I’ve been waiting to discuss this for a few months, to see if it would become public. I’m glad it has. An american anarchist woman was beat nearly to death last November by Greek police. Basically, she was jumped and curb-stomped. They fractured her skull. She is recovering, thankfully, and she’s decided to press charges for attempted murder against the police. (Who continued to beat her long after she was unconscious, who dragged her several meters to the curb, who intentionally targeted her head and neck. Who tried to kill her.)

From The Greek Streets has a post with the entire story:

This morning in Athens, an American anarchist has pressed attempted murder charges against Delta and Dias motorcycle police, as well as the relevant commanding officers, for a beating she suffered at the intersection of Patision and Stournari streets, while demonstrating against the IMF on November 15th, 2010. Meanwhile, over 170 members of the American and European scholarly community, including Noam Chomsky, Judith Butler, and Immanuel Wallerstein, have denounced the behavior of the Delta police towards demonstrations and specifically the beating of the American demonstrator, calling the attack on her “nearly fatal”.

This isn’t more important because she’s american, and she has never asked for special treatment. It’s important because it is always important when the police do this sort of thing. As she has said:

What happened to me is not an isolated incident, it is a daily occurance because it is the very role of the police in co-operation with state and capital. This beating will not make me afraid, it does not stop me or anyone else from going to demonstrations – although it’s true that the police came close to killing me that night, we go into the streets because capitalism murders us everyday.