Olympic Games, Athens: Anarchists in solidarity with prisoners' struggle, take on surprise the Olympic Security Forces!

By meltegez, submitted by Anonymous on Sat, 31/07/2004 - 09:29

Action in Athens in solidatity with the prisoners' struggle against the olympic state of emergency, the discriminations and the terrible living conditions in the cells.

Greece, Athens: Anarchists in solidarity with prisoners struggle, take on surprise the Olympic Security Forces!

Friday, July 30. About 70 anarchists and anti-authoritarians made a demonstration with motorbikes to the front gate of Koridallos prison, taking by surprise the cops and prison guards. People chanted solidarity slogans for the prisoners who are refusing for more than a week to take food -in most prisons of the country- as a protest for the state's decision to deprive them of the five-day leaves (exits of prison), a measure that will last all August because of the Olympic Games security state of emergency. The prisoners' protest is also for the living conditions inside the penitentiaries, the exterminating penalties they are convicted, the discriminations that immigrant prisoners are suffering and the new isolation cells. After leaving the central prison gate, comrades made the round of the facilities and stopped again in a back street where eye-contact with the prison cells is possible. Many flyers were thrown up from the walls inside the prison yard and prisoners came at the iron-cladded windows of their cells shouting together with the demonstrators: "THE PASSION FOR FREEDOM IS STRONGER THAN ALL PRISONS" "FREE ALL PRISONERS" "SS-COPS AND JUDGES" "FIRE TO THE CELLS" "RIGHT ARE THOSE WHO REBEL AND NOT THOSE WHO COLABORATE AND SUBMIT" All the way from Koridallos suburb back to the centre of Athens, flyers were given to passers-by and there were slogans against prisons and the olympics of repression. A short note for the olympic police state and the myth of "tolal control": Despite the zeppelin spying airship flying above us, the hundreds of surveillance cameras and the police army patrolling the streets in view of the olympic games, the surprise the cops experienced was absolute! Riot cops outside the prison started running, dropping their sandwiches and beers and rushing to their van to put on helmets and take their shields. Police in patrol cars were confused which direction they should follow, resulting in running up and down, trying to wear their bullet-proof vest and simultaneously grab their machine guns when a comrade started firing a flare-pistol and while the watch-post of the prison guards was under a rain of stones. The riot cops in the central streets of Athens had exactly the same ridiculous reactions when seeing the motorbike demonstration stopping in front of them and shouting "COPS! PIGS! ASSASSINS!", with some comrades placing trash-bins in the middle of the streets...