As crisis deepens Greece's rulers take racism into the mainstream

With August coming to an end and the temperatures dropping from the low 40s C to low 30s C The northern port city of Thessaloniki shakes off of its summer lethargy as people come back from their annual holidays and the town readies itself for the return of its large student population. However, amidst the renewed hustle and bustle some things haven't changed. Many of the businesses in the centre remain shuttered, their store fronts decorated with graffiti and For Rent signs, the cafes while now busier are far fewer in number and the restaurants mostly remain empty except on the weekend. The only new business is a chain of fast food outlets that does a roaring trade in in 70 cent hot dogs and cheap iced coffees.

On the other hand whether it be in the supermarket lines or in the streets the talk is about how everyone will pay the latest round of bills. The guy pumping petrol complains about the cost of road tax whilst the woman behind me in line frets about how she'll make it through the winter if the government decides to raise the cost of heating oil by 40% as promised. 

And these are the lucky ones. The ones who still have a job and some source of income. For those who were already at the bottom of the pile before the crisis took hold the situation is now dire. No  large supermarket is complete without a gaggle of beggars waiting outside its entrance. The sight of old people and young kids rummaging through waste bins for food or stuff to recycle no longer turns heads, or even draws a comment.

For Greece's most vulnerable the country is rapidly becoming an endless nightmare, not only because of lack of jobs or money but because they are being scapegoated by politicians in power along with their allies in the national media. For immigrants the situation is worst of all. While the foreign media have focused on the open racist rhetoric of the Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party (which won 7% of the vote in the last national elections) the campaign against non-Greeks is not limited to the party's shaven headed black t-shirted thugs.

With the start of the Xenios Zeus police operation Athens has been using mass round ups of anyone with a dark skin in central Athens to prove that it is tough on undocumented migrants despite condemnation by Amnesty International. With the Samaras government unable to halt economic contraction and faced with a humiliating fait accompli from Berlin, Greece's failing political system is looking for a way out. In this they have found willing allies in the country's ailing mainstream media, owned to large extent by oligarchs determined to make sure that the country remains in the Eurozone, whatever the social cost.

A typical example of the manner in which immigrants are portrayed in Greek news can be seen in the recent case of a 15 year old girl who was beaten and left unconscious after an attack on the Greek island of Paros. With the police under pressure to produce results they arrested a Pakistani hotel employee, who according to official reports confessed to the crime. The fact that he was not allowed access to a lawyer during his time in custody on Paros seems to be considered a minor detail. Later police said that his DNA had been linked to the crime scene. At this point both TV and newspapers decided that trials and verdicts were irrelevant in such a case and talked of "a beast in human form" and "monsters among us".

Such language and tactics draw unfavourable comparisons with the propaganda attempts of the Nazi's in the mid 1930s and are being increasingly used by "respectable" mainstream reporters and politicians who routinely attribute rising crime rates and economic decline to the presence of immigrants.

In a climate where the nightly news bulletins are full of stories blaming the country's growing lawlessness on ruthless foreigners, it is hardly surprising that attacks on immigrants are on the rise, increasing not just in number but also ferocity. 

To make the situation even more intolerable, immigrants have every reason to believe that the police is not a neutral player in this increasingly violent game. During the recent elections some studies suggested the in Athens alone nearly 50% of police offers cast a vote for Golden Dawn, while Indymedia Athens and alternative news sources are full of police either turning a blind eye to racist violence or even abusing foreigners themselves.

The reality is the racism in Greece has, along with poverty become part of the respectable mainstream, simply another tool to be used by an deeply unpopular political elite eager to win back support from an electorate worn down by four years of economic collapse and terrified that everything that worked so hard to achieve over the previous decades will be taken away from them.

