Epanastatikos Agonas
Epanastatikos Agonas ( Greek Επαναστατικός Αγώνας , Revolutionary Struggle ' ) is a left-wing extremist Greek underground organization that has become known since 2003 through attacks on Greek government institutions and the building of the American embassy in Athens . The group is classified as a terrorist group by the Greek government and the media .
history
The group first appeared in 2003 with an explosives attack on a courthouse in Athens, then in 2004 with attacks on the Greek Ministry of Labor and police buses.
In January 2007, an anonymous caller from the group assumed responsibility for the rocket attacks on the US embassy in Athens. After the missile attack on January 12, 2007, the Greek authorities described the group as a breakaway from the November 17 underground group .
Public statements
On December 22, 2005, the group published a manifesto in the Greek satirical magazine Pontiki , in which they proclaimed revolutionary, anti-globalization and anti-American ideological goals.
In a statement published in Pontiki on January 25, 2007, the Revolutionary Struggle admitted that it carried out the attack on the US Embassy, stating that the attack was “our response to the criminal wars against 'terrorism' that the United States unleashed across the planet with the help of sympathetic states ”.
In a manifesto published in January 2009, the group assumed responsibility for the attack on January 5, in which a police officer was seriously injured, but also for the shooting at a police bus on December 29, 2008
Ballistic investigations revealed that a weapon used by Epanastatikos Agonas in an attack on a police station in Nea Ionia on April 30, 2007 was reused in the attack on a police officer on January 5, 2009. A second weapon used on January 5 was linked by police to the December 23, 2008 attack on a police bus. This attack was called by an association called 'Popular Action' ( Greek Λαϊκή Δράση Laiki Drasi ) in response to the riots in Greece in 2008 .
In a letter to Pontiki in which the organization assumed responsibility for an attack on the Athens Stock Exchange, it threatened the police, the “golden boys” working in the financial sector and the “capitalists” with further attacks.
Classification as a terrorist organization
The EU Council of Ministers has the Revolutionary Struggle June 29, 2007 on their , list of persons, groups and entities to combat terrorism set. The US State Department declared the group a foreign terrorist organization on May 18, 2009.
Attacks of the Epanastatikos Agonas
- September 5, 2003: Explosives attack on a courthouse in Athens .
- May 5, 2004: Explosives attack on a police station in Athens.
- October 29, 2004: Explosives attack on Greek police buses.
- June 2, 2005: Explosives attack on a building of the Ministry of Labor in Athens.
- December 12, 2005: Explosives attack on the Ministry of Finance in Syntagma Square in Athens.
- May 30, 2006: Assassination attempt on Culture Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis , former Minister for Public Order
- January 12, 2007: Attack on the US embassy in Athens with a bazooka.
- February 3, 2009: armed attack on a police station in the Korydallos district of Athens . The perpetrators fired about a dozen rounds from at least two handguns and threw a hand grenade against the building, which did not detonate.
- February 18, 2009: Unsuccessful car bomb attack on Citibank offices in Kifisia near Athens. Police later said the bomb was powerful enough to destroy the four-story building.
- March 9, 2009: Bomb attack on Citibank branch in the Athens suburb of Filothei .
- March 20, 2009: Explosives attack in front of the State Property Management (KED) building on Alexandras Avenue in Athens is attributed to Epanastatikos Agonas.
- September 2, 2009: Bomb attack on the Athens Stock Exchange causes considerable property damage and injures one person. The Epanastatikos Agonas takes responsibility in a letter to Pontiki .
On April 10, 2010, the anti-terrorist unit of the Greek police struck the organization when six suspected members were arrested and explosives and other evidence were found.
- a letter bomb addressed to the minister Michalis Chrysochoidis killed on 23/24. June 2010 Giorgos Vassilakis , one of his closest collaborators.
Chrysochoidis said in an interview with FAZ in February 2012:
“You want to kill me because my name is linked to Greece's success in the fight against terrorism, with the breaking up of ' November 17th ' and 'Epanastatikos Agonas'. Some have not forgiven me for that. "Who sent the bomb could not be determined (as of February 2012).
- April 10, 2014: Bomb attack near a bank in Athens.
Web links
- Left group takes up arms . taz . January 18, 2009
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.print_unique?e=C&f=13162&m=A08&aa=1&eidos=A Athens News December 23, 2005 (link no longer available)
- ^ New York Times, Jan. 13, 2007
- ↑ taz, January 19, 2009
- ↑ {{Web archive | text = archive link | url = http: //www.topontiki.gr/Pontiki/index.php? Option = com_content & task = view & id = 3684 & Itemid = 1 | wayback = 20090227060048 | archiv-bot = 2018-04-08 12:49:17 InternetArchiveBot}} Article in '' Pontiki '' (Greek) (link no longer available)
- ↑ taz, January 19, 2009
- ^ BBC News. 9 January 2009 (English)
- ↑ Kathimerini , September 10, 2009
- ^ EU list of terrorist organizations
- ↑ Press release of the US Department of State of May 18, 2009 ( Memento of the original of May 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Fox news, Jan. 2, 2007
- ^ Spiegel-online, May 30, 2006
-
↑ Greece newspaper online, January 25, 2007 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Time, January 12, 2007
- ↑ Greece newspaper online, February 3, 2009 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Terrorist attack foiled . Greektown.eu
- ↑ ERT, March 12, 2009 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Greece newspaper online, March 21, 2009 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Kathimerini , September 10, 2009
- ↑ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCXS-Y4Ld3o_vfpNLO8MS4bSVeswD9F1G4F00 AP, April 12, 2010 (link no longer available)
- ↑ Greece newspaper , April 13, 2010 ( Memento of the original from July 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Bomb hits Greek law enforcement ministry, 1 dead . The Telegraph, June 24, 2010
- ↑ faz.net February 2012
- ↑ ekathimerini.com
