Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

International solidarity for the Thessaloniki prisoners

isa | 07.07.2003 21:53 | Thessaloniki EU | Repression | Social Struggles | London

an update on solidarity actions in support of the saloniki prisoners


An international day of solidarity has been called for Thursday, July 10, in support of the eight prisoners arrested during the demonstrations against the European Union summit in Thessaloniki three weeks ago. The eight, who are facing felony charges and up to 25 years in jail, have been refused bail are still in prison in Greece. In London, supporters will gather at 3 pm at the Greek tourism office and the Greek airline, on Conduit Street, to raise awareness about the injustice being perpetrated by the Greek government.
This injustice is particularly well documented in the case of Simon Chapman. Simon, a protestor from the UK, was beaten in prison and denied access to medical care, despite suffering serious head injuries and broken ribs. Only at the insistance of the British consular was a doctor was permitted to attend him.
He and the other prisoners are being charged with possession of explosives, resisiting authority and rioting. However, there is evidence that Simon was framed by the police; video footage documents police planting black bags of molotov cocktails on him while he was being beaten.
The prisoners include Carlos Martinez and Fernando Perez, from Spain; two Greek protestors; an exile from Syria, who has been living in Greece for thirteen years; and an American, who has already been deported to the U.S. The Syrian is now facing deportation.
The prisoners’ court hearings took place in late June, and they will be remanded in custody for the next three months. The three separate counts with which the protestors are being charged all carry sentences ranging from 7 to 25 years in prison.
Already, there have been a number of solidarity actions in the UK and around Europe. In the UK, supporters protested at the Greek Embassy in London on Saturday 28th June. At a meeting called by the Thessaloniki Support Campaign on July 1st, around 70 people crammed into the London Action Resource Cente to see the video and photographic evidence that Simon Chapman was fitted-up by Greek police.
Meanwhile, in Berlin, the Greek embassy has been occupied twice and there have been protests in support of the prisoners in Denmark and Milan. There have been also been reports of sabotages against the Greek tourism office in Amsterdam.

for more information and for updates about the issue, check out the wombles website (www.wombles.org.uk)

Contacts and Support

Contact email for the uk support group:
 thessalonikiprisoners@yahoo.co.uk

There are many ways that we can support Simon Chapman and show our solidarity with the 8 prisoners.
· Write to Simon
Letters of support can make all the difference to keep up his spirits as he waits for a decision form the panel of judges. Knowing that others are out there thinking about you is vital to remaining strong while inside. Advice on letter writing is available by emailing us at the address at the bottom.
Write letters to:

Kratoumeno SIMON CHAPMAN
Dikastikes Fylakes Diavaton
T.K. 540 12
Thessaloniki
GREECE

· Write to Carlos Martinez and Fernando Perez (in Spanish)
Fernando has appeared in the press as an international terrorist wanted in 23 countries! This is obviously all bullshit. Neither Carlos or Fernando can speak much english so they will find it hard to communicate to other prisoners. You can write to them, in Spanish, at the following address:

Write letters to:

Kratoumeno Carlos Martinez
Dikastikes Fylakes Diavaton
T.K. 540 12
Thessaloniki
GREECE

Kratoumeno Fernando Perez
Dikastikes Fylakes Diavaton
T.K. 540 12
Thessaloniki
GREECE
· Write or email letters of protest to the Greek Ambassador to the UK Greek Ambassador to the UK
Embassy of Greece
1A Holland Park
London, W11 3TP
Tel: 020 7229 3850
Fax: 020 7229 7221
Emails:
 political@greekembassy.org.uk
 commercial@greekembassy.org.uk
 pressoffice@greekembassy.org.uk

· Take action
It is vital that we continue the actions of international solidarity that have started in other European cities. There will be an international day of action in support of the 8 on July 10. We need to mobilise ourselves and continue to take action in our demand that all charges against the prisoners are dropped and they are immediately released. In London, there will be solidarity actions at the Greek tourism office and the Greek airline, both of which are located on Conduit St. (off Regent Street, near the Oxford Circus tube), from 3 pm until around 7 pm.

· Donations
A Greek bank account has been set up for Simon to access funds. There are no limitations on the amount of money a prisoner can have. We are coordinating the transfer of money from the UK to this account. If you would like to make a financial donations please send cheques payable to “ABC” to BM Automatic, London WC1N 3XX, UK.
Books (paperback only) and newspapers can also be sent, direct to Simon at the prison address.

· Keep up to date with events
To receive regular email updates and for info on the forthcoming solidarity actions in the UK email:  thessalonikiprisoners@yahoo.co.uk

isa
- e-mail: isamacdonald@yahoo.com

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech