Familiar faces from anarchist groups were among those detained yesterday morning during the police action to free the occupied building of Athens University. These are 14 people, most of whom have been repeatedly detained and charged with involvement in similar incidents in the past.
A typical figure among them is a 37-year-old anarchist, Polikarpos Georgiadis, who in the past had been detained, together with fugitive Vassilis Paleokostas, for complicity in the 2008 kidnapping of the businessman, Georgios Millonas, in Thessaloniki. Georgiadis denies involvement in the kidnapping, but according to the police, he was the one who rented the hideout in the village of Souroti near Thessaloniki, where the kidnappers locked up the businessman.
Georgiadis was subsequently released under restrictive conditions. On 21 October 2014, he was detained at Athens airport, Eleftherios Venizelos, just before boarding a plane to Brussels, and was charged with breaching his bail.
Apart from Georgiadis, a 49-year-old man was arrested in the occupied Athens University, believed byo the police to be the anarchists’ ringleader in the Exarcheia district. He was one of the 394 people detained when riot police invaded the Polytechnic way back in 1995.
According to the police, the two 49-year-old twins, who were among the 14 occupiers detained yesterday, have just as rich resumes. According to sources, in July 2007 they were charged with involvement in anarchist protests in front of the casino in Parnitha. One of the twins seems to have played a major role in the oldest occupation in the country: that of a university building on Lela Karagianni street.
Among those detained there was also a 19-year-old relative of a prominent opponent of the government. Along with his 20-year-old girlfriend, the young man had been arrested on 13 April as well when he walked out of the occupied university, but later returned to the building.
The police action started yesterday in the early morning in the presence of the university management and the prosecutor. Initially, the police called on the occupiers to come out of the building, but they refused. With the help of firefighters and special tools, police officers tried to pry open the main gate, but failed. They finally made it through using another entrance, and later escorted the occupiers out of the building in handcuffs.
Today, the detainees will be brought before a prosecutor on charges of violation of law and order.
Yesterday, the General Directorate of the Attica Police announced the detainment of a total of 49 people, 41 of whom Greeks and 8 foreigners, for the 19-day occupation of Athens University. Only 6 of those arrested are students.
The first arrests were carried out on 30 March, with a few more detained during the following days. Among them are nationals of Afghanistan, Algeria, Spain. There is one Pole as well, with an international arrest warrant for drug trafficking in his name.
"We will continue the policy of soft management instead of the futile strategy of zero tolerance," said associates of the Deputy Minister for Citizen Protection, Yannis Panousis, immediately after the police raid on Friday morning.
According to sources, no damages have been registered in the main building of Athens University.
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