BBC Vs Jody McIntyre

During the student demonstrations against the UK's tuition fees hike  in London last week news that a disabled participant had been dragged from his wheelchair by the London Metropolitan Police spread across Twitter like wild fire. However, I was initially sceptical that this had actually happened as in such cases rumours, both real and unsubstantiated can be retweeted by many who do not check upon their validity. Even the photograph that was cited as evidence of the attack was less than conclusive as it was open to a number of interpretations. However, in the age of cheap video technology and Youtube it was perhaps inevitable that footage of the incident would come to light.



As it turned the victim of the assault, Jody McIntyre, is an activist and journalist who has previously been interviewed by the Guardian and so there was a face and a history to go with the images of burly police officers wrestling McIntyre who has cerebal palsy to the ground during the protests. As disgraceful as their conduct was it did not the BBC's Ben Brown from accusing McIntyre of possibly provoking it by attacking the officer using his wheelchair? (no, I'm not making this up)

In what was an appalling piece of gutter journalism a disabled person who'd been assualted not once but twice by the police was called upon to defend himself from accusations by a presenter who has obviously confused his role as a journalist with that of London metropolitan Police's defence lawyer. It is a disgraceful piece of biased reporting that was handled skillfully by McIntyre who calmly and rationally argued the obvious that a person in a wheelchair who needs assistance to move around does not constitute a threat to hundreds of  police officers dressed in riot gear.

The BBC  interview is here.



Jody McIntyre's blog is here and you can follow him on Twitter here.

G20 "This is not a riot" - "Wanna bet?"

"This is not a riot" - "Wanna bet?", originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

A day late and a dollar short - Channel 4 on Ian Tomlinson

More footage has come to light that show the attack by London police on Ian Tomlinson just minutes before he died. Today ITN/Channel 4 aired video taken during the assault that once again contradicts the official version that said that Tomlinson died of natural causes and made no mention whatsoever of any police involvement in the death.

What really makes me angry is the fact that a major media outlet waited an entire week before it decided to release a visual record of what, could in all honesty be called an unlawful killing. In addition not one officer came forward until other footage published in the Guardian today came to light. Every officer who witnessed this killing decided that they could avoid not only their duty but also knowingly break the law in order to cover up the actions of a colleague.

There are so many comparisons I could make with the police shooting of Greek teenager, Alexis Grigoropoulos in December. Lies, cover ups, media indifference to anything other than the official police line are just some of the common points. The big difference is that people here didn't take such behaviour laying down.

Is it just me or does that fact that balaclava wearing men spent days beating peaceful protesters in the centre of a European capital with impunity strike you as deeply disturbing? Dark portents indeed.

Ian Tomlinson: "You have the right to be beaten. If you wish to give up this right, we will do it anyway"

During last week's G20 summit protests, Ian Tomlinson, 47 an employee in a newsagent's in the City died of a heart attack whilst on his way home. At least that was the official account of what happened according to the police at the time. Some other reports in UK media also spoke of attacks by protesters on officers and ambulance crew who were attempting to provide first aid.

As it turned out none of this is true. A report in the Observer now paints a very different account of what happened last week. According to several eye witnesses present at the time of the incident the Tomlinson had been the victim of a police attack just minutes before he died.

"Photographer Anna Branthwaite said: "I can remember seeing Ian Tomlinson. He was rushed from behind by a riot officer with a helmet and shield two or three minutes before he collapsed." Branthwaite, an experienced press photographer, has made a statement to the IPCC.

Another independent statement supports allegations of police violence. Amiri Howe, 24, recalled seeing Mr Tomlinson being hit "near the head" with a police baton. Howe took one of a sequence of photographs that show a clearly dazed Mr Tomlinson being helped by a bystander."

Also the circumstances in which Tomlinson was initially treated contradict official accounts. It now seems that few, if any objects were thrown by protesters at the police when they came to see what had happened.Indeed if the video below is to be believed then members of the riot squad attacked and harassed those providing first aid (click here for a full account by Indymedia).



