Demonstraties in Europa: Griekenland. #2

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Voorstel trojka: Griekse werkweek van 13 uur per dag, 6 dagen per week

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Deskundigen van de missie die in Athene moet toezien op het Griekse financiële beleid, de trojka van Europese Unie, de Europese Centrale Bank en het IMF, willen dat de Grieken die een baan hebben, meer kunnen werken.

Daarbij denken ze aan 6 dagen per week en 13 uur per dag. Ze dringen aan op liberalisering van de arbeidsmarkt, onder meer met de mogelijkheid 78 uur per week te werken in plaats van 40 uur in de huidige officiële werkweek.

The Matrix: Prison for your Mind - The Rabbit Hole

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Arbeiders bestormen ministerie van Defensie in Athene

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De arbeiders wisten door de omheining te breken, maar kwamen het gebouw niet binnen. Ze scandeerden leuzen als 'dieven, dieven!' De oproerpolitie probeerde met wapenstok en traangas de menigte uiteen te drijven en ging later tot massale arrestaties over. Door de chaotische confrontatie raakte het verkeer rond het ministerie ontregeld.

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Greek anti-fascist protesters 'tortured by police' after Golden Dawn clash

Fifteen people arrested in Athens says they were subjected to what their lawyer describes as an Abu Ghraib-style humiliation

Fifteen anti-fascist protesters arrested in Athens during a clash with supporters of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn have said they were tortured in the Attica General Police Directorate (GADA) – the Athens equivalent of Scotland Yard – and subjected to what their lawyer describes as an Abu Ghraib-style humiliation.

Members of a second group of 25 who were arrested after demonstrating in support of their fellow anti-fascists the next day said they were beaten and made to strip naked and bend over in front of officers and other protesters inside the same police station.

Several of the protesters arrested after the first demonstration on Sunday 30 September told the Guardian they were slapped and hit by a police officer while five or six others watched, were spat on and "used as ashtrays" because they "stank", and were kept awake all night with torches and lasers being shone in their eyes.

Some said they were burned on the arms with a cigarette lighter, and they said police officers videoed them on their mobile phones and threatened to post the pictures on the internet and give their home addresses to Golden Dawn, which has a track record of political violence.

Golden Dawn's popularity has surged since the June election, when it won 18 seats in parliament; it recently came third in several opinion polls, behind the conservative New Democracy and the leftwing party Syriza.

Last month the Guardian reported that victims of crime have been told by police officers to seek help from Golden Dawn, who then felt obliged to make donations to the group.

One of the two women among them said the officers used crude sexual insults and pulled her head back by the hair when she tried to avoid being filmed. The protesters said they were denied drinking water and access to lawyers for 19 hours. "We were so thirsty we drank water from the toilets," she said.

One man with a bleeding head wound and a broken arm that he said had been sustained during his arrest alleged the police continued to beat him in GADA and refused him medical treatment until the next morning. Another said the police forced his legs apart and kicked him in the testicles during the arrest.

"They spat on me and said we would die like our grandfathers in the civil war," he said.

A third said he was hit on the spine with a Taser as he tried to run away; the burn mark is still visible. "It's like an electric shock," he said. "My legs were paralysed for a few minutes and I fell. They handcuffed me behind my back and started hitting and kicking me in the ribs and the head. Then they told me to stand up, but I couldn't, so they pulled me up by the chain while standing on my shin. They kept kicking and punching me for five blocks to the patrol car."

The protesters asked that their names not be published, for fear of reprisals from the police or Golden Dawn.

A second group of protesters also said they were "tortured" at GADA. "We all had to go past an officer who made us strip naked in the corridor, bend over and open our back passage in front of everyone else who was there," one of them told the Guardian. "He did whatever he wanted with us – slapped us, hit us, told us not to look at him, not to sit cross-legged. Other officers who came by did nothing.

"All we could do was look at each other out of the corners of our eyes to give each other courage. He had us there for more than two hours. He would take phone calls on his mobile and say, 'I'm at work and I'm fucking them, I'm fucking them up well'. In the end only four of us were charged, with resisting arrest. It was a day out of the past, out of the colonels' junta."

In response to the allegations, Christos Manouras, press spokesman for the Hellenic police, said: "There was no use of force by police officers against anyone in GADA. The Greek police examine and investigate in depth every single report regarding the use of violence by police officers; if there are any responsibilities arising, the police take the imposed disciplinary action against the officers responsible. There is no doubt that the Greek police always respect human rights and don't use violence."

