From a solidarity action for the provision of basic necessities on Wednesday night / EUROKINISSI
The occupied rectory of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens has been under police siege for the last few days with the assembly of students reporting information about the imminent evacuation of the building early Sunday morning.
In an operation to push the squatters out of the building, the police forces have unnecessarily detained several people who wanted to deliver food and basic necessities, culminating in today’s beating of a young man in the yard.
[Αθήνα] video of the violent bringing outside the occupation of the rectory#antireport #laf_portal #sesaspoumasakoute pic.twitter.com/f8Kz6La6F8
— Land & Freedom (@laf_portal) March 18, 2023
In an extraordinary announcement, the assembly of students and solidarity denounces the operation of encirclement, blockade, slander and isolation, the deprivation of basic living conditions in it, as they do not even have heating, and communication with the ban on the entry of journalists, lawyers and citizens.
“It seems that it has already become apparent that this whole plan has failed. In front of the obvious empowerment of the project, which is on the side of the rest of the occupations of drama schools, university institutions and theater stages that escalate and continue our common struggle. The Occupy Assembly was informed of its impending suppression operation, with the police raid to evacuate the building on Sunday morning,” they emphasize.
From the assembly they send a call for support and note that if there is a repetition of the violence during the evacuation, they will consider the rector of the EKPA, Thanos Dimopoulos, who throughout the week has not responded to their requests for communication, as responsible.
The demonstration of repression last Wednesday was preceded by the futile attempt by the student association of the School of Dramatic Art of the National Theater for five hours to deliver food, in the presence of a lawyer, and the attack by the MAT with tear gas and stun guns on those gathered outside the rectory against during the mass strike on Thursday, after the unprovoked dispersal of the crowd by the MAT in Syntagma.
In the context of the attempted intimidation and slander of the occupation, the men of EL.AS. they do not hesitate to attribute to the squatters the fact that they themselves prohibit the passage and also to threaten passers-by who just want to walk and come across the police barricade.
The occupation began last Monday by the movement of students for the libertarian organization at the grassroots, consisting of students of the universities of Athens and students of art schools, as well as solidarity who joined their voices afterwards, led by the dead crime in Tempe and with the aim of turning the historic building into a center of struggle and assertion.
With their demands, they ask for the reinstatement of the university asylum, the repeal of the last two extreme laws for HEIs, the unacceptable presidential decree 85 which degrades artistic studies, but also the resignation of the government and the Supreme Court’s prosecution, while they condemn the racist murders of Roma and government policies, leading from the thousands of auctions to the refugee wrecks.