Given the lies and misleading statements presented by the London Metropolitan police during the inquiry into the death of Brazilian national, Jean Charles de Menezes, shot eight times while sitting on a tube train I'm sure the authorities will find a way to avoid taking responsibility for Tomlinson's death. Practice does makes perfect in any kind of cover up.

Greek police involved in new brutality case

A university student has accused police in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki of beating him during a routine stop and search. The 22 year old was stopped after leaving a bar with two friends during the early hours of Saturday morning. According to the sworn testimony given by police officers present Rafael Pagadas, refused to provide ID and became abusive. Afterwards the student repeatedly attempted to injure himself by banging his head on the patrol car present and on the wall of the Plateia Demokratias police station where he was taken.

Pagadas claims that he and his friends were stopped without reason and that when asked for ID he presented his Italian passport which lead to his being handcuffed immediately. Later he was taken to the police station where according to his statement plain clothes officers punched him repeatedly while he was handcuffed to a bench. Later, according to Pagadas officers slammed his head against the wall and dragged him by his hair around the station.

The 22 year old is due to stand trial 6th March for disobedience, refusing to provide ID and insulting a police officer.

Now Public

More reasons to get mad

I just came across this account (and here to read it in Greek) of the arrest of a Greek student who happened to be in the centre of Athens at the time of the riots last week via Q-Sputnik's blog. Myrto, who is doing her postgraduate studies in England was shopping with her mother when she was beaten and arrested for the hideous crime of speaking back to a member of the MAT (Greek riot police).

"Seconds later, her mother witnessing the whole thing, four policemen attacked her. They kicked her on the back, knocking her down on the street. Myrto weighs no more than 50 kilos. She started shouting and swearing. Her mother yelled in panic and pleaded with them to leave her daughter alone.

Some of them were trying to stop her from running to her daughter, while the others (the four policemen) had already twisted Myrto’s arm behind her back, holding her down, on the street. They repeatedly kicked her on the stomach, the legs, the ribs, swearing at her with vulgar and blatantly sexist words!"

I, too went through a similar ordeal when I was attacked by the riot police during a peaceful demo last year. Taking pictures seemed to provoke them to violence and as Myrto's account points out;

"Myrto told them she came to her home city to spend Christmas with her mother, but they wouldn’t believe her – in fact they suspected her of being a foreign journalist, a “rat” etc...
They saw the photos she had taken in the last couple of days and said they would seize the memory card of the camera, but Myrto did not hand it in. The camera was a fairly sophisticated one - Digital SLR – which made them suspect her and repeat their accusations and ironic comments: how come she had such a good camera, since she was not a journalist, how could she afford it, how much did it cost and so on..."

However, whilst I was injured badly enough for the hospital doctors to want to keep me overnight I did not undergo the terrible harrassment that Myrto got whilst being questioned;

"The officers systematically tried to break her morale, humiliating her, verbally and psychologically assaulting her. They would put their faces right in front of hers, almost touching her, calling her… things; they vividly described the “sexu@l intercourse” they would have with her. They pulled her hair repeatedly.

When she asked if they would be long, one of them told her to ask them again later, when all of them would be f…ing her."

And people wonder why there has been such violence over the last two weeks. Time and time again these uniformed thugs have beaten and killed with immunity. I've lost count of the number of accounts of people who have suffered at their hands, been assaulted, belittled and demeaned by some power hungry demi - nazi with a club and a badge.

I know that this could all be a hoax as I have not been able to find the person's original post, however, there have been a number of other similar incidents captured on video (see here) in the past and the details of the whole procedure seemed accurate enough (and as I have witnessed it myself I am in a position to judge better than most). Also the police here has a long, inglorious history of violence (see here for a damning 2007 Council of Europe report) and footage of recent police violence prompted Amnesty International to complain about their behavior.

Anger over court verdict - Thessaloniki, Greece

Anger over court verdict - Thessaloniki, Greece, originally uploaded by Teacher Dude's BBQ.