Sunday's protest was called after a Tanzanian community centre was vandalised by a group of 80-100 people in a central Athens neighbourhood near Aghios Panteleimon, a stronghold of Golden Dawn where there have been many violent attacks on immigrants.

According to protesters, about 150 people rode through the neighbourhood on motorcycles handing out leaflets. They said the front of the parade encountered two or three men in black Golden Dawn T-shirts, and a fight broke out. A large number of police immediately swooped on them from the surrounding streets.

According to Manouras: "During the motorcycle protest there were clashes between demonstrators and local residents. The police intervened to prevent the situation from deteriorating and restore public order. There might have been some minor injuries, during the clashes between residents, protesters and police."

Marina Daliani, a lawyer for one of the Athens 15, said they had been charged with "disturbing the peace with covered faces" (because they were wearing motorcycle helmets), and with grievous bodily harm against two people. But, she said, no evidence of such harm had so far been submitted. They have now been released on bail of ¤3,000 (£2,400) each.

According to Charis Ladis, a lawyer for another of the protesters, the sustained mistreatment of Greeks in police custody has been rare until this year: "This case shows that a page has been turned. Until now there was an assumption that someone who was arrested, even violently, would be safe in custody. But these young people have all said they lived through an interminable dark night.

Dimitris Katsaris, a lawyer for four of the protesters, said his clients had suffered Abu Ghraib-style humiliation, referring to the detention centre where Iraqi detainees were tortured by US soldiers during the Iraq war. "This is not just a case of police brutality of the kind you hear about now and then in every European country. This is happening daily. We have the pictures, we have the evidence of what happens to people getting arrested protesting against the rise of the neo-Nazi party in Greece. This is the new face of the police, with the collaboration of the justice system."

One of the arrested protesters, a quiet man in his 30s standing by himself, said: "Journalists here don't report these things. You have to tell them what's happening here, in this country that suffered so much from Nazism. No one will pay attention unless you report these things abroad."

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Golden Dawn has infiltrated Greek police, claims officer

Officer says government has turned blind eye to fascists and far right may be being used to provoke clashes with demonstrators

A senior Greek police officer has claimed that the far-right Golden Dawn party has infiltrated the police at various levels. He has laid the blame on consecutive governments and the leadership of the police force for turning a blind eye to what he describes as "pockets of fascism".

Speaking to the Guardian on condition of anonymity, the officer said the Greek state had been fully aware of the activities of Golden Dawn for several years, with the National Intelligence Service and other security agencies monitoring it closely. The officer claimed police chiefs had had the opportunity to isolate and remove these small "pockets of fascism" in the force but decided not to. The state, he said, wanted to keep the fascist elements "in reserve" and use them for its own purposes.

The officer said he believed that Golden Dawn members could be used against the Greek left, which has led popular street protests against the government and austerity measures imposed by the EU. He expressed his belief that neo-fascist groups may already have acted as agents provocateurs during demonstrations across the country, to provoke clashes between demonstrators and the police or even between demonstrators themselves.

A spokesman for the Greek police, Christos Manouras, denied the police were using or being used by "any political formation against any other". Manouras rejected the existence of "pockets of fascism" within the force and said no unlawful behaviour would be tolerated.

He conceded that "individual cases can be found everywhere and at any workplace". But he added: "It is unfair for the Greek police force to be accused with no evidence that they tolerate or support specific actions or to be identified with certain [political] beliefs … You should note that – in accordance with the constitution and laws of the Greek republic – only illegal acts can be prosecuted and punished. The same does not apply for political positions, even if characterised as 'extreme' by the other parties and the overwhelming majority of public opinion."

Golden Dawn won 6.9% of the vote in elections in June, taking 18 seats in parliament, but a recent opinion poll conducted by research company VPRC suggested the party had doubled its support since then.

Human rights groups have accused the Greek police of being sympathetic to, or acting in collusion with, the group, and earlier this week a report of the Racist Violence Recording Network, a group consisting of 23 NGOs and the UN high commissioner for refugees, highlighted violent incidents in which police and racist violence overlapped.

"These incidents concern duty officers who resort to illegal acts and violent practices while carrying out routine checks," says the report. "There are also instances where people were brought to police stations, were detained and maltreated for a few hours, as well as cases where legal documents were destroyed during these operations."

