The government’s anti-people assault continues

Riot police invade the Acropolis

Riot police attack workers in the shipbuilding yards

The PASOK government once again displayed its anti-people venom. Yesterday morning, it ordered the riot police to invade the archaeological site of the Acropolis in order to attack workers on temporary contracts who were demonstrating for the right to stable and permanent work. The desecration of one of humanity’s most important monuments by the forces of repression, with the use teargas and batons against the workers, was ordered by the government.

The workers on temporary contracts had closed the entrance of the Acropolis from the beginning of the week, as part of a series of demonstrations, with the following demands: permanent and stable work, the immediate payment of all unpaid wages (which in some cases have not been paid for 22 months), the cessation of all sackings etc.

A little after 10.00 AM, the riot police cut a part of the fencing just below the central entrance and charged in attacking the temporary workers from behind. The situation was chaotic both inside and outside the archaeological site, with the rabid riot police hitting anybody in their path, including journalists, TV technicians and cameramen, in an atmosphere which had become suffocating due to the use of teargas. At least 4 workers were injured, one arrest was made.

The governments of PASOK and ND are both responsible and guilty for the situation which the workers on temporary contracts face today. Both of them created this regime which turns the workers into hostages. Both of them together with the “left-wing” Synaspismos voted for the amendment to the Constitution in 2001, which essentially stops workers on temporary contracts being made permanent.

Aleka Papariga

We do not have to justify ourselves to Merkel and Sarkozy

During yesterday’s press conference in Thessalonica, the General Secretary of the KKE, made the following comments concerning the demonstrations in the Acropolis:

“When the workers have severe problems, wherever they are, they must mobilize, they must fight, and they must struggle. We are absolutely certain that the rock of the Acropolis, the monuments, will not be damaged by the strike. The Acropolis is a symbol, if you like. And taking all this into account we are in favor of these demonstrations. These people are workers on temporary contracts, it is absolutely correct that they struggle.

So let’s leave ‘sensitivity” for the Acropolis and what Ms Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy will say to one side. We do not have to justify ourselves to them. We honor the Acropolis and all the history of our country, and we honor them by struggling. These monuments are valuable, but we must not forget the modern history of Greece. We will not quit, we will not stop writing today’s history.”

The workers of the shipbuilding yards demand work, free healthcare for the unemployed, that the electricity of the unemployed not be cut off. The government answered with riot police and teargas.

The PASOK government attempted on Thursday the 14^th of October to break the determination of the workers of the shipbuilding yards, by using large numbers of riot police and tear gas. This determination was expressed by a mass demonstration in the center of Athens against the anti-people policies which, in order to safeguard the profitability of the monopolies, reduce the operations of the shipbuilding yards and devalue the shipbuilding industry as a whole. In this way, the workers and their families are condemned to unemployment and poverty.

The workers reached the Ministry of Labor shouting the slogans such as “We want work and not unemployment, the plutocracy must pay for the crisis”. The workers had with them the electricity bills of unemployed workers who have had their electricity cut, the papers of unemployed workers who do not have access to healthcare, in order to submit them to the Ministry.

Their request to meet with the minister was met with teargas and an assault by the forces of state-repression. This attempt to terrorize the workers was not successful. The workers’ answer to the violence and the terrorism of the government is to continue to struggle without taking a backward step.

The workers continued their demonstration in a disciplined manner to the Greek Parliament. The President of the Metalworkers’ Union of Piraeus, Sotiris Poulikogiannis made the following comments to the workers at the demonstration “There is a well-organized plan to reduce the operations of the shipbuilding yards and the shipbuilding industry as a whole so that the ship-owners can build their boats in other yards which employ free labor. It is appalling, we are condemned to poverty and wretchedness, at the same time the Prime Minister has signed agreements for subsidies to the ship-owners so that they can build their ships in China-and on top of everything we face this attack”

Solidarity

The cadres of PAME, MPs of the KKE, the representatives of “People’s Rally” (the lists which the KKE supports in the upcoming local elections on the 7^th of November) were shoulder to shoulder with the workers in both these instances of police repression.

The Communist Party of Greece

They will not suppress the working class struggles

Statement of the Press Office concerning the assault of the riot police against the workers on temporary contracts in the Acropolis and the shipbuilding workers.

In its statement the Press Office of the CC of the KKE made the following comments concerning the presence of the riot police and the use of teargas against the temporary workers in the Acropolis and the shipbuilding workers.

“We condemn the government for the presence of riot police and the use of teargas against the temporary workers in the Acropolis in the morning and the demonstrators from the shipbuilding yards outside the Ministry of Labor in the afternoon. The attitude of the government, of the industrialists-bankers-ship-owners towards those who make their living in the shipbuilding yards is very clear: They condemn them to poverty and unemployment, as well using state-repression against them.

If the PASOK government and its well-paid parrots on the TV and radio believe that state and government violence can suppress the workers struggles, they are deluding themselves”

Who insults the monuments of civilization?

This was the state of the Acropolis the day following the announcement of the cruel anti-people measures which the social democratic government of PASOK decided together with the EU and the IMF. The KKE, from this symbol of civilization, communicated the ageless and humane message of resistance against barbarism and slavery to Europe and the whole world.

This was the state of the Acropolis on the 14th of October. A few moments later, the political staff who represent barbarity ordered the organs of state-repression to transform the Sacred Rock into a battlefield with teargas and an gladiatorial arena where workers are beaten up (workers who have not been paid for 22 months and who will be fired in a few days!). Who is it who insults the monuments and civilization?