Young activists clashed with police today outside the central courts in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki when the police officers involved in a Rodney King style beating of Cypriot student, Augustinos Dimitrios in 2007 walked free after being given suspended sentences. The event which was captured live on shocked audiences with its savagery.

In the wake of the verdict many fear that the case of the teen who was shot by a 37 year old police officer will be swept under the carpet once protests die down.

See here for video footage of the incident.

Sipa Press photographer arrested and beaten while taking photos inside port

Once again the Greek law enforcement authorities have covered themselves in glory. This time arresting then beating handcuffed French photographer, Oliver Jobard who was covering a story on Afghan refugees in the port city of Patras. It's almost a year since I suffered similar treatment (see here) at the hands of the Greek riot police for taking pictures during a peaceful demo. You have no idea how much I hate these knuckle grazing, corrupt neanderthals.

"French photographer Olivier Jobard of the Sipa Press agency was arrested and beaten by a coastguard officer on 4 July while taking photos in the port of Patras, in northern Peloponnese, for a report on immigrants. Detained by the police on charges of “resisting an authority” and “physical injury,” he was released the next day pending a trial, which was due to begin today.

For years, a special permit has for been necessary for anyone taking photos within Greece’s ports, which are regarded as military or high-security areas.

Jobard told Reporters Without Borders that Sipa Press requested a permit for him but it had not been issued by the time he needed to begin working. He took photos without any problem on 3 July, when he was questioned twice by port guards and was allowed to continue working after showing them, at their request, the pictures he had been taking. "

See here for the rest of the story from Reportage Sans Frontiers"

Thanks to Devious Diva for putting me onto the story.

As seen on TV?

Tonight Greek TV (ET 1 at 10.00pm) will show a documentary made by the Reportage Horis Synora team (Reporting Without Borders) on police violence in Greece. When they were making the programme a film crew came up from Athens to interview me on my experiences at the hands of the riot police last September (see here for more details). For the dreadful crime of taking pictures of the police during a peaceful march I was attacked by them and detained. As a result I was left with a broken nose, dislocated shoulders and other various injuries that took up three pages in the medical report I received.

Still, compared with many other cases I got off lightly, I was released quickly and in the police department I was taken to (in an unmarked van with four uncover cops - not an experience I recommend) I was not beaten, which more than I can say for many.

Victimised

Arrested, punched, kicked, kept for three days in a police cell, convicted and fined. His crime? Playing music in the street in the same spot where he has alway played.

Back from court

Just got back from court. It was a simple procedure in that all I had to do was tell a court official that everything I wanted to say was in the testimony I had already filed. The only thing they asked was if I had any more information on the names of the riot cops (MAT) who attacked me and since they refuse to reveal names, even to the ombudsman I had to say no. The reasons they gave for this refusal range from the absurd to the downright childish.

Interestingly, I saw in their reply to the ombudsman the reason why they choose me. It appears that

"προκλητικα και κατ' επαναληψη τους φωτογραφιζε τις κινησεις τους"

Meaning, I repeatedly and provocatively (?) photographed their movements. I never knew the goon squad was made up of such sensitive types.

A fugitive from justice

At long last my case against the riot police who attacked me in September simply for taking photos during a peaceful demonstration has shown signs of life. After spending a couple of months amassing evidence (including a doctor's report of my injuries that ran to more than two pages) I filed suit in December. This morning I found this taped to the front door of the apartment I live in.




Basically, it's a call to appear at the central police station within 48 hours or as it says I'll be taken there forcibly and fined the grand, if prosaic, sum of 14.67 Euros. Just one problem the date underneath is 18/01/2007 so technically I'm an outlaw subject to violent detention if caught.

UPDATE

Looks like I made a mistake in my translation as I have to go to the central courts and not the police station (got my megaros/halls mixed up). Phew!!!!!!!!!

For a full account of what happened click here.

For photos click here.

