Abu Ghraib in Athens

/ greece / the other white meat /
Indicative of the kind of abuse endemic to the treatment of illegal immigrants (not only in Greece), but also of the inspirational nature of the new reality-photography initiated by the avant-guard soldier/artists in the US army, the Greek police has been caught torturing illegal Afghan immigrants, among them minors, in their houses and in an Athens precinct (images from the raided house and a few of its occupants here).

This came at the heels of the acquittal of a police officer from charges of rape committed against a Ukrainian woman, a case of blatant occlusion of justice to say the least. There has been little action on the part of the Greek police in persecuting the torturers and its a safe bet that the worse that can happen to them is a slap on the hand.

Thus, the reaction of ~50 young Athenian anarchists to the events, could be considered appropriate, even. Not really effective, and totally symbolic, of course, but it's some sort of relief that 30 years after the torturers' trials (in the aftermath of the military junta's collapse), there are some people willing to risk more than their free time to concretely express their opposition to such atrocities.