Anti-fascist patrols in Athens

On Sunday night people clashed with fascists and police during an anti-fascist patrol around Athens. In response to continuing attacks by fascist supporters groups of anti-fascists have been patrolling the streets at night. During September there were a number of these motorcycle patrols of around a few dozen people.

September saw a number of incidents of racist violence across Athens. Last week suspected members of far right Golden Dawn attacked a Tanzanian community centre and damaged shops owned by non-Greeks in the Amerikis Sq area. It's reported that the police present did nothing to intervene. In another incident two people were attacked with knives after leaving one of the frequent anti-racism demonstrations in an Athens suburb. The attack by men on motorbikes left two people in hospital.

Earlier in the month Golden Dawn supporters attacked non-Greek stall holders at open air markets. The stalls of the non-Greeks were smashed and on some occasions the whole process was filmed. One of these incidents caused further embarrassment for the police as one of their officers was seen taking part in the attack. With the police so seemingly intertwined with Golden Dawn and the far right people are looking to organise a response by themselves.

The anti-fascist motorcycle patrols have taken place a number of times. The central neighbourhoods of Athens have many non-Greeks living in them and so are often a target for racist attacks such as the some of those mentioned above. So the anti-fascists patrol around these areas.

During one of these patrols on Sunday night reports state(in Greek)that clashes occurred around the Agios Pentalaimonos area of Athens. At some point the motorcade came across a group of fascists. The subsequent attack left one or more of the fascists needing hospital treatment. Mainstream media reports talk of residents rather then fascists and also say that the 'residents' pulled out a gun.

After the clashes the motorcade was then attacked by police motorcycle units (Delta) a number of times. This led to several arrests(reports say between 15-23) and injuries from the anti-fascist group. A demonstration in solidarity with the arrested has been called for outside police headquarters.