Footage taken after I was attacked by Greek riot police

I guess I should be flattered that the police deemed it necessary to employ the services of four fully armed riot cops to subdue one 40 - year old, camera wielding English teacher. This footage of me laying, handcuffed face down on Tsimiski St was taken by Alter TV channel on the 8th September this year.I still wince when I see these images as I was in intense pain as one of the guys tried to yank my backpack off my dislocated shoulder and all I could see was my blood on the pavement.

What it doesn't show is the previous scene in which I was slammed into a lamp post by a riot cop's shield in an unprovoked attack whilst photographing a peaceful protest march (click here to see photos). As a result of that I suffered a suspected fractured nose, dislocated shoulder and multiple cuts and bruises. Even now, six weeks after the incident I do not have full use of my left arm.



I'm now in the process of suing the police for this attack but this is proving difficult as they are stone walling all attempts by my lawyer to get more information on what units were on duty at this particular point. They even went as far as to refuse him entry to the central police station when he went to ask. They really are a law unto themselves. See here for the full story.

Police obstruction

I guess I should have known this would happen. I just talked to my lawyer and it seems he is being given the run around by the police. They refuse to release information about the police officers who beat me on Saturday 8th September. Indeed, they wouldn't even let him enter the Astynomiko Megaro (Police hall) in order to ask. The only thing they gave him was a typed report (full of errors) which says that I was detained for acting suspiciously. Since the only thing I was doing was taking photographs during a peaceful demo I would love to hear what they consider "suspicious". Click here for the full story.

The full story

It has been just over two weeks since I was violently detained by the Greek riot police during a peaceful rally and I thought I would try to put down what happened and give myself a sense of closure over the events that happened.

On Saturday 8th the Greek prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis was scheduled to give his annual address at the International Trade Fair (ΔΕΘ) in Thessaloniki. This is usually the cue for large scale demonstrations in the city and this year was expected to be no exception. The wave of popular disgust and indignation over the government's handling of the forest fire crisis was yet another reason for people to protest. I decided that the rallies organised would be a wonderful photo - opportunity, full of life, colour and a certain touch of drama. And indeed they were. Thousands filled Aristotelous Square and Egnatia Street. Walking through the crowds I was able to take lots of pictures which I intended to put on my Flickr page and blog.

At some point one one of the rallies decided that they were going to march down Agias Sophias St and then onto the Trade Fair and I decided to follow them. Almost immediately the march was accompanied by a phalanx of riot police. As images go, it doesn't get more dramatic than this so I decided to hang back and take shots of them marching down the road in battle formation.


At no point did anyone gesture or shout to me to stop, they remained impassive, if uncomfortably close to the main body of the march considering the fact that tensions were running high. Then as we were going along Tsimiski St a couple of the MAT left the main group and started running in my direction. At first I didn't realise what exactly was happening so kept on taking pictures until they were almost upon me.


I guess the cries and screams from the people behind me should have been a warning but rather stupidly I assumed that I had nothing to fear from them, considering the demonstration was peaceful and there hadn't been a hint of trouble.

What happened next is hazy. I recall being knocked to the ground and having people scream at me. I managed to shout out, "Δεν αντιστεκομαι" (I'm not resisting) and "help". The next thing I knew was that I was face down in a pool of my own blood on the pavement whilst somebody handcuffed me violently.

Witnesses to the incident who contacted me later told me that the riot cop had body slammed me with his shield into a nearby lamp post. That, at least would explain the dislocated shoulder.

I asked them what I had done but all I got was a guy screaming his head off at me. Later on, an officer, I think came along and in a calmer tone of voice told me I was being detained. After a succession of plain clothes police came along and told me I was being taken in for questioning. Again and again I was told that I shouldn't have taken pictures.

