(en) France, Organisation Communiste Libertarie (OCL) Greece in struggle - Skouries: an ancient forest has become the latest battleground in Greece (fr)

The struggle of a few thousands of villagers against the imposition of destructive gold 
mining in northern Greece radicalized and expands. It is becoming the main focus of 
protest and insubordination across the country. ---- The violent imposition of this 
project on the part of the Greek state is the major factor in the escalation. ---- "If the 
government decided to transform the Chalkidiki in a laboratory of violence and repression 
to export them to the rest of the country, the people of Halkidiki have decided to make a 
laboratory for the freedom and combat. And this fight is something for which we should all 
be ready. " ---- We have already spoken of the struggle here in northern Greece with a 
population against the excavation and operation of a gold mine in the forest Skouries in 
the Chalkidiki peninsula, a hundred kilometers east of Thessaloniki.

Without necessarily sharing everything it contains, here is an article that has the merit 
of summarizing the current situation quite well in this fight.
few information and additional considerations are following, including the legal 
consequences of sabotage carried out in the night from 16 to 17 February.

Skouries: an ancient forest has become the latest battleground in Greece

Zoe and Theodora by Oikonomides Mavroudi

Skouries is the largest Greek history which you have rarely heard. It is an ancient forest 
in northern Greece, where a Canadian company, giant gold mining claims his rights. Gold 
mines, environmental concerns, state repression, police violence and anti-mine local solid 
and organized Skouries have made a real battlefield in Greek politics, a battlefield that 
has yet received very little international coverage, clearly overshadowed by the 
escalation of the Greek crisis.

Hellas Gold Greek society and its major shareholder, Canadian Eldorado Gold together to 
create a wealth of gold and copper in the ancient forest Skouries in the northern region 
of Halkidiki, but the inhabitants of 16 villages the region oppose closing the project and 
made several demonstrations against him during the past year, many of which are concluded 
violently. The riot police made excessive use of tear gas even within the forest and in 
the villages, while residents have accused the police of arresting people on false 
charges, abusing them physically and proceeding even at sampling DNA against their will.

" Halkidiki became a black hole in the geography of Greece. It is a place in this country 
where the Constitution has been transformed into a piece of paper, where the rule of law 
has collapsed, where human rights are violated on a daily basis , "said Dina 
Daskalopoulou, a journalist Journal Editors' [????????? ??? ????????? / Efimerida your 
Sindakton], the only Greek daily organized cooperative owned by its staff. Daskalopoulou 
spoke in an interview on the radio Radiobubble.gr , an independent collective of citizen 
journalists who covered the story closely and realized Skouries events last year.
Daskalopoulou issued a disturbing account of what might welfare state repression against 
the more organized movement in this country. She said that the houses of the inhabitants 
were monitored by the State Security, the phones were tapped and detentions become the 
norm, often by targeting residents with disabilities and students. "I think the state has 
a comprehensive plan with respect to the local population. It has launched an operation to 
terrorize them. Thereby selecting what he thinks is the easiest to break their resolve. '

It is not difficult to understand why there is so much tension in this little corner of 
Greece. To start, Skouries is a region with a long history of mining dating back to 
Alexander the Great. More recently, in the 1980s, an attempt by the Canadian company TVX 
Gold from a mine in the area failed after scientists some of the largest institutions of 
Greece as Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and the House Technical Greece warned 
residents that this investment would lead to unprecedented ecological disaster polluting 
the area of ??317 square kilometers (31,700 ha), land, sea, air and water would make their 
villages uninhabitable.



