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In Greece, austerity kindles the flames of anarchy Measures meant to shore up the country’s finances have sparked protests that go beyond the bounds of normal civil disobedience and reinvigorated the anarchist movement.
Jan. 13, 2011
A flare-wielding protester stirs up the crowd at a demonstration by government contract workers in front of the supreme court in Athens.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
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Jan. 13, 2011
Government contract workers stage a protest in front of the supreme court in Athens. Greece has cut pensions, raised the retirement age and slashed public sector pay in an attempt to right itself financially. Even so, it is drowning in a sea of debt.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Government contract workers protest in Athens. Protests have threatened a breakdown in the rule of law. Thousands of Greeks have joined an “I Won’t Pay" movement, refusing to cover highway tolls, bus fares, even fees at public hospitals.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
The majestic Acropolis overlooks the modern city and government buildings in Athens. Government corruption and joblessness are giving anarchy movements more traction among youth who see a grim employment future ahead.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Engineering student Dino Demetriades, 19, recently joined AK, the Anti-Establishment Movement anarchy group, in Athens. Demetriades says he is scared about what is happening in Greece. But when he joined the anarchy group last year, "I addressed the fear."
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Nosotros is a bar and cafe run by anarchists called AK, the Anti-Establishment Movement, in Athens. As youth unemployment has climbed to 35 percent in Greece, fringe groups such as these have gained steam.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Nikolas Ganiaris, 19, a law school student at the University of Athens, has joined a leftist group in Athens. “They are taking everything away from us,” he says. “What will happen when I finish law school? Will I only find a job making copies in a shop? Will I then need to work until I’m 70 before I retire? Will I only get a few hundred euros as pension? What future have I got now?”
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Vangelis Manos, 31, an anarchist with the AK anarchist group, lights a cigarette in the graffitti-laden neighborhood of Exarchia in Athens. Anarchist groups took over the neighborhood, where police rarely go. Authorities say that anger against the government has given rise to dozens of new “amateur anarchy’’ groups, whose tactics include planting of gas canisters in mailboxes and destroying bank ATMs.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Anarchists with AK, the Anti-Establishment Movement, set off to hang posters touting anti-government messages along the walls of the Exarchia neighborhood in Athens. Greece, and Exarchia in particular, have a long history of anarchist movements, but the recent surge in their numbers and their violence has officials worried a return to the kind of left-wing violence that plagued parts of Europe during the 1970s and 1980s
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Riot police walk the periphery of a protest by transportation workers protest in and around the Greek Parliament building in opposition to cutbacks in jobs and salaries of workers in Athens.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Anarchists warm their hands in a burn barrel in a park in the Exarchia neighborhood in Athens. Nihilist youths are patrolling the local park, preventing police from entering and blocking authorities from building a parking lot on the site.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Transportation workers stage a protest in and around the Greek Parliament building in Athens in opposition to cutbacks in jobs and salaries of workers. Protests and strikes have become commonplace in Greece as the government imposes harsh austerity measures to cut spending of a nearly bankrupt country.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Anarchists with AK, the Anti-Establishment Movement, dance and listen to a band play at Nosotros, an anarchist bar in Athens. Over the past two years, anarchist attacks have claimed four lives in Greece, including a journalist and a minister’s top aide. Left-wing radicals also appear responsible for the deaths of three civilians after a bank was firebombed during an anti-government protest last year.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
Jan. 13, 2011
Anarchists Alexandra, 18, left, and Stella, 16, visit a shrine in the Exarchia neighborhood of Athens dedicated to 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. Grigoropoulos was shot and killed by police in December 2008 when a conflict between youths and police escalated into rock throwing and mayhem ensued. That incident sparked days of riots and became the impetus for a series of fresh attacks.
Linda Davidson
/
The Washington Post
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