Anarchists Attack Athens

Photo: Scanpix/AP

A riot turned into a hostage situation in Athens, Greece. A group of anarchists took about 150 hostages for a six-hour standoff. Among the hostages were two members of the parliament. One anarchist was injured by a warning shot fired by a security guard. The hostages were released after the hostagetakers were assured that they would not be arrested.

CNN: Athens anarchists release hostages

A group of anarchists took 150 hostages in a six-hour standoff with police after they were angered by the sight of private security guards' cars illegally parked at a university in central Athens

The hooded anarchists left the campus, followed by the hostages, after negotiations with law enforcement and school officials.

Initially, about 30 anarchists stormed the campus, but that number grew to about 300.

They agreed to release the hostages about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday (0130 GMT)after being assured they would not be arrested.

I heard that journalists in Greece aborted a strike to be able to report from this incident. This university was the scene of a violent riot in november 1973 were hundreds of students were killed after the miltary rolled in with tanks.

Wow, thats pretty interesting... Anarchists in Athens... the birthplace of democracy

Its interesting to see that the actual anarchists are getting active again. When those primitive homemad bombs were hurled at the UK Consulate in NYC, I thought of Anarchists, with their stereotypical shaggy beards and hand thrown fuse lit bombs, about as much as Terrorists.

So these guys weren't arrested??! Boys, that smells funny to me. If these guys weren't arrested, and allowed to walk away AFTER they released the hostages, then something is funky. Probably didn't want to arrest a bunch of operatives for somebody's somebody.

Anarchists attacked Acropolis police station in central Athens with Molotov coctails.

with their stereotypical shaggy beards and hand thrown fuse lit bombs,

And huddled around a small dirty table in a basement apartment. Always a basement apartment.

Anarchists are rioting in Athens again. Molotov cocktails vs. teargas


Photo: AP


Ekstra Bladet: Tåregas mod demonstranter.......i Athen (in danish)

I found an english article. Here:

ABC News: More Than 40 Hurt in Athens Rioting

Shouldn't this be in breaking news?

Anarchists take hostages and they are not arrested...wow....

Originally posted by Muaddib

Shouldn't this be in breaking news?

Well, this thread is from 2005, but I bumped it as there were new riots. I guess I could've made a new thread, but...

Riots In Several Greek Cities

Riots have again broken out in Athens and several Greek cities (even to Crete), after police shot and killed a teenager.


BBC: Greek police shooting sparks riot


and

There's also a video in the article

So why are they being called 'anarchists'?

"Riots have broken out in several Greek cities after police shot dead a teenager in the capital Athens."

"People were being encouraged to join in the protests via some websites, AP said."

Sounds pretty straightforward to me.

So there was a retaliation protest in response to the police shooting the teen. They were upset people trying to take matters into their own hands, based on their own interpretation of justice; street justice. Things escalated and they basically just ended up rioting.

I don't see how they (as in all the rioters) are being linked to anarchism (as in political philosophy)?

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy


Because Greece has a history of left-wing and anarchist riots. It seems these latest one's are being orchestrated by "anarchists" via the web and it was in an "anarchist stronghold" that the Police shot dead the Youth.

reply to post by stumason


So you are saying all these rioters were members of an anarchist organization?

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy


For the most part, yes.

Did you not read the article?

The unrest began soon after the shooting in the central Exarchia district, a regular scene of clashes between police and leftist groups

Greece's anarchists regard the Bohemian quarter of Exarchia as their fortress and they frequently lure police into ambushes so they can attack them with rocks and fire bombs, our correspondent says.

Leftist and Anarchist groups are promoting the riots online:

People were being encouraged to join in the protests via some websites, AP said.

There has been rioting in Athens after police shot dead a teenager. The violence was worst in Exarchia district, a regular scene of clashes between police and leftist groups.

The information is there if you want to find it. Whilst some rioters are probably bored youths, they are being motivated by political groups which are mainly concentrated in student populations, such as Anarchists and Left-wing groups. Hence why the rioters have retreated back into University Campus' when daylight came.

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy



Good point, Lucid. Seems they were more like vigilantes than anarchists. We do the same thing in our media here in the States.

If our government is in favor of the people doing the shooting then they're called "freedom fighters", if not, then they're referred to as "terrorists".

reply to post by whitewave


But these are self-described anarchists (obviously you have fallen for the media spin of anarchist=bad word) and left-wing groups leading the charge in these riots, via the Interweb.

Greece has a history of this stretching back decades. Don't write them off as something else just because you think the word "anarchist" is a bad thing. I provided a link earlier on anarchism, you should read it.

Originally posted by stumason
reply to post by whitewave

 

obviously you have fallen for the media spin of anarchist=bad word

obviously, you don't know me at all.

Don't write them off as something else just because you think the word "anarchist" is a bad thing.

You're a mind reader now?

I provided a link earlier on anarchism, you should read it.

Why must the discussions on ATS turn into brawls with someone feeling the need to prove how right they are?

The media was reporting them as "leftist groups". Anyone not conforming to TPTB are labeled by the media with some knee-jerk reaction label: "right wing extremist", "terrorist", "radicals", "fanatics", "zealots".

I'm enough of an "anarchist" to not get my opinions from MSM sound bytes. I try to look at who stands to gain from me believing the pablum being spewed by the nightly news; listening for "emotionally-charged" words. If it's a subject of interest (ie: NOT Paris Hilton) then I take the time to investigate. Thanks for the link.

reply to post by whitewave


Hey, don't take it personally. It came across from your post that you seemed to think that the media said they were anarchists just to try and paint them in a bad light:

If our government is in favor of the people doing the shooting then they're called "freedom fighters", if not, then they're referred to as "terrorists".

But what I was trying to say was that this isn't media spin, per se, but rather they are self-described anarchists, so it isn't TPTB trying to spin the riots and besmirch anarchism but rather actual "anarchists" rioting. wether those anarchists are truly anarchists or people using the moniker to give their rampages some legitamcy is another thing.

Thanks for clearing that up, Stumason.

The founding fathers were technically anarchists as well as revolutionaries so I don't think the term is necessarily a bad thing.

However, you can't deny that the media often uses these emotionally charged words (as I'm sure certain "focused" groups do) to get a knee-jerk reaction out of its listeners.

Do you think that most of the people listening to the news reports of rioting in Athens (or elsewhere) consider "anarchists" to have a noble cause?

That the group promotes a riot, takes hostages and then just walks away is more newsworthy to me than what they call themselves. Also, if the group started out as 30 people and then grew to 300...did the police just open the door for the newcomers?

I realize we've got two different stories of Greeks rioting going on here (2005 and recent) so maybe we can pick one or the other to discuss?