thessaloniki june 2003

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thessaloniki june 2003
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on june 20-21-22, the bosses of europe come
together near thessaloniki (in a hotel in
chalkidiki) under huge security measures, to find
ways to build their fortress-europe. one of the
most important issues to be discussed is how to
deal with the immigration issue. behind the
philology about legal and illegal people and
the internal security of european consumers, a
paneuropean cooperation network is being
developed to control and deal with so called
"illegal immigration", as well as to provide
for the smooth transfer of the immigrants in
the mechanisms of exploitation in ways controlled
by the bosses.
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On Saturday(14/6) morning Antiauthoritarian
Movement Salonika 2003 squatted the Theological
department of Aristotle university. The Law
School of the Faculty of Legal and Financial
Studies was squatted on Monday (16/6), in order
to host the Indymedia Centre, the Medical Aid
Group and the independent radio 1431AM. The New
Building of the Faculty of Philosophy has been
squatted by other anarchists/anti-authoritarians.
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Thursday june 19
More than 5000 people participated in this
demonstration
Antiracist demonstration
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All demonstrators returned Safe Nobody
was arrested
Friday june 20 No border action
At the moment there are 700 roma in the state
Macedonia at the border with greece. They fled
during the Kosovo war to Macedonia, where they
were allowed to stay in different camps and
private houses. Since march, the Macedonian
state tries to expel them of the country. Each
prisoner in this camp gets a liter of water and a
piece of bread a day, they have no access to
medical aid and no sun protection. When they
tried to find protection from the rain, the
border police violently drove them out of their
shelter.
Out of solidarity with the roma and in order to
offer them some aid supplies, and will to act
against the outer EU- borders and the Schengen
system, about 250 people drove from the
university campus to the border. The activists
had planned to cross over the two borders by
foot and to take food, water and medical supplies
over to the prisoners.
Even before the greek borders the police and
riot cops were the group. It seemed impossible
to cross the border. After about 2hours of
negotitiations, groups of about five people were
allowed to pass the borders. Ten people passed
the greek borders but were stopped before the
macedonian border. One car, packed with water,
was stopped about 300m before the borders. The
activists were not able to get in contact with
the roma. During the negotiations (about 4hrs),
the police forces were built up and military
forces joined.
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The police used huge amounts of tear gas No
demonstrators were arrested Many were injured
Friday june 20 Clash at the red zone
Thousands of people went with buses from
Thessaloniki to the village Marmara's, in order
to demonstrate in the red area, near the hotel
where the summit was held. There full armed riot
cops waited for them with many tear gasses. The
dissobidients and the anarchist block attacked
in the red area and clashed with the police
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Saturday june 21 Clashes in the centre of
thessaloniki
the day started late, and there were originally
two separate Blocs - The Anti-Authoritarian
Movement Salonika and the "Black Bloc". The
Anti-Authoritarian Movement Salonika joined the
front of the main demonstration and maintained a
good deal of cohesion, but the Bloc was not as
big as the Black Bloc - I'd guess about 4000
total though. Overall, both marches were very
huge and exceedingly well-equipped. While the
Anti-Authoritarian Movement attempted a
break-away march from the main demonstration,
they were blocked at an intersection by cops and
maneuvered down side-streets, where it joined
with the Black Bloc (which left a bit later and
was so at the end of the march). The two blocs
merged and the gates of hell opened suddenly
the street was transformed into a war zone
against global capitalism. Stores like McDonalds
and Vodafone were torched, although most small
businesses seemed to be left alone.
Demonstrators personal report
The police attacked in the demo with dozens of
tear gasses, after that the demo split. The
bigger part returned in the universities where
people continued throwing stones to the police.
The part of the demo that continued clashed with
the police in the centre of city. The
demonstrators threw molotov bombs and stones
while the police used plastic bullets
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Sunday june 22
About 250 demonstrators gathered outside the
courts As an act of solidarity to the 29 People
being arrested. The demonstrators were
attacked and beaten by the police Two
demonstrators were injured and had to be taken to
hospital Several demonstrators were beaten and
arrested at the streets around the courts while
trying to leave
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Seven demonstrators have been imprisoned. After
three months of captivity Five of them started
hunger strike. Suleiman Dadkuk Kastro 52
days Carlos Martin Martinez 38 days Fernando
Perez 38 days Simon Chapman 38 days Spyros
Tsitsas 35 days
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Throughout their captivity They police and
authorities have constantly been violating
their rights
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Yesterday The five prisoners started Thirst
strike As a form of protest against The
conditions of Their captivity
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Since the day of their arrest There have been
actions of solidarity all around the world
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The actions are culminating now That the health
of the five Prisoners is in a critical
condition And their life is endangered
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Rethymno Mytilini Corfu London Cardiff Norwich Vie
nna Berlin Hamburg Valencia Arta Milan Argostoli B
russels Rome Buenos Aires Majorka Torino Amsterdam
Larissa Sheffield
San Francisko Malaga Barcelona Madrid Graz Bilbao
Helsinki Burgos Saragosa Aranjuez Corunya Patras
Kavala Heracleio Chania Xanthi Thessaloniki Lamia
Athens Ioannina Volos
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Free thessaloniki 7