The explosion was heard by those inside the occupation, who’ve been on standby after the latest government threats to repress occupations in the country. We immediately came out and with the help of some neighbours we put down the fire, while no damage was done.

The “speedy mobilization” of the police is worth noting: Only 6 minutes after the explosion 3 patrol cars, 1 conventional (undercover) police car with regular license plates and one jeep arrived and started moving in close range to the squat. The jeep as some point stopped and cops inside it started to provoke us…

After 20 minutes two riot police squads came up the corner of Katsimidi st. and Egnatia st. and continued to provoke. Meanwhile other people were informed via phone and came quickly to the squat.

It is the second attack against an occupied space in Thessaloniki within 4 days (the first was the occupied railroad car of Radio Revolt in the Aristotle university).

Nothing will overcome the determination by which we will defend the places where we live and breathe.

To sum up: A junta-appointed attorney general and present government minister meets with a “residents’” group widely known to be a fascist front. Minutes after the meeting, fascists attempt to attack the local anarchist squat, backed by police force. Sometimes, the line between fascism and democracy is much, much thinner than we’d ever think.

Athens, 09.05. The neo-fascist group “Golden Dawn” (Chrisi Augi), had today called for a racist demonstration “against migrants” in Omonoia, Athens’ most central square – and one with a major migrant population. The photograph above depicts members of the Greek Riot police (MAT) side-by-side to members of the “Golden Dawn” (all wearking black helmets and carrying wrapped-up greek flags). Plenty more photos of the cops and the nazis are up on this article of athens indymedia.

During their gathering the fascists tried to attack the old Court of Appeals (Efeteio) building, were many migrants live. According to indymedia reports, migrants and others in solidarity inside the building fought back the fascists, with stones.

 Leftist and anarchist anti-fascist demonstrations that tried to approach Omonoia Square were pushed back by riot police. In Exarcheia, the anarchists who had moved to the square there were attacked by riot police and some retreated in the Polytechnic, were street-fighting continued.

Spirits among anarchists in Athens were high after the demonstration. The mobilisation was successful: we managed to get all these people on the streets without the state daring to respond in any significant way. As people said: this, of course, is one of December’s legacies.

In Thessaloniki 800-1,000 (again, mostly anarchists) marched in the streets of the city in solidarity with the occupations. It is important to point out that the city’s largest squat, yfanet, is the one that seems to be the most directly threatened with eviction at the moment.

Solidarity actions also took place in the cities of Kozani, Giannena and Volos.

Today (28.04) is a national day of solidarity with occupations across the country, which are under eviction threat after the recent orders given by the newly-instated attorney general of the high court, Y. Sanidas. There will be demonstrations in the cities of Thessaloniki, Giannena, Volos and Athens, where the demonstration will pass by most of the city’s occupations, old and new.

All demos start at around 6pm local time. There will be eye-witness reports from the demonstrations in Athens and Thessaloniki later tonight.

“what’s the plan for tomorrow?” asked a comment on imc-uk yesterday. “What do you mean what’s the plan”, came a reply – “the police have caused a man’s death – go out there and cause havoc, like Greece”.

Two of the best places to follow the action in London seem to be Last Hours’ tweeter and of course IMC London. Strasburg seems to be the next place on the rioting map. But meanwhile, back in Greece…

Today (Thursday) is the day of the general strike. On Wednesday, PM Karamanlis called a meeting of the Government Council of Foreign Affairs and Defence (ΚΥΣΕΑ). The rarely-meeting council met specifically in order to deal with the increase in “criminality and violence” – and some of the announced plans include:

- Activation and widespread use of CCTV installed in main thoroughfares in Athens (trans: most of the CCTV in Athens was installed just before or during the 2004 Olympics; around 50% of cameras were destroyed by activists, while legally speaking, the use of the rest for anything other than traffic control had been deemed unlawful so far).

- The council wants a stronger police presence on the streets and in the neighbourhoods and a change in the law to allow police to use their guns to prevent crimes (trans. current laws only allow the police to use their weapons for self-protection, not for some abrupt crime prevention).

- Ways are sought to assist attorney generals in ordering “fast track” raids of political activists and other targets.

The announced measures, combined with the recent order by newly-installed attorney general of the country’s high court, Y. Sanidas, for a swoop on occupations across the country, show that the government is chosing to go head-to-head with the ever-increasing movement that sprang up in the country after December. Will the state’s attack succeed? The widespread belief here is that this will depend, solely, on the people’s reaction. They can write up as many new laws as they wish – what is to be decided will be decided on the streets – as always…