Kostis Papaioannou, former head of the Greek national commission for human rights, said: "On some occasions there is a blurred line between Golden Dawn and the police." Allegations of collusion resurfaced after anti-fascist protesters told the Guardian they had been "tortured by police" after clashes with Golden Dawn supporters. The minister of public order, Nikos Dendias, has denied the allegations.

The officer who spoke to the Guardian accused the government of abandoning Greek police officers and thus creating the conditions for Golden Dawn to infiltrate the force. "These policemen feel unappreciated and isolated. They are badly paid, they work under the worst conditions and they look for support," he said, adding that they found it among the neo-Nazi community.

He also called on the ministry of public order to disclose reports of the internal affairs division, which he said showed cases of police brutality. "We should never accept policemen who attack journalists from behind," he said, referring to an attack on the president of the Greek photojournalists' union, who was taken to hospital with a brain injury last May.

The press officer of the Hellenic police restated the ministry's commitment to establishing a special response team to combat racist violence.

Several cases of violent attacks carried out in the presence of Golden Dawn MPs have been reported recently, including the storming of flea markets and an incident in which stones were thrown, and racist abuse hurled, at audience members during the Athens premiere of Terrence McNally's play Corpus Christi.

Earlier this year, Liana Kanelli, an outspoken Communist party MP, was assaulted during a live TV talkshow by Ilias Kasidiaris, Golden Dawn's spokesman, in an incident that made headlines around the world.

This week the Greek parliament voted in favour of lifting the immunity of three Golden Dawn MPs who could now face trial for suspected violent attacks and allegedly assisting in a robbery. Among them is Kasidiaris, who has claimed he is the victim of political persecution.

Kanelli characterised Golden Dawn as an "ideological and political pimp" serving "a mission that the system assigned to it". According to Kanelli, immigrants were just the first victims of the party, which also threatens workers and has attempted to infiltrate unions.

"If an employer wants to blackmail you, he threatens to call Golden Dawn," said Javed Aslam, a leader of the Pakistani community in Greece.

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Griekse journalist gearresteerd wegens publicatie ‘Lagarde-lijst’

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Een Griekse journalist,Costas Vaxevanis, is vandaag gearresteerd omdat hij een lijst heeft gepubliceerd met tweeduizend namen van Grieken die belasting zouden ontduiken. De Griekse regering heeft de lijst naar verluidt in 2010 gekregen van Christine Lagarde, destijds Franse minister van financiën, nu directeur van het Internationaal Monetair Fonds.

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“Ik heb niets anders gedaan dan wat een journalist behoort te doen. Ik heb de waarheid blootgelegd die zij (de regering, red.) verborgen hielden. Als iemand verantwoordelijk is voor de wet, dan zijn het de ministers die de lijst verborgen hielden, verloren en vervolgens zeiden dat hij niet bestaat. Ik heb alleen mijn werk gedaan.”

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Greek journalists warn over press freedom

Tension rises between Greek government and media after TV presenters are suspended over criticism of public order minister

Greek journalists have warned that press freedom was under unprecedented attack, with critics being suspended or put on trial by a precarious coalition government struggling to push through an economic austerity programme as a way of attracting foreign funds.

The clash between the government and the press appeared to be nearing a crisis with a strike due to start on Tuesday on state television (ERT) over the suspension of two popular presenters for mild criticism of a minister. Meanwhile, the editor of an investigative magazine went on trial on Monday for publishing a list of some 2,000 wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank accounts who the government has yet to investigate for possible tax evasion.

Dimitris Trimis, the head of the Athens Newspaper Editors Union said the current pressure on press freedom was the most intense of his career. "This is a matter of democracy," Trimis said. "The government feels insecure. The only way it feels it can convince society of its policies is to try to manipulate the media through coercion.

"This is true of both state television and in the private sector of the media where there has been a large number of lost jobs and wage cuts and so it has become easier to manipulate in the interests of the government and the economic elite."

Marilena Katsimi and Kostas Arvanitis were summarily dropped from their morning magazine programme on ERT after discussing the reaction of the public order minister, Nikos Dendias to a Guardian report on claims by anti-fascist demonstrators that they had been tortured by the police. Katsimi said on air that Dendias had not carried out his threat to sue the Guardian over the article because the medical examiners report "shows that there was indeed a crime." She described Dendias's actions as "strange" but did not think he would resign.

