Police in Athens carried out several raids on apartments and buildings in the Exarchia district which have been known to shelter illegal immigrants and far-left anarchists.
According to the Greek Reporter, “The police sweeps, which began last week, are being undertaken with an aim to combat drug trafficking and illegal immigration as well as squatting in vacant buildings.”
Thanks to Monday’s operation, authorities were able to detain over 100 illegal migrants with no valid documents. Police also combed through the apartments and buildings used for squats searching for weapons and drugs.
“The operations will continue with the same or greater intensity, until the drug mafias operating in the area have been dismantled,” an unnamed official from the Citizens’ Protection Ministry explained to the Greek daily newspaper Kathimerini.
No less than 23 buildings and apartments in Exarcheia are currently being squatted in by illegal migrants and far-left anarchist groups. In addition to that, there are 26 other squats which surround the central Athens district, making for total of 49 in just a small area.
A local city official told reporters, “The operations will continue with the same or greater intensity, until the drug mafias operating in the area have been dismantled.”
In response to the raids, the anarchist website Squat.net wrote: “Alert! What we have been announcing to you for a month and a half has just begun this morning, just before dawn. Athens’ famous rebel and supportive neighbourhood is completely surrounded by huge police forces: many riot police buses (MAT), anti-terrorist units (OPKE), police on motorbikes (DIAS), members of the secret police (asfalitès), as well as a helicopter and several drones.”
The author of the article also wrote, “answers are being prepared, as well as several major event mobilizers. Autumn will be hot in Athens.”
Athens’ new center-right conservative mayor, Kostas Bakoyannis of the New Democracy party, has promised to put security at the top of his administration’s priorities, claiming that previous leftist governments have let the city slip into a state of decay.
“Security is not an ideological issue,” Bakoyannis recently told Kathimerini. “It is the cornerstone of a democratic society and the freedom of its citizens.”
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