Today, nearly thirty years later, Hellas Gold and Eldorado have a plan that raises similar 
concerns. They want to dig a pit in the middle of the open forest Skouries in the 
mountains Kakavos, which is also the main source of fresh water throughout the region. 
According to its own estimates of the company, the open pit will produce 3,000 tons of 
toxic dust per hour. Galleries will be excavated to a depth of 700 meters, placing the 
mine below the sea level, so that even water would not be contaminated by heavy metals and 
other toxic substances from the mine, would certainly polluted seawater In addition, a 
tunnel 9 km long that will link two sites bisect a line of geological fault which caused a 
devastating earthquake in the region in 1932. Finally, an ore processing plant will be 
built in the mountains where the gold will be separated from other substances. The company 
says it will be done without using cyanide, but this method has not proven effective in 
the gold ore Skouries. This raises additional concerns about the possible use of cyanide 
in the forest.

The current operation has sought to ignore these concerns had little effect and 
environmental concerns are a part. One reason is that the circumstances in which mining 
has been decided are questionable.
few days after the businessman Fotis Bobolas created Hellas Gold in 2003 with a starting 
capital of only ? 60,000, the Greek State bought the rights to use the TVX Gold for $ 11 
million and immediately sold to Bobolas 11 million euros, not winning anything in the 
process. In a few months, Hellas Gold was purchased by 95% European Goldfields, another 
Canadian company was in turn absorbed during a friendly takeover by Eldorado Gold.
Such transactions connected with police repression and the State to ensure continued 
preparations for the start of mining in the region have reinforced the anger and the 
organization of local protest. A year ago, in March 2012, things have reached their peak 
when the mining company sent its workers into the mountains to dismantle a protest camp 
set up by activists mine on the planned location of the mine site. The ensuing protests 
were violently suppressed by riot police. The situation has continued to worsen until last 
February, when a group of 40-50 people in the region conducted an arson attack on the main 
site of the company Skouries, burning all the equipment they Found on site before retiring.



The authorities have launched a series of raids after arson attack - a common police 
practice in Greece - and have since arrested 154 people while launching a police raid in 
the village of Ierissos, a town of 3,000 inhabitants in the center of protest. 
Daskalopoulou told Radiobubble.gr the church bells to alert villagers frequently arrests 
or police presence.
In one case, a young mother of two was detained for 16 hours without a lawyer or call to 
his family and without charge. She was interrogated by the police in charge of the 
"folder" that asked if she thought her husband was cheating.
A girl aged 15 was called by the State Security on his cell phone to make it a 
"testimony." The police frequently requested DNA samples from people who were simply 
called to testify. "In some cases, the police have taken DNA samples by force and forced 
the inmate to sign a statement saying that they gave willingly " said Daskalopoulou.
alarming In one case, four young people, aged 19-22 years, were visited in the early 
morning hours of security agents of the State asked them to follow them to the police 
station for an unspecified reason. Arrived at the police station, they were separated. 
Daskalopoulou interviewed one of them recently, the son of a policeman, who said he had 
been left without water for hours and interrogated about his political beliefs and 
participation in events. He was then slapped and beaten. "Every half hour, they stopped 
beating him, put him up and forced him to look at a wall, so that it can better reflect 
and tell them where he was that night" Daskalopoulou adds. "And then they came back and it 
lasted between six and seven hours. At the end, a dozen of them barged into the room and 
demanded that he give his DNA " . Young was then forced to sign a document saying he had 
given his DNA voluntarily. A policeman told him later: "Go now, your village is under 
siege. If you want to reduce your case and that of your town, give us a few names. " When 
he refused, he was threatened to be used in a game of "ping-pong". "Ping-pong meant they 
would throw it across the room while treating anarchist and worthless. This boy is 19 
years old. '



But the violence has not only been used as an intimidation tactic behind the closed doors 
of police stations. March 7, 2013, riot police were deployed in Ierissos and arrested five 
people. The research was conducted with the unity of the anti-terrorism was heavily armed. 
"They sprayed the village people with chemicals for hours. Tear gas even fell inside the 
school. Three children had a panic attack, other respiratory problems. The ambulance tried 
to go but could not. Even a baby ten months had to be transported to the hospital, " said 
Daskalopoulou.

A student demonstration called to commemorate the attack last month in the school took 
place last week in the region. Such events, as well as other large peaceful demonstration 
against the mines that brought together 20,000 people in Thessaloniki shortly after the 
attacks, and was the first protest televised in Greece show that the movement is far from 
weaken.