"About an hour after the programme ended, the director of information called for a transcript. He didn't ask to talk to us. And it was then announced that two other journalists would present tomorrow's show. We were cut," Katsimi told the Guardian.

"The style of the programme is very informal. It is a morning conversation over a cup of coffee and it is very popular with high ratings. We have been critical of ministers in the past from all parties, and there have been complaints to the management before but this is new. This is threat to public and private media."

Katsimi said the journalists' suspension was one of several "peculiar things" to have happened at ERT recently. "Everywhere in media people are being fired, but at ERT they are hiring. The government want people who agree with their position and they want to hire their friends."

ERT journalists are planning an initial two-hour strike from 6am on Tuesday, to be followed by 24-hour strikes until the suspension of Katsimi and Arvanitis is revoked.

Aimilios Liatsos, ERT's general director for news issued a statement on Monday claiming that the two journalists had "violated the basic rules of journalistic practice". He added that they had made "unacceptable insinuations" against Dendias without giving him an opportunity to express his view, "while their comments appeared to anticipate the results of a court decision".

Another prominent journalist, Kostas Vaxevanis, went on trial on Monday for publishing a leaked list of about 2,000 wealthy Greeks with Swiss bank accounts, who may face investigation for tax evasion.

The list was seized from a computer technician at HSBC bank in Geneva, who was suspected of trying to sell it, and was originally supplied to the Greek government in 2010 by the then French finance minister, Christine Lagarde, now head of the International Monetary Fund. However, the Greek finance ministry failed to act on the list for two years before it was leaked to Vaxevanis's Hot Doc magazine.

The case has triggered an uproar in Athens, where the speed of Vaxevanis arrest and trial – within three days of charges being pressed – has been contrasted with the many years it has taken the government to pursue rich Greek tax evaders.

On emerging from court where the trial was adjourned, Vaxevanis was greeted by cheers from a crowd of about 250, mostly journalists.

"I was doing my job in the name of the public interest," the journalist said. "Journalism is revealing the truth when everyone else is trying to hide it."

The Vienna-based Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe expressed concern about the Vaxevanis's brief arrest on Sunday. "I am relieved that Vaxevanis was released from custody after a brief detention, and trust that he will now be tried in a transparent manner considering the acute public interest in the case," OSCE media freedom representative Dunja Mijatovic said.

"It is the responsibility of media as the watchdog of democracy to disclose information in the public interest, even if it is considered sensitive by some."

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Greek Lagarde list publisher accused without reason, court told

Journalists and other supporters pack courtroom in Athens as lawyers for Kostas Vaxevanis open defence case

Lawyers for a journalist who published the names of more than 2,000 wealthy Greeks believed to be holding Swiss bank accounts have argued he should not be on trial.

Kostas Vaxevanis, editor of Hot Doc, a weekly magazine, was surrounded by fellow journalists and other supporters who packed the courtroom in Athens as his lawyers began their defence.

They said he had been charged without any of those on the so-called Lagarde list having filed a complaint about privacy violation, a rare occurrence in a freedom of speech or defamation case in Greece.

"He's been accused without reason," said Nicos Constantopoulous, Vaxevanis's lawyer and a former leftist politician. "The principles of a fair trial are not being followed."

Vaxevanis's arrest and trial following publication at the weekend has enraged many people already furious over consecutive governments' failure to crack down on a rich elite whom they blame for years of recession.

Under Greek laws covering sensitive data, a defendant must stand trial within 48 hours if arrested within a day of charges being filed in absentia. Vaxevanis could face up to two years in prison if convicted.

He has said he received the list – named after the International Monetary Fund head, Christine Lagarde, who gave it to authorities in several EU countries in 2010 when she was French finance minister – from an anonymous source.

The daily Ta Nea newspaper also published the 2,059 names, which include those of several politicians as well as many businessmen, shipping magnates, doctors and lawyers. It said the accounts had held about ¤2bn until 2007, but also made clear there was no evidence that any of the account holders had broken tax evasion laws.

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Griekse journalist vrijgesproken na publicatie lijst belastingontduikers

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De rechtbank in Athene gaf geen uitleg bij het vonnis. De uitspraak werd door velen op de voet gevolgd. Aanhangers van Vaxevenis schilerden het proces af als een test voor de Griekse persvrijheid. Bij de Griekse publieke omroep ERT is dinsdag gestaakt voor persvrijheid.

