We reproduce the statement of SEK from Greece

No to repression in Greece, or anywhere else

On Sunday, 6 December, the Greek police arrested a total of 80 left-wing activists in Athens during a ceremony commemorating the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year-old student who was killed by the police on December 6 2008.

Those arrested include a large part of the leadership of the SEK (Socialist Workers’ Party) —the promoter of the commemoration— along with dozens of its members, as well as many other activists.
This police intervention must be understood in the context of the fight against the neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, recently convicted after a lengthy trial. We should remember that half of the Athens police voted for this party.

Only a few weeks ago, the police tried to carry out a raid on the SEK headquarters, during which they physically assaulted the comrades and pointed their weapons at them.

Among those arrested this Sunday are Petros Konstantinou, Athens councillor and coordinator of the united movement against fascism and racism, KEERFA; Panos Garganas, editor of the newspaper Workers’ Solidarity, who was a witness at the trial and whose publication covered it almost daily; Christos Argyris, of the leadership of ADEDY, the public sector union that is actively involved in KEERFA and which called a general strike for the sentencing of the neonazis; Katerina Thoidou, Nikea councillor and prominent KEERFA activist; and two lawyers in the popular accusation against Golden Dawn; Thanassis Kampagiannis and Kostas Papadakis.

They were accused of failing to comply with the Covid-19 protection measures, but the protest was held with all the necessary measures, while the arrested were locked up with no anti-virus measures at all.
Following strong protests from the unions and the entire left — notably SYRIZA and the Communist Party — all of them were released.

This repression is part of a pattern that is spreading across Europe. We must bear in mind that, in the Spanish State, nine people were sentenced to long prison sentences for promoting the independence of Catalonia. Thousands more people have suffered repression for the same motive, while tens of thousands of people across the state have been condemned under the “gag law”. In France, Macron is preparing a law in the same line and, without waiting for the new law, he is already repressing Muslim individuals and organisations.

An attack on one sector of the left or of the movements is an attack against all of us. We denounce the attack of democratic rights represented by the police intervention in Athens, and we express our solidarity with those arrested.

Marx21

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