Instead, the region has become the scene of the main field of political divisions in 
Greece, a sort of symbol of the need to resist the control of powerful monopolies of the 
state as well as the liquidation of assets Greek and natural resources.
Daskalopoulou says a recent demonstration in support of the mine was staged and she was 
described as having been an event almost comically extravagant and bringing together the 
right politicians and representatives of organizations marginal. According Daskalopoulou, 
events organized by the residents themselves are followed by trade unionists and leftist 
politicians by the main opposition party SYRIZA. At the same time, in a press conference 
held last week in Greece, Eldorado Gold reported that it was reconsidering its plans 
referring to an unstable climate for investment due to reactions during . 'If the 
government decided to transform the Chalkidiki in a laboratory of violence and repression 
to export them to the rest of the country, the people of Halkidiki have decided to do a 
lab for freedom and combat. And this fight is something for which we should all be ready " 
concluded Daskalopoulou.

The March 25, 2013

Original: HERE

[Translation: OCLibertaire]

Resistance to gold mines, the spearhead of social rebellion in modern Greece

The struggle of the people of northern Greece against mining gold is becoming one of the 
main conflicts in the country. And indeed, a laboratory of state repression and popular 
resistance to the violent imposition of a devastating project.
obstinacy of the resistance of the inhabitants of the region Skouries in the Halkidiki 
peninsula, the extent of the repression and the diversity of modes of action used by the 
opponents, the emergence of new centers of opposition in two other regions of northern 
Greece (Thrace and Macedonia) are threatened by similar projects, solidarity and diffuse 
sympathy that meets resistance far beyond the few villages directly affected, and which 
reflected the magnitude of the event in Thessaloniki was attended by nearly 20,000 people 
on March 9, information on the fight begins to pierce the wall of media silence, 
solidarity initiatives in Athens and across the country, make it a political symbol 
currently growing in the Greek social and political context. Sustained and continuous 
mobilizations, which were extended again March 25, independence day with traditional 
patriotic parades, where high school students from the region marched in ranks, as it 
must, with all t black-shirts on which was written "Tear Gas in school - March 7, 2013" or 
"SOS Chalkidiki" .





This struggle is a sign that part of society, despite a crisis that is supposed to 
discipline and anesthetize the entire population, especially those who have only their 
labor to live, do not let it go, do let himself be bought by promises of jobs or economic 
benefits mirobolantes, do not let impose destructive projects for the profits of a few, it 
remains alive resists standing up to intimidation and police repression.
A struggle is to copy it manages to pass the spirit of rebellion in other foci of 
resistance: the struggles of employees (health, psychiatry, social security, education, 
transport, broadcasting ...) those students, the mobilizations in support of migrants and 
refugees foreign centers against "retention" (detention) - where migrants are detained for 
months in overcrowded, unhygienic, but walks ... - and police violence taking place 
(currently against the Drapetsona, near Piraeus, located inside a police station), the 
mobilizations against the questioning of jus soli for children of immigrants; spontaneous 
actions against the extreme right ( recently the inhabitants of the island of Thassos in 
northern Greece have prevented the neo-Nazis to distribute food and essential commodities 
"exclusively for the Greeks" as they are used and hunted; in the port of Chania in Crete, 
the local candidate of the neo-Nazi party was thrown into the sea after he and his cronies 
have physically assaulted strangers ...), the nascent movement against the threatened 
closure of 35 cultural spaces in Athens ...

This fight also begins to leave Greece. A professional journal online specialized mining 
mining.com , so does state that protests growing multinational Canadian mining subject, 
either in Canada or in a dozen other countries, particularly Greece, Colombia (important 
mobilizations in the area of Bucaramanga and other parts of the country), Nicaragua, Peru, 
Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Israel ... In the latest demonstration against the TAV in Val 
Susa a banner displayed solidarity with the struggle against the gold mines in Greece.