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Greece is governed by a corrupt clique, says Kostas Vaxevanis

Acquitted Greek editor adds that only foreign media stopped news of arrest over publication of 'Lagarde list' being buried

Greece is undergoing a crisis of democracy with press censorship at its centre, says the magazine editor in the middle of the media storm that has engulfed Athens. Speaking to the Guardian a day after being cleared of breaching privacy laws, Kostas Vaxevanis said Greece was ruled by a clique of corrupt politicians in thrall to businessmen who owned – and gagged – the media.

"There's a huge problem in Greece, a problem of democracy and essence," he said in his fifth-floor office, surrounded by copies of Hot Doc, the investigative magazine that last week published the names of more than 2,000 high-earning Greeks with bank accounts in Switzerland. "The country is governed by a poisonous combination of politicians, businessmen and journalists who cover one another's backs. Every day laws are changed, or new laws are voted in, to legitimise illegal deeds."

With a substantial chunk of the Greek media owned by magnates or financed by banks, journalists were in effect silenced. "It's tragic. Greeks only ever learn half the truth and that is worse than lies because it has the effect of creating impressions," he said.

"Had it not been for the foreign media taking such an interest in my own story, it would have been buried. With few exceptions, hardly any of the Greek media bothered to report that I was acquitted, when CNN and the BBC were breaking into their news broadcasts to do so. The international media is playing the role it played during the [1967-74] dictatorship, when Greeks would listen to foreign outlets to find out what was really going on in this country."

The 46-year-old, who set up Hot Doc with ¤5,000 of his own money six months ago, said that while independent journalism was difficult in Greece, his vindication had been a victory for freedom of the press and a justice system also besmirched by accusations of corruption.

Politicians had had more than two years to act on the list, handed to Greek authorities by the IMF head, Christine Lagarde, who was then French finance minister, but had not investigated it.

"Lagarde gave similar lists to Germany, France, Spain and Italy, and in each of those countries it was acted on and revenues in turn were accrued. Here, they are constantly saying they will deal with tax evasion, because it is the root of our country's economic problems, and they did absolutely nothing because there are people on the list who are friends of those in power," he said.

Vowing to tackle the establishment "because that is what Greeks want," Vaxevanis insisted Hot Doc would continue unearthing scandals. "The political elite have got used to the mainstream press not annoying them, but investigation is what we do," he said, looking tired, if relieved, after several sleepless nights.

"I don't think the decision to bring me before the court was the work of an overzealous prosecutor. I think it was very deliberate and very vindictive.

"No one knew my whereabouts the day I was arrested and suddenly there were 50 state security operatives surrounding the house, which would suggest my phone was being monitored. When the prosecutor came, he didn't even have a proper arrest warrant. But what I will never forget is how so many of the police who were present that day actually congratulated me for doing what I had done."

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Eurozone crisis live: Thousands protest peacefully during Greek general strike - as it happened

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Alas, it appears that Athens hasn't been quite as peaceful as we'd hoped.

Not only was a car set alight in the Athens district of Exarchia, but the fire engine that went to its aid was then attacked with molotov cocktails.

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While today's demonstrations were taking place in Greece, the European Union was being criticised by its auditors for failing to run its accounts properly.

For the 18th year in a row, the EU's auditors refused to sign off its accounts. It said that almost 4% of funds were wasted in the last financial year.

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Rellen in Athene terwijl parlement stemt over bezuinigingen

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Terwijl het Griekse parlement binnen debatteert over de recente bezuinigingsmaatregelen, raakten demonstreren Grieken vanavond opnieuw slaags met de met de oproerpolitie. Er werden benzinebommen en stenen naar de politie gegooid, die dat beantwoordde met ‘schokgranaten’ en traangas.

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Op woensdag 7 november 2012 21:21 schreef Paper_Tiger het volgende:
De Grieken zijn slachtoffer van de graaiers. Onze beurt komt nog....

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Op vrijdag 9 november 2012 14:51 schreef betyar het volgende:

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Fixed.

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Op vrijdag 9 november 2012 14:52 schreef Paper_Tiger het volgende:

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Dat zei ik ook al.

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Op vrijdag 9 november 2012 16:10 schreef Weltschmerz het volgende:

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Precies, de banken en buitenlandse regeringen hebben eerlijk gestemd dat het deze regering moest worden.

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Op vrijdag 9 november 2012 16:23 schreef Weltschmerz het volgende:

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Zoals jij en ik voor Barroso en Van Rompuy hebben gestemd.