At early hours of Monday, a coordinated police operation to clear out three anarchist squats in central Athens has resulted in arrests and evictions of the properties.

The three raided squats are Gare, Zaimi in Exarcheia and Matrozou. Matrozou residents have put up a fight, and as a result, 12 people were arrested and are facing charges for explosives possession.

The squats were attacked by the police in the past: Gare was recently evicted, only to be resquated a few days later. This time riot police units were stationed outside the squat buildings to prevent their reoccupation.

A Greek anarchist, who prefers not to be named, speaking to Freedom News commented:

Syriza has closed the double amount of squats than the ultra right-wing Samaras government, which made a point of attacking anarchist squats. When Samaras administration was evicting squats, Syriza MPs were protesting, and now they are more aggressive than their hard right predecessors. The timing suggests that Syriza is trying to play the two extremes narrative, as few days ago they moved on the extreme right, busting some combat18 neonazis with 50 anfo [anfo= ammonium nitrate: an explosive substance]. The police alleges that the evicted squats are behind a number of attacks that have been happening in Greece, especially lately, during the anarchist prisoner Konstantinos Yiatzoglou hunger and thirst strike.

Greek anarchists called for a meeting at the Athens Polytechnic tonight in order discuss their response to today’s raids.

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Photo: Zaimi Squat, source: Squat Net