There are various estimations about the number of the people concentrated on the streets and squares of the country. Athens had anything over 500,000 people on the streets, it is not easy to estimate it, but before the attack of the police every street leading to Syntagma and the square were packed, with thousands more coming from the neighbourhoods on foot or by buses and trains. Half an hour before the demo one could see the metro stations and the bus stops full of people waiting to get on a vehicle that would bring them to the centre. Every city saw rallies and mass marches, with Heraclion of Crete, a city that holds a record in the recent wave of suicides, having a 30,000-strong march. Demonstrations alla round the country turned violent, with people destroying banks or occupying governmental buildings, e.g. in Volos the branch of Eurobank, the Inland Revenue Offices and the town hall were torched or in Corfu people attacked to the offices of their region’s MPs, trashing them, the town hall of Rhodes was occupied during the demo and still is occupied, to mention but a few of such actions.
Police did several preemptive arrests in the morning hours before the start of the demonstration. Several activists were attacked by police officers in plain clothes and were detained as soon as they came out of their houses, while it was obvious since very early that police wanted to keep people away from the parliament. In there the new austerity package (an over 600-page document that was given to the MPs 24 hours in advance with the advice to vote for it before Monday morning when the stock markets will open) was being “discussed”. Early afternoon when the occupiers of Law School tried to march from the School to Syntagma the police attacked to them breaking the block, while they attempted to raid the School several times during the night, using also rubber bullets. Well before the arrival of most demonstrators who were still on their way, the police attacked en masse the crowd in Syntagma Square using physical violence, chemical gases and shock grenades. After the attack a big part of the demonstration was concentrated on Amalias st, Fillelinon st, Ermou st, Mitropoleos st and Karagiorgi Servias st. People battled with police for over 5 hours in their effort to return to Syntagma. Other people erected big barricades across Korai sq. on both Stadiou st and Panepistimiou st. and fought trying to reach Syntagma or defend themselves from police attacks. On Panepistimiou st. police concentrated much of its forces on the barricade in front of Athens University and people clashed head to head defending their barricade. DELTA motorcycle police raided several times the crowd, esp. in Mitropoleos street, MAT riot police did the same several times but also things went the other way around. Besides the barricades and the substantial groupings of people, demonstrators broke in various smaller groups that clashed with small groups of police or walked around searching for a barricade or to join a larger group.
After midnight the majority of the parliamentarians (199) voted for the new austerity memorandum that -among other measures- includes the drop of salaries by 22% and drops the minimum salary at about 400 Euro per month, while unemployment rate has been doubled (over 20% in Nov 2011) within 16 months.
74 demonstrators were arrested and over 50 people injured by the police were hospitalised, the number of detainees remains unknown.
Several banks, governmental buildings and two police departments (Acropolis and Exarchia depts.) were attacked by demonstrators during the night, while Athens city hall was occupied, but police concentrated forces invaded the building and arrested the occupiers. Over 40 buildings were burnt in Athens, while occupations of public buildings still are holding all around Greece. The Law School occupation issued a statement in early morning of 13/02/2012: “It was decided by the assembly of the Law School occupation that the occupation continues. We call everyone on the streets to continue the struggle. Nothing ended, everything now starts, the Law School is a centre of the struggle and as such it will remain”.
some videos:
15 Comments
“Everything starts now”! Sometimes i mistrust my own feelings and try not to hope… But could this be the beginning of an greater effort to overcome capitalism? First in Greece, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, ….?
What can we do in our countries, please write how and if we can help (Money, clothes, Food, spreading more information…)
Call for Solidarity Gathering in front of the main train stations, starting with tonight at 8:00 pm german time:
Solidaritätsaufruf
(A) 13.02.2012 – 14:17
Aufruf, sich heute um 20 Uhr auf zentralen Bahnhofsvorplätzen solidarisch zu zeigen.
Zeigen wir unser Solidarität mit dem Sozialen Aufstand – heute, nicht erst morgen!
Die nationalistischen und rassistischen Ressentiments gegen Griechenland sind unerträglich. Politik, Medien und große, desinformierte Teile der deutschen Bevölkerung versagen bzw. lügen bewusst bei der bei ihrer “Analyse” des gegenwärtigen Zustands des kapitalistischen Systems. Die Auswirkungen des Zwangskorsetts der Troika werden verharmlost, berechtigter Protest entwertet.
In Athen und in vielen anderen Städten hat der Widerstand inzwischen einen neuen Höhepunkt erreicht. Wir dürfen die Betroffenen des kapitalistischen Systems nicht alleine lassen und erlauben, dass Menschen die Würde genommen wird. Wir dürfen nicht in die Falle der Herrschenden tapsen, die uns gegeneinander ausspielen wollen und damit allzu erfolgreich sind.
Uns bleibt nur die Solidarität, sonst wird Griechenland ein Exempel für uns alle.
Die Idee ist, dass wir schon heute mit Protestaktionen beginnen, d.h. wir sollten uns bereits heute gemeinsam versammeln. Wenn wir genügend Menschen sind, könnten spontane Demonstrationen durchgeführt werden. Aber auch mit wenigen Menschen können wir schon Aufmerksamkeit erregen, selbst wenn z.B. sich einige dazu entschließen, sollten Flugblätter zu verteilen oder ein Banner präsentieren schaffen sie damit Öffentlichkeit. Es gibt kein Ziel, ab, wie viel Leuten solch eine Aktion erfolgreich ist. Es ist kein blinder Aktionismus schon heute aktiv zu werden. Sind wir ehrlich, erfolgreich war bisher bei uns kein antikapitalistischer Protest.
