Athens explosion: Prominent anarchist arrested, solidarity actions worldwide
From Freedom News UK
“No one will be left alone against the repressive campaign of the state and capital”, declare demonstrators
~ Kit Dimou ~
Greek anarchist Nikos Romanos has been arrested in connection with the explosion in an Athens flat on 31 October, which authorities attribute to a bomb-making accident.
Nikos Romanos. (a previous arrest)
According to media reports, Romanos’s fingerprint was found on a bag containing an unused weapon in the blown-up apartment.
The explosion killed Kyriakos Ximitiris, a long-term activist in the anarchist milieu, and seriously injured another long-term comrade, Marianna M..
(Grecia) Gestos en memoria del compañero Kyriakos y en solidaridad….
Two other individuals connected to the flat were also arrested, allowing the police to invoke anti-terrorism legislation.
Marianna M. underwent multiple surgeries and remains heavily injured, but was nevertheless recently transferred to Korydallos prison, which does not even have a hospital.
Romanos, who was arrested on 18 November as he was returning to his home, is well-known to the Greek public as a friend of Alexis Grigoropoulos and an eyewitness to his police murder, which triggered the 2008 uprising in the country.
Romanos was in prison between 2012-2019, sentenced for possessing and planting explosive devices and for participating in two bank robberies.
While in prison he went on hunger strike after authorities refused him access to further education, drawing support from a mass mobilisation on the streets of Athens.
Over the weekend, actions, assemblies and demonstrations in memory of Ximitiris and in solidarity with the imprisoned comrades took place in response to an international call for action.
In the quarter of Exarcheia in Athens, a political memorial was held where statements written by Marianna and comrades in Greece and Germany were read out.
Banner in the Basque country. Photo: Athens Indymedia
The event continued with a march to the Polytechnic university, commemorating the 51st anniversary of the 1973 student uprising.
From Bari (South of italy) in memory of Kyriakos and in solidarity with …
The demonstration passed in front of the US and Israeli embassies with a banner in his memory and in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.
In Thessaloniki, the parallel demonstration ended in a mass petrol bomb attack on the police, although there were fewer commemorative clashes than expected.
Solidarity actions also took place in London and Glasgow. In Rome, two people were arrested and fined for dropping a solidarity banner in front of the Colosseum.
Anarchists across the Iberian peninsula have also dropped banners in memory of Ximitiris. In Hamburg, several dozen angry people marched unannounced and masked through the St. Pauli district.
Slogans were sprayed, fireworks set off,and an office of the ruling Social Democratic party was attacked.
A convergence of insurrectionary cells in Chile have written a letter to Kyriakos and Marianna titled “A death in action is an eternal call to struggle“.
Banner action in Rome. Athens Indymedia
Romanos is expected to appear in court again on Friday to state his defence.
Top photo: Solidarity demonstration in Leipzig. Athens Indymedia
Tags:
Greece
anarchists in trouble
anarchist prisoners
attack
solidarity
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