In the path of the Anarchists

16.30 Skoufa, Phileon Café – I am sitting there to drink a cappuccino and to write a bit when...

Suddenly anarchists appear in Skoufa. People sitting at the outer edge of the café spring up from their tables and flee away from the street. Bricks fly. Car windows are smashed. Some pull even bricks out of their bags. They are all very tall, dressed in black and hooded. No face visible. A fierce force. No one dares to intervene. They leave behind a path of destruction. In a split second the windows of a luxury BMW, a Jeep and a Porsche are smashed. They are parked alongside of Phileon. Some women not dressed in black run along with the hooded anarchists. They wear as well masks. The group moves fast, like a throng or a swarm of hornets. The leave in their wake excited people behind. Some smile at the sight of the luxury cars having been damaged. Others are aghast. What is happening to the city of Athens. Excharchia is not very far from Skoufa corner Lycabettus. No police gives chase.

Only after the group has vanished down the street in the direction of Excharchia two policemen make their appearance on motor cycles, inspect briefly the damages and then speed off but in the opposite direction. They seem not to wish to give pursuit. Then journalists appear with video cameras and mobile phones by which they transfer the images. Then, finally a police car comes. The elegant man with tie of the BMW has been telephoning all the time. It was not clear if he had been sitting inside. He is not harmed from smashed glass.

It is amazing how calm everyone is taking the incidence but it is creating already waves of worries and anxieties. My mother in law phones at 17.45 asking me where is my daughter. She hears reports about the anarchists having left more destruction in other streets than Skoufa behind. All this makes me think about what we started to discuss with Alexia about graffiti.

While some put this down to sheer vandalism or mere scrawls on walls others are wondering out aloud as to what this development means for future life in Athens as the intensity seems to be on the increase with such incidences erupting without any pre warning or linkage to memorable days like the students’ uprising against the Junta and which has been commented upon on a yearly basis with anarchists taking to the streets.

hATTO fISCHEr