Deshalb hier der Aufruf, sich heute um 20 Uhr auf den zentralen Bahnhofsvorplätzen zu versammeln und lautstark und sichtbar Solidarität zu bekunden!
Globale Solidarität mit dem sozialen Aufstand in Griechenland. Widersstand den kapitalistischen Zuständen!
Dieser Aufruf ist nicht von einer Gruppe oder Partei, erheben wir gemeinsam unsere Stimme und es sollte keinen Vorsprecher / keine Vorsprecherin geben.
Aufruf, sich heute um 20 Uhr auf zentralen Bahnhofsvorplätzen solidarisch zu zeigen.
Heute ist erst der Anfang! Beginnen wir mit der Mobilisierung jetzt!
Solidarität ist unsere Waffe!
Now this question is crucial: Will the people come back to the streets today?
anything happening today?
I watched these short movies and I can not understand why all these people destroy their own city. This is wanton distraction that is leading to nowhere. Who thy think will pay for this …?
simple pole:
the people who will pay for this mess are the banks and the wealthy.
ravachol:
want to support the greek insurrection? live up to your name! everyone, everywhere, get out and attack our enemies! starting with banks is a good idea!
Viva la revolucion!
New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras vowed to crack down on rioters if he leads the next government, following Sunday night’s lawless rampage in central Athens.
“They targeted historic buildings of Athens, deliberately,” Samaras said. “Those *******s should know one thing: I will remove their hoods.”
Hundreds of rioters burned and looted stores in central Athens, as parliament voted on tough new austerity measures needed for more rescue loans. (Athens News, gw)
Well i do, it is the smallscale sabotage i prefer
after years with, well, more action and more juridical problems. But i live in Germany and the radical left is kind of destroyed (Antideutsche, Neo-Bürgerlichkeit, Dogmatiker…)
go find yourself a bottle of tsipouro, malaka!
btw regarding actforfreedom there’s also actions in germany!
LOL
to the people who think this is the end of capitalism, come back when you have been around the block a few times.
This isnt the end of capitalism, it isnt even the end of government in greece. How can there be an end to capitalism, when not only do most of the people support their capitalist system but, more importantly than that, neither the police, nor the army of any one single european state would support a breakdown of the government and its resources anywhere in europe.
Please, before making asinine comments like “this is the end of capitalism” ask yourself this: if this is the end of capitalism, where is the support for any alternative, except huddled on the back stairs of a squat smoking weed?
SOLIDARITY FROM THE U.S.!! DO NOT LET THOSE BANKERS STEAL YOUR ENTIRE COUNTRY! @@@
@Flobbadob
this is simplifying ******** and because you don’t know and can’t imagine it don’t means it is reality for everybody. you argue like a vulgar marxist.
First you are right with: -
-there is no revolutionary subject like the proletarians. To call them nowadays multitude makes it not better
-there are no clear anti-capitalist majorities, in many countries to the contrary like Hungaria, Germany…..
There we have or will have (Germanien) revivals of nationalism and ethnicity combined with postmodern methods of control
On the other side: We can notice the transformation of a globalized capitalism which has become total, which means he is structuring our whole existence. But there are a lot of problems, crisis. I don’t want to talk about the economic crisis (too much capital, less productivity, falling rate of profit…) but about other inherent antagonisms of capitalism, which become now crucial.
There are interweaving crises: -environmental destruction (climate change is a crucial part of this!)
-peak oil and an energy crisis
-destruction of biodiversity
Even the financial crisis has to to with it.
It is not just an episode but a risky transformation of capitalism: for example climate change. It already takes part, it is not about catastrophic scenarios. The food production has become more difficult and more expensive. Combined with the energy crisis (Food prod. needs a lot of energy) the Food prices have already risen and will rise in the next 5 years about 150 to 300%. More and more people won’t afford their living even in the richer countries.
The revoltes in Greece and even in the arabic world are not the beginning of a social and political revolution but the consequence of this interweaven crises of capitalism
So there will be no big revolution but the beginning of a or more decades of social revoltes, insurrections and riots. This already happens in Greece- not more and not less. What does it mean: No doubt there rises an era of violence, wars and destruction. On the one hand we will have more rigide dictatorships, authoritarian Forms of capitalism with a lot of biomechanical and technical control. On the other it is about failed States and failed societies and a kind of chaotic, postmodern plurality (Szygmund Bauman).
This gives us options: There won’t be a whole society which can be transformed after revolution into a closed socialistic society. It is already to plural, closed (nationalistic) societies will be authoritarian. We have to fight for open spaces, where capitalism fails, where the elites fail to establish their order. Sometimes this will be territorial (Communities, squatted areas, civil war areas and “forgotten” areas e.g. because of demografic change), sometimes it is about scapes, flows, migration.
Allof this already takes part in the world, it is already existing.
The question in Greece is, will the elites establish their dictatorial order or will it/ they fail, greece as a failed state, failed national society with a lot of riots, destruction and misery but also the chance to attack capitalism seriously. Sounds cynical but i hope for the second alternative.
last sentence (sorry):
The revolutionary subject you ask for is not already here it will emerge out of the fights, the coming insurrections. the Pool is the multitude.
Sorry for my bad english , the state i have to live in, thinks iam german.
Go Greeks!! You guys rock! Will keep doing my part to keep the American Left
quiet.
Watching on TV,
Chris
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