Exarcheia | Athens' Anarchist District | Greece

Описание: Exarcheia (Εξάρχεια) is a community in central Athens close to the historical building of the National Technical University. Exarcheia took its name from a 19th-century businessman named Exarchos (Έξαρχος) who opened a large general store there. It is known for being Athens' historical core of radical political and intellectual activism. It is often considered the anarchist quarter of Athens.

History
Exarcheia was created between 1870 and 1880 at the confines of the city and has played a significant role in the social and political life of Greece. It is there that the Athens Polytechnic uprising of November 1973 took place. In December 2008, the murder of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a policeman in Exarcheia caused rioting throughout Greece.

Exarcheia is a place where many intellectuals and artists live and an area where many socialist, anarchist, and anti-fascist groups are accommodated. Exarcheia is also an art hub where theatrical shows and concerts are held around the central square. The headquarters of PASOK, a Greek political party that supported austerity measures dictated by the European Union in 2009, are also located in Exarcheia and has been a target of attacks by anarchists. Police stations and other symbols of authority (and capitalism) such as banks are often targets of far-leftist groups.

The European refugee crisis resulted in an enormous migration to Greece – in 2017, 55,000 people throughout Greece were registered as permanent residents. When borders between Greece and the European Union were closed, many migrants were forced to stay in camps that lacked housing or hygiene infrastructure. As a result, refugees sought alternative options within Athens, including squats in Exarcheia.

Athens Polytechnic uprising
On November 17, 1973, the Greek military raided the student occupation of the Athens Polytechnic University, killing 40 civilians. The events resulted in public outrage and the passing of the Academic Asylum Law, which designates university campuses as off-limits to police and military personnel. This has contributed to the prevalence of protests, as the Polytechnic functions as a site of insurgent coordination as well as a safe haven from police violence.

2008 Greek riots
On December 6, 2008, a Greek police special guard shot and killed 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos within blocks of the Athens Polytechnic University, leading to the largest protests in Greece since the end of the dictatorship in 1974.

After the riots, collectives in Exarcheia expanded initiatives experimenting with new political formations, especially to provide public spaces organized around an anti-hierarchical and anti-commercial ethos. Activists turned a parking lot into the guerrilla Park Navarinou, hosting events such as ticket-free movie screenings and anti-consumerist fairs. The Sporos collective developed solidarity economies through trade and sale of Zapatista-produced goods, and the Skoros collective promoted re-use, recycling, and sharing practices. Other new and renewed political formations in Exarcheia included producer or consumer cooperatives and collective kitchens.

Migrant communities
Exarcheia is the site of a large migrant and refugee community. There are more than a dozen squats in Athens, primarily centered in Exarcheia, serving as housing, healthcare, and social centers for refugees, migrants, or anarchists.

However, far-right and nationalistic organizations have been connected to multiple attacks and burnings of refugee squats. In addition, the government of Alexis Tsipras evicted multiple squats in Athens during Syriza's time in power. In addition, Exarcheia and bordering Omonoia have been the focus of specialized policing tactics in Greece. These include MAT, (Public Order Restoration Units) a riot police unit implemented after the dictatorship; Operation Virtue, which used blockaded areas and rapid raids of public spaces to capture undocumented migrants in the 1970s and 1980s; and Operation Xenios Zeus, which implemented stop-and-search and document checks for foreigners in 2012.

In 2019, a change in political governance affected Exarcheia. The New Democracy party was elected to power nationally in July and the new prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged to impose order and to clean up Exarcheia. Subsequently, a new mayor of Athens was elected in August. Immediately, evictions of migrant squats began. By the end of September 2019, there had been 7 evictions

Ultimatum
The Ministry of Citizen's Protection broadened the crackdown on squats in Greece by releasing a statement on 20 November 2019 which demanded all squats were to be evacuated in 15 days' time. Commentators quickly noticed that the end of the deadline was 5 December, the day upon which Alexandros Grigoropoulos had been killed in 2008. More evictions followed and by mid December the state was attempting to evict anarchist social centres as well as migrant squats.