Statement by Greek anarchists
February 13-16, 2006
In the harbor of Patras (a town in Greece with a port from which ships sail for Italy) many immigrants have tried over the years to find their way to the rest of Europe through Italy.
One of them, 15 years old, after being spotted by the harbor police near a truck, was beaten up roughly in the head, as he describes with his own words:
"Shortly after 7:00 in the afternoon, while I was near a truck, three harbor policemen attacked me and kicked me on the head. I fell down and I don't remember nothing afterwards".
He was taken to hospital with severe injuries in the head. Nearby a fellow countryman of his, 16 years old, died under unknown circumstances, while he was watching the beating.
While the coorporate media were mumbling that this incident is something uncommon or were hiding the facts, around 30-40 anarchists some days later attacked the offices of the harbor police, destroying the entrance, throwing paint and writing on the walls, as a responce to the police brutality. When the police came, they had disappeared, while the local media were creating a negative climate, speaking of anarchists smashing cars, etc. The funeral the next day took place under high security measures.
Our solidarity to the immigrants that suffer police brutality is a weapon to enforce the class struggle, by abolishing the invisible racist and nationalist lines and promoting unity among the supressed.
Direct action as solidarity propaganda or as an action to stop racist and police attacks against immigrants, if planed right, can be really beneficial. Showing the immigrants that they do not stand alone against state violence (in all forms) or racist attacks and attitudes, motivating the hypnotized senses of local communities by bringing a clear message that state violence and police brutality can and should be confronted, or even enlightening incidents which otherwise would pass unnoticed in the flow of the consuming of information.
Our solidarity has to be expressed with the means that would make it dangerous for power and the dominators, and within the context of enforcing the antagonism and the social stuggle.