7th Statement of the KOE – Greece

Occupied schools and faculties, the wave of protests mounts the pressure

GREECE | 17 – 12 – 2008 | On Monday 15 December thousands of secondary education pupils demonstrated for hours in front of the Athens’ Police General Headquarters their anger for the murder of Alexis and for the government’s attempts to “balance” it with the “destruction” provoked during the ongoing revolt. The youth offered flowers to the Special Forces; when the police “responded” with globs and then chemicals, the youth threw plastic water bottles and bags full of flour and paint against them.

Actually all over Greece 600 secondary education schools (350 in Athens) and 150 university faculties and technical colleges are under occupation, following resolutions of the Students’ General Assemblies. The students organize daily protests outside police stations and public buildings in dozens of cities, often with the participation of teachers, parents and of members of the Left organizations. They also block roads and highways, as well as train and tramway stations. New clashes broke out with the police on Tuesday 16 December when the Special Forces attacked a peaceful music and dance happening in the centre of Athens.The government tries to terrorize the youth with fierce repression, including hundreds of arrested pupils, often physically abused during arrest and in police stations. Many of them are accused on the basis of the “anti-terrorist” legislation and thus threatened with heavy sentences without possibility of appeal. For this reason on Tuesday evening dozens of activists managed to enter the studios of the state television, while it was showing a speech of Prime-minister K. Karamanlis; for more than 1 minute the state TV showed the youth raising banners in favor of the immediate liberation of the arrested militants and students.

While we are writing these lines (morning of Wednesday 17 December) hundreds of students gather already in front of the Court of Justice in Athens, in solidarity with their arrested comrades. Also, a large group of precarious workers have now peacefully occupied the headquarters of the Labor Confederation, protesting the refusal of the trade-union bureaucrats to declare a General Strike for tomorrow (day of action and new central demonstrations called by the students and the teachers). Simultaneously, dozens of local actions are taking place in many neighborhoods and cities, with the participation of thousands of youth.

The Communist Organization of Greece campaigns intensively all over the country, calling the youth and the people to participate en masse in the combative mobilizations until we chase away this government. For this reason a new, second national leaflet of KOE is distributed again in dozens of thousands of copies in 35 cities. All the forces of the Coalition of Radical Left resist resolutely the coordinated calumniating attacks of the “block of law and order” composed by the extreme right-wing, the government, the mainstream Media, the “socialist” opposition and the KKE. The Radical Left supports the occupations and calls for General Strike and new popular demonstrations.

Down with this government of thieves and murderers!

AHM-ATIK News Center