ATHENS – The Rouvikonas anarchist group, growing bolder after even getting onto the grounds of the Defense Ministry, roared into Greece’s public electric central offices and scattered fliers demanding the company not cut power to people who can’t pay their bills.
Some 20 members of the group, who in November tore into two other state offices, raided the Public Power Corporation headquarters on Nov. 30, Kathimerini said, but didn’t vandalize the property, only dropping the papers with their demands.
The ruling Radical Left SYRIZA-led coalition, which promised to protect the country’s most vulnerable, has reneged on anti-austerity promises on orders of international lenders and is letting people’s electricity be turned off at certain times of the year.
“Power, like water, is not a marketable product. Power is a social commodity that no household should be deprived of,” Rouvikonas said in a post on an anarchist website, taking responsibility for the intrusion.
On Nov. 27, they smashed the glass door and splashed paint on the entrance of the Attica Regional Authority building on Syngrou Avenue in anger over deadly floods in towns west of the capital city, a tragedy geologists blamed on unlawful construction blocking water run-offs which no government has tried to stop.
Rouvikonas, the Greek name for Rubicon, has operated with impunity, targeting Capitalist symbols and others associated with Greece’s acceptance of austerity measures continued under the ruling Radical Left SYRIZA-led coalition which promised to stop them.
But simultaneously, political rivals have claimed that elements in SYRIZA are protecting anarchists aligned with the Leftists alleged violated principles.
In July, Citizens’ Protection Minister Nikos Toskas denied that the group, which has been responsible for dozens of attacks against perceived symbols of the establishment, enjoys immunity from prosecution.
That came after a dozen or so members of Rouvikonas who broke through security at Parliament to enter the courtyard, where they chanted anti-government slogans, threw fliers and held up a banner before departing.
The protesters were briefly detained and released with the Parliament President, SYRIZA’s Nikos Voutsis, refusing to press charges. His son later was among greeters handing flowers to a notorious terrorist given a two-day holiday from prison.
“There was no violence from either side, which is why the order to release them was given, with the agreement of the parliamentary spokesman,” Toskas said, referring to the fact the protesters did not clash with police.
Rouvikonas has been associated with violence in other incidents, such as attacks on public transport ticket inspectors and vandalizing state agencies.
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Source: thenationalherald.com