Four other plain clothes cops accompanied me in an unmarked white van to the central police station (Αστυνομικο Μεγαρο) where I was taken to the fourth floor to be questioned. There I was asked repeatedly, but politely about my reasons for taking pictures. They examined the photographs and took my details. Eventually, after an hour or so they seemed convinced by my story that I was just taking pictures as a hobby in order to post them on my blog and so said I could go.

Whilst being escorted out some of the officers said that I should clean myself up, though I'm not sure if this was out of kindness or the realisation that letting somebody walk out of a station whilst bloodied and bruised was not the best PR move.

After passing a group of jeering motorcycle cops who were hanging around the main entrance I got a taxi home to make sure that someone could pick up my daughter from her friend's house and to get my IKA book so as to be ready when I went to hospital.Itook this opportunity and posted something on the blog in order to let people know what had happened (see here) Luckily, a friend of mine offered to take me to the Agios Pavlos hospital, Kalamaria where I was treated by doctors in the orthopedic clinic. After being X-rayed, they informed me that I had suffered a dislocated shoulder and possible fractured nose.

After a couple of days I decided that I would press charges, even if I believe the chances of the person who did this being punished are tiny. I feel that if I don't do something then it is tantamount to saying what they did was right.

Two weeks later I am still in pain and I find sleeping difficult, if not impossible. I still can't figure what I did that deserved such a violent response. At no point had the police, either through gesture or verbal warning indicated that I should stop taking photos. Indeed, I'm absolutely sure on this point as I would have heeded them immediately, as I had done when taking pictures of some of those on the demonstration.

The ripple effect

I just came across this in the Guardian website;

Greek riot police beat up photographer

September 20, 2007 12:24 PM

When a teacher decided to take photographs of a peaceful demonstration in Greece, he ended up with a dislocated shoulder, fractured nose, multiple cuts and bruising after being beaten up by riot police. He says he was arrested in Thessaloniki on September 8, placed in an unmarked van by the four plain clothes cops and taken to the central police station. He was later released without charge. The teacher, aged 40, blogs under the pseudonymn of Teacher Dude, and is originally from England, now living in northern Greece. (Via Teacher Dude and Flickr)

Blog for effect

Strange how the internet changes things. Ever since I first put the pictures of me being attacked by the police last weekend there has been a steady stream of people from all over the world who have sent me messages of support and written about the incident on their own sites. As a result the story has been picked up by the mainstream media here in Greece and I've been interviewed by journalists from the Eleutherotypia and Makedonia newspapers as well as doing a live interviews for Flash.gr, a radio station based in Athens (nerve wracking to say the least). There seems to a momentum to all this which I have you, the readers of this blog to thank for.

I'd like to thank all those bloggers who have talked about the incident;

Chris Bertram at Crookedtimber.org
Oneiros
Lethewards
Pixelkuh
Annie's Animal
Akida
Apolitikis
Too Many Tribbles
Ekloges-2007
No Snow Here
Devious Diva
Sallonica
Black Cat, Red Cat
Panokato
Argos
Currybet.net
Itelli

So, once again thank you for all your help.

What's wrong with this picture?

I paid for these pictures with a dislocated shoulder, fractured nose, multiple bruising and smashed glasses.

All because the Greek riot police (MAT) didn't want me to take photos during a peaceful demonstration.

After being beaten, violently handcuffed( hence the dislocation), I was arrested questioned and later released without charge.

Pressing ahead

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone, and especially the Greek readers of this blog for their support and best wishes. It has really been great to know that so many people want to help. The good news is that I have found a lawyer to help me and we are in the process of pressing charges. I would like to ask anyone who saw what happened on Saturday to please get in contact if they would like to be a witness. Email me here if you can.

Πρωτα απο ολα, θα ηθελα να ευχαριστησω ολους σας που στειλατε μνηνηματα υποστηριξης και βοηθειας. Αν καποιοι απο σας ειδατε τι εγινε το Σαββατο και θελετε να βοηθησατε, στειλατε email.

Once again, thank you all for everything you have said and done.

For photos of the incident click here.