him, will go to prison, according
to the decision of the public prosecutor. In reality, the only reason for
his imprisonment is that he has been arrested in the past, when he was 17,
in the Polytechnic revolt of 1995 along with 504 other people who were in
solidarity with a prisoner's revolt in Koridallos and with anarchist
prisoners on hunger strike. The other person, Sofia, was released until
trial, after she had to pay a bail. People who were outside in solidarity
were again facing intimidating attitude and threats from riot police, for
third day in the court. It was the same squad that was torturing the
arrested inside police headquarters on Saturday. Thanos, was taken back to
police car, hand-cuffed and surrounded by strong police force, while
comrades chanted the slogan THE PASSION FOR FREEDOM IS STRONGER THAN ALL
PRISONS
Tomorrow, Wednesday F20, the last person still in police custody, 20
years-old Kostas P., will pass in front of public prosecutor who will
decide if he will be imprisoned or not, as he is facing felonies. He was
arrested outside a hospital and now charged, according to a cop
"identification", with attempt to cause fire to the riot police van, close
to British embassy. His hand is injured and hasn't received any medical
treatment yet.
The 13 were not only tortured but also facing charges based on the
"testimonies" of the same cops who tortured them, so that the police has an
alliby for its violence against the demonstrators and in order to terrorize
and disencourage people from continuing to struggle.
The torture of the arrested and the imprisonment of Thanos Michalakelis
aims at sending a message of terror to all those who resist state terrorism
and capitalism brutality. More specificaly, it is the message of "zero
tolerance" for the next anti-war demonstrations, which will probably happen
after the war "starts", and for the next demonstrations that will take
place soon against the various summits organized by the greek presidency of
the E.U.
FREE THANOS MICHALAKELIS! imprisoned for the F15 anti-war demo in Athens
SOLIDARITY WITH ALL THE PEOPLE ARRESTED IN THE ANTI-WAR DEMONSTRATIONS! WE
ARE NOT GOING TO LET ANYONE HOSTAGE OF THE STATE! DOWN WITH STATE
TERRORISM! SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON!
2. Parts of a letter written by one of the arrested (published in
athens.indymedia.org, Feb.17)
"A little after four o'clock on Saturday, while the rally was dynamically
taking place, me and a friend of mine, having left from the demonstration,
we were arrested by the assholes of police security (plainchothes cops) and
taken to Police Headquarters for identification control. While we were
waiting for the cops' cars that would take us there, two more people are
arrested. So, the company of two, becomes a company of four arrested. The
procedure is more or less known to everyone. They bring us to police hq,
take us at the 6th floor (security department) as the "new terrorists" and
then the "party" of the cops begins on our expense. None of us had the time
to say even a word. Just like that, for welcome, we receive a kick and
after they made us sit down on our knees, like slaves, and demanded that we
look only at the floor (so that we wouldn't see the faces of the assholes
who were hitting us). They started their usual genltly talks... swearing at
us, humiliating comments, threats, complex statetements expressing the
damage of their brains etc... In the place we were kept the carried on
bringing more people "welcoming" them with the above mentioned manner,
forming this way a group of persons. They put us the one next to the other,
in a dark long hall, where for three hours had us with our heads against
the wall, while the cops who were patrolling behind us were punching us,
and of couse they were continuing with their verbal pshychologic war. For
nine of the people taken to police it was a police-control. For the other
13, the police-control became, in a "magic" way, an arrest, with charges
that were based on testimonies-frame ups of the cops who had arrested each
one of us (...) For one more time, the abolition of the rights of people in
custody, the cops' arbitrary acts, abuse of their authority, their
excessive complexes and their substance as pigs were confirmed, to all of
us who lived what we lived during the time we stayed in Police hq., and to
all those who continued to be in the streets with the demonstration. Among
the things mentioned about the pshychological and physical tortures we
suffered inside the police security department, it would be good to add
that cops put their fingers in some kids' arses, they slapped in the face
the two girls who were arrested (as a show of how macho they are), and the
"prive" beating of tow kids who were isolated in a separate room. Deeds and
acts of the cops that turn us back to the persecution of the left in the
period of the military junta. Fascist expressions of the complexes of pig
existances....
STRENGTH FOR THE KIDS STILL INSIDE"
SOLIDARIOS http://www.geocities.com/anar_gr/english.htm
