Fifth antifascist patrol in Athens

Hundreds of people on around 150 motorbikes carried out another antifascist patrol in Athens on Thursday. The patrol started in the central Exarchia neighbourhood and went through the centre and north of Athens before returning to Exarchia without incident. The video and images in the link below show the beginning of the patrol as people move off under red and black flags whilst chanting antifacist slogans.

This was the fifth large scale patrol organised in Athens. Numerous over patrols are regularly conducted around the country and in other areas of the capital such as Petralona. Previous groups have been attacked by police as was the case with the patrol in September last year which led to the arrest and torture of several participants. The neighbourhoods Thursday's patrol passed through are home to a large non-Greek population but are also areas of increasing fascist activity. In May a man was arrested for an attack on a non-Greek owned business. The 34 year-old, with possible links to Golden Dawn, admitted that he was part of a 'citizens patrol' which was active each night in this area.

Video and images of the patrol can be found here