Statement of the NPA
Close to 15 000 people have demonstrated yesterday night in the streets of Athens against the passing in the Greek parliament of a third memorandum that imposes new austerity measures to the Greek people and workers. It was the first general strike since Tsipras is in government. ADEDY (the main public sector trade union) demands : « the abolition of the memorandum » and « cancellation of the debt ».
On the banner spread out in front of the parliament one could read : « No to provatizations, save the ports the DEI (national electricity company), the hospitals ».
The demonstration has been violently dispersed by the riot police on Syntagma square and 50 demonstrators have been arrested. Among those arrested, two trade-unionists have been held in custody, one of them having been severely wounded by the police. They will appear before the court between 11 am and noon (local time). These two militants are our comrades, who belong to OKDE-Spartakos (a component of the anticapitalist colation ANTARSYA), one of them is a social worker and a trade-unionist, the other one is the secretary of the trade-union of bookshop workers in Athens.
We strongly reaffirm our complete solidarity with the demonstrators that have mobilised yesterday in Athens, following the NO in the referendum of the 5th of July.
We demand the immediate release of our comrades of OKDE-Spartakos and of all the arrested.
We firmly condemn the use of violence ont the part of the Greek government against the youth and the workers that oppose austerity in the streets.
We are more than ever on the side of the Greek people and we demand with them : cancellation of the debt and of the memorandums !
Montreuil, July 16, 2015
