Category Archives: Albatros

[Thessaloniki] Urteil im Prozess gegen Albatros-Besetzer*innen

Heute, am 15. Dezember 2017, wurden die 9 Besetzer*innen der Besetzung Albatros zu 6 Monaten Haft auf 3 Jahre Bewährung verurteilt. Die verurteilten Besetzer*innen und ihre Unterstützer*innen haben angekündigt gegen das Urteil in Berufung zu gehen. Wir als “You can`t evict solidarity”-Kampagne werden sie dabei finanziell unterstützen.

Die Geflüchteten-solidarische Besetzung “Albatros” war im Herbst 2016 nach der Räumung der besetzten Häuser “Orfanotrofeio”, “Hurriya” und “Nikis” während dem No Border Camp in Thessaloniki im Juli 2016 entstanden. Sie wurde am 5. April 2017 geräumt. Dabei wurden im Haus 13 Menschen von der griechischen Polizei verhaftet, sowie 9 Unterstützer*innen vor dem Gebäude.

Im Folgenden dokumentieren wie ein Statement von Besetzer*innen des Albaross zum Prozess und dem Urteil:

On the 15th of December 2017 the prosecution of the people
 evicted from the squatted house Albatross in april this year continued.
 The owners of the house tried to sue for damages, allegedly caused by
 the squatters who fixed a lot of problems in the house which was
 abandoned for ten years before it was brought to live again, and even
 the judge had to acknowledge this was a ridiculous claim.

 However everybody who was arrested in the house was found guilty of
 squatting, except for one person from germany who hired a lawyer that
 spoke out against squatting in court with the only aim of getting an
innocent verdict for his client. This shows plainly how the
 justice system rewards people denying the violence and contradictions
we are confronted with every day and paying lip
 service to the state. They are charged with 6 month prison on three
years probation. Another person, that was not arrested during the
eviction but present during the arrest is charged with 7 months prison
on three years probation for resisting the police.

 Those of us without european passports, were other than in similar
cases also charged and
 found guilty for squatting. Not everybody has the chance to choose how
one wants to live and some were just trying to live a more dignified
life than in the camps around thessaloniki. It is an attempt to scare
those who are oppressed from acting and speaking out against their
marginalisation and oppression.

The clearly political trial and the populistic media campaign
surrounding it show once more that a system that knows only profit and
efficency is neither able nor willing to ensure the needs of people.
Property is the base of this system, establishing and manifesting the
divisions of rich and poor, european and non-european and therefore
deciding who has the right for a dignified life and who doesn't.

 While we are happy that the owners will not be able to extort money
 from us with the help of the legal system we will not accept this
 decision! With our lawyers we are confident to be able to reach an
 innocent verdict in an appeal.

 No Justice - No Peace!
No roof without people - no people without roof!


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Heute, den 15. Dezember 2017, wurde die Strafverfolgung der Menschen,
die im April diesen Jahres bei der Räumung des besetzten Hauses
"Albatross" festgenommen wurden, forgesetzt. Die Besitzer*innen des
Hauses versuchten die Angeklagten auf Sachschaden, der angeblich von den
Besetzer*innen am Haus begangen wurde, zu verklagen. Dieser Vorwurf ist
lächerlich, wie selbst der Richter anerkennen musste, da die
Besetzer*innen das Haus, das seit 10 Jahren leer stand, wieder in einen
bewohnbaren Zustand versetzten.

Bis auf eine Person aus Deutschland, die einen separaten Anwalt
beauftragt hatte, der sich vor Gericht mit dem einzigen Ziel, einen
Freispruch zu erlangen, gegen Hausbesetzungen aussprach, wurden alle
Angeklagten zu sechs Monaten Haft auf Bewährung verurteilt. Dies zeigt
offensichtlich, wie das Rechtssystem Menschen belohnt, die die Gewalt
und die Widersprüche mit denen wir jeden Tag konfrontiert sind
verleugnen und ein Lippenbekenntnis zum Staat ablegen. Eine andere
Person, die nicht bei der Räumung festgenommen wurde, aber bei der
Verhaftung anwesend war und wegen Widerstand gegen die Staatsgewalt
angeklagt war, wurde zu 7 Monaten Haft auf Bewährung verurteilt.

Auch diejenigen von uns ohne europaeischen Pass wurden entgegen
aehnlichen Faellen verurteilt. Nicht alle von uns haben die Möglichkeit
zu entscheiden wie sie leben möchten und manche suchten nur nach einer
würdevolleren Unterkunft als die Camps um Thessaloniki. Es ist ein
Versuch die Unterdrückten davon abzuhalten, aktiv und verbal gegen ihre
Unterdrückung und Marginalisierung vorzugehen.

Das ganz klar politische Gerichtsverfahren und die populistische
Medienkampagne, die sie begleitet hat, zeigen einmal mehr, dass ein
System, das nur Mehrwert und Leistung kennt weder fähig noch willens ist
die Grundbedürfnisse der Menschen zu decken. Eigentum ist die Grundlage
dieses Systems, das die Unterschiede zwischen arm und reicht, europäisch
und nicht-europäisch konstatiert und manifestiert und somit entscheidet
wer das Recht auf ein Leben in Würde hat und wer nicht.