But if the resistance of the inhabitants of the region Skouries against gold mining is so 
important, the Greek State is well aware and deploys to choke a whole repressive arsenal, 
aided by a large part of the media (print, radio, TV) in the hands of the capitalist class 
magnates (and if necessary by inviting journalists to a pleasure trip of four days in 
luxury hotels in Greece and Izmir in Turkey as just done Eldorado Gold), to neo-Nazis in 
which the workers' union Hellas Gold went to get support without complex.

A concern evident in the pro-mining camp which is expressed in a recent statement by a 
representative of Hellas Gold saying that the company could abandon the project if the 
hostility persisted, but was denied a few days later by the Vice President of Eldorado 
Gold in Greece claiming that his "company came to Greece to stay" .

But nothing is played. Especially with the onset of protests against other projects in the 
area of ??Perama Hill (north-eastern Thrace) and that of Kilkis, Macedonia (between 
Thessaloniki and the Bulgarian border). In Thrace, the president of the company has 
announced that 30 employees had been dismissed and that the project was frozen until the 
investment framework in Greece becomes clearer. Finally, a caveat: these three areas are 
not very far apart from each other, the direct matches between players are relatively easy 
to organize and it is potentially very northern Greece and is directly concerned can 
jointly mobilize .

Saturday, April 13 at 18h, simultaneous mobilization under the slogan "SOS Chalkidiki" are 
called in the four corners of the country coordination committees of struggle against the 
gold mines of Chalkidiki. First.

April 7, 2013

Legal situation after the bombing of February 17 the construction of the mine Skouries.

Accused of terrorism!

Thessaloniki - Accused terrorist! Twenty fathers appointed by the Public Security 
Thessaloniki as responsible for the attack Skouries were charged half of the offenses 
found in the Criminal Code. Prosecutor Chalkidiki Magdalini Galatali, asked yesterday the 
opening of criminal proceedings for seven and eleven minor offenses to serious crimes load 
officials and forwarded the case to the judge.

Among the crimes attributed to them, association to commit a crime, attempted murder, 
robbery, illegal possession and use of explosive materials, arson and aggravated damage 
(on the basis of the Law on the "hoods" of Dendias the Minister of Public Order). And 
also: detention and illegal use of weapons, threats and other offenses.

To report that the procedure was initiated in rem [on the facts submitted], the charges 
are not individual at this stage, but will be assigned to each examined during the 
investigation of the instruction. In addition, there has not been an arrest warrant 
issued, because it is people who live in the region stable and for which there is no 
danger of flight course abroad.

In legal circles, it was estimated that the issuance of an arrest warrant would cause new 
tensions in the local community, while, in this way, the charges will be gradually 
allocated to individuals and hang as a "sword of Damocles "over the heads of the accused, 
limiting further protests against mining ...

In the coming days, the judge will make accusations and call those involved to submit as 
part of preliminary investigations, obviously deciding their fate as appropriate. 
According to reports, the position of two of the twenty people is particularly serious 
because, according to police in Thessaloniki, as it pertains to the folder, there are 
serious indications of their participation in the arson attack on site. It seems may have 
been discovered by police laboratories criminal elements that aggravate their position.

The reaction of the group of lawyers who defend people was immediate. In their statement 
to the newspaper Ef.Syn they state: "The charges will probably be assigned are not based 
on objective factors, but only on the testimony of three employees of the company as well 
as some analysis of telephone listings. We therefore consider rigged ... In addition, we 
question the validity and originality of the few elements as it targets available. People 
struggle continues " .

Nikos Fotopoulos

The March 27, 2013

EfSyn (Efimerida your Sindakton - Journal Editors)



Published articles on the same subject

Sabotage the site of a gold mine http://oclibertaire.free.fr/spip.php?article1314

The fight against the gold mines and repression intensified in northern Greece
http://oclibertaire.free.fr/spip.php?article1327

Photos: http://oclibertaire.free.fr/spip.php?article1338