“By standing in solidarity with those targeted, we can expose the state’s oppressive mechanisms and continue the struggle for true liberation – for Palestinians and those incarcerated.”
By Migrants Solidarity, Athens
On May 13, students in Athens joined the global movement of the student intifada in solidarity with Palestine and occupied the Athens Law School. They demanded that Greek universities stop all cooperation in the form of research projects or exchange and funding programmes with the Israeli state. The next morning, police raided the occupied space and arrested 28 people. They confiscated a number of items from the grounds of the university, with no existing evidence to relate these items to any of the arrested individuals.
After the finalisation of the law enabling Greek police presence within the university campuses last year, there were unleashed waves of violence against students on their own campuses, while this year has seen a fast-tracked path to the privatisation of universities. Increased police presence and intimidation tactics in once free and autonomous spaces extend beyond the university walls. Events, activities and collective gatherings in public spaces – whether political or not – are targeted by police repression and violence. The state’s aggressive stance is an attempt to quash any form of anti-capitalist solidarity with migrants in support of free movement.
The 28 arrested in the Athens Law School were immediately transferred to the central police station (the Gada). Lawyers were only allowed access to them eight hours after their detainment, with the police attempting to force detainees to provide fingerprints prior to the arrival of their lawyers. In the meanwhile, hundreds of solidarians gathered in front of the Gada, demanding the immediate release of those arrested, while affirming their support for a free Palestine.
The following day, solidarians were present at the court to show their support for those arrested, with chants for a free Palestine and an end to the intimidation tactics. Finally, the 28 were released and the hearing postponed until May 28 of those accused of vandalism, disruption of the public order, refusal to cooperate with police procedures and possession of “weapons”. In spite of the decision to release all detainees, the state security department registered the nine non-Greek international comrades as “unwanted” and decided to continue their detention. Their lawyers were then informed that a deportation order would be issued – an unprecedented development for European citizens.
Administrative detention and deportations are part of the strategy that the Greek state practises as one of the deeply racist components of the murderous Fortress Europe. The state’s blatant racism is evident in the massive number of arrests, detentions, torture and deportations that happen on a daily basis – and mostly go unnoticed by society.
The brazenness with which the Greek state acts is also explained by years of enacting a deadly border policy against refugees, migrants and undocumented people. There are four grounds for administrative deportation, which give the police complete freedom to judge whether a person is a threat to public order, and people can be detained without trial and deported. The detention and threatened deportation of the nine detainees – from Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Britain – is a new application of these repressive orders targeting the solidarity movement with Palestine.
The technology used by the Greek state in its violent and deadly pushbacks of asylum-seekers rely on research and technologies of containment, surveillance and control that the Israeli state tests on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Opposition to the Israeli state, its military occupation of Palestine and the wars it wages in Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, is a ‘threat’ to the EU and to Greece’s military border security complex.
The rightwing media released information about the detention and deportation of the nine individuals before any of them or their lawyers were informed – a move that underscores the state’s use of the media as a tool for psychological warfare.
Migrants and those without papers who exercise their right to free speech by being politically active, are now under increased risk of deportation and other legal action. This is exemplified in the case of our Egyptian comrade who, having attended pro-Palestine demonstrations, has been threatened with deportation by the Egyptian embassy. Governments and media outlets collaborate to criminalise and delegitimise efforts to support the Palestinian struggle, portraying individuals as a threat to national security.
These actions reveal the state’s desperation to maintain control and suppress resistance. It underscores the need for alternative media and solidarity networks to counteract these intimidation tactics. By standing in solidarity with those targeted, we can expose the state’s oppressive mechanisms and continue the struggle for true liberation – for Palestinians and those incarcerated. There is a need to escalate our solidarity, to say clearly and loudly that neither intimidation nor imprisonment and deportation will stop the struggle. Resistance will never die, Palestine will never die!
We demand:
- The immediate release of the nine international detainees.
- No to their deportation.
- The abolition of administrative detention for all migrants and asylum-seekers.
- This article was originally published by Migrants Solidarity, Athens.