Obwohl wir uns freuen, dass die Besitzer*innen es nicht schaffen werden,
uns mit der Hilfe des Rechtssystems Geld abzunötigen, werden wir das
Urteil nicht akzeptieren. Zusammen mit unseren Anwält*innen sind wir
zuversichtlich in einem Berufungsverfahren einen Freispruch erwirken zu
können.

No Justice - No Peace
No roof without people - no people without roof!

“

[Thessaloniki] About the eviction of Albatross squat

We report an article of comrades from evicted albatross squat in Thessaloniki (8.4.2017):

In the morning of Wednesday the 5th of April, the police, led by an OPKE unit, evicted a house in Ano Poli, Thessaloniki. Under the threat of fire-weapons, 13 people were arrested and brought to the police station in Monastiriou.

The cops refused to let the arrested use their right to contact a lawyer and get translators for 5 hours.

9 people that came to in solidarity were also brought to the “megaron” and kept 3 hours for identity control. One of them now faces the charge of resistance after the pigs beat him up.

During the day, 2 people had to be transferred to the hospital : one with a severe head-wound after the treatment he received in the police station (the physical and psychological violence of the cops following him even in the walls of the hospital) ; the other because of his health, the pigs refusing for hours to take in consideration his signed appointment with a doctor for this precise day, and for hours refusing giving their prescribed medication to him and another person.

After 32 hours, only 12 people were set free before the trial, one being kept imprisoned for having no paper. He may stay in up to six month for this only, and is also accused, like the others, of both squatting and damaging private property. The asylum process in Greece is still so insufficient that thousands of people are not able to obtain a “legal status” and have therefore no possibilities to get access to accommodation or other forms of support. Living in a squat is often the only option they have.

Over the time, Albatros was a home for a lot of people. Their “nationalities” do not matter.

We live together, we fight together against the violent oppression of a society that wants us unequal and divided.

We fight racism by building free association based on affinity and common interest instead of the stupid categories that are “nations” “races” and “cultures.”

We fight the oppression of a police-state and its system of borders and papers ; we refuse its authority like any other kind of power. Albatross was not a squat formigrants opened by western europeans, the house was opened by people with and without a “legal” status in Greece. By creating a home and a community where there’s space for everyone who wants to be part of it, we want to show an alternative for this cage that has been created and that has to be kept up with guns and walls. We do not need and we do not want authorities to govern us, we organize ourselves, because we know and we can see every day that humans are very well capable of living without hierarchy.

We live and create together with people that have been stripped of their rights and that are refused a part in this society, because we believe that the only way of counteracting a system of closed borders and an always-growing militarization of society is if we are claiming back what they want to take from us: our voices, our dignity and our humanity.

We fight the property system that divides us between rich and poor by using the houses left empty when so many people live in the street. Property is not safety, it is violence.

This house was made suitable for living again without money, using material found in the streets and in the trash. We did this because we want to show that in this society people do not have to be poor (as we are told by our governments), but that on the contrary this system is creating tons of “trash” on the one side, while on the other side people are left to starve.

Without money, hierarchy or a “legal status”, a house left abandoned to fall in ruin was made into a home for free people willing to self-organize.

Albatros was an answer to the politically motivated evictions of three squats in the summer 2016 in Thessaloniki that left many without a roof.

The eviction of Albatros is also a political decision, considering the context of repression against squatting (and especially the “migrant squats”) and the fact it happened on the very next day after a protest about this precise topic, when the accusation of the “owners” apparently dates back to December.

Repression will not stop our struggle. You can take our house and you can try to deprive us from our liberty but you will not silence us from speaking out and struggling against fascism, racism and every kind of violence and injustice.

We call everyone interested to show support this Tuesday 11th of April at 12 at the courthouse of Thessaloniki.

No people without a house, no house without people

No house in the hands of the capitalists !

[Thessaloniki] Erneute Raeumung // griech. Regierung eskaliert

Nach den Raeumungen dreier Refugee-Besetzungen in Thessaloniki im letzten Jahr und der zwei weiteren Haeuser in Athen vor drei Wochen, scheint der griechische Staat seine Ankündigung alle Besetzungen raeumen zu wollen wahrmachen zu wollen und eskaliert die Situation weiter.
Wir dokumentieren den Bericht eines Aktivisten:
Albatros squat was evicted yesterday. During the eviction, there were 13 arrests inside the house (activists from various countries and 5 migrants). 8 more activists gathered outside the building during the police raid and were brought by force to a police station but were released after 3 hours of checking their IDs. One of the arrested activists had to be carried to a hospital, because he was wounded during the eviction. All the arrested were freed earlier today, as the court could not provide translators. Their trial will take place on coming Tuesday,

Albatros was a privately owned house in the old town of Thessaloniki, that was squatted past autumn by internationals.

This is an image of Albatros squat, publishing in a local web site six days ago, in an article announcing coming evictions of squats.

Albatros was a rather small squat, mainly internationals were living there, but also a good number of migrants, especially the period after the eviction of Orfanotrofeio and the other squats in Thessaloniki, while the “refugee camps” around Thessaloniki were still full (during last July NoBorder Camp there were 27,000 migrants living in camps around Thessaloniki, now there are less than 3,000).

We call for your solidarity!