“We refuse to become spectators in our own doom”—Organization of Anarchist Action Publishes the Names of 21 Police Officers for Retaliatory Operations (Direct Action Cells)

(From an OAA June 2020 attack outside the offices of US human resources firm, ManpowerGroup, in Thessaloniki)

A prominent unit of the underground Greek anarchist urban guerrilla network Direct Action Cells (DAC), calling themselves the Organization of Anarchist Action (OAA), has just published the names and addresses of 21 Hellenic Police officers. The publication of this list is in retaliation for what the group describes as “parastatal journalists working for the interests of the police publish[ing] a list targeting 21 male and female suspects for involvement in attacks on police targets.” They added, “A move that endangers the integrity of comrades.” The communique accuses the listed officers of “torture and abuse, rape and concealment of incidents of sexual violence, spreading fear and terrorism, arrests, imprisonment and any other illegal activity,” and goes on to call them “pimps”—likely a direct reference to the arrest this week of a 39-year-old police officer, accused of sexually abusing a 19-year-old girl and forcing her to work at Athens-area brothels to which he was criminally connected. The claim explicitly calls out the politically powerful clan of the current prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis , accusing him of writing a blank check to the “uniformed murderers”.

There have been dozens of attacks this year using Molotov cocktails and improvised incendiary devices (IID) fashioned from butane (and possibly propane) gas canisters targeting the homes and personal vehicles of high-ranking active and retired officers, including those of Brigadier and Lieutenant Police Generals.

OAA’s publication of the 21 officers’ names and addresses includes extensive commentary on the Hellenic Police’s investigation into the murder of ethnic Filipina and British national, Caroline Crouch, by her Greek husband—a well-connected helicopter pilot, Babis Anagnostopoulos. In May of this year, Greek police received a call claiming three men had broken into a home in the Athens suburb of Glyka Nera, tied up the male homeowner and beaten his wife to death in front of their infant child, before burglarizing the home. Anagnostopoulos originally blamed the crime on Georgian immigrants, but after weeks of investigating, police determined that his story did not add up to biometric data that they had from Crouch’s smart watch and from location data on his own cellphone. Anagnostopoulos later admitted to the murder and was taken into custody by Greek authorities. He is awaiting trial.

The communique concludes:

Retaliation for any police arbitrariness is a matter for all of us. Now each of them individually can feel what it is like to be afraid to go home alone. Count the steps with your breath. Now each of them individually can be faced with their share of responsibility.

One minute of silence for each victim of police violence, before the explosion of the mechanisms in the houses of the uniformed murderers.

When we say we are at war, we mean it.

We respond to violence with violence.

The head hunt has begun ...

-Organization Anarchist Action

The Organization of Anarchist Action cell has been operational since at least summer of 2020, claiming incendiary attacks against a private American firm in Greece, in solidarity with the US uprising following the death of black-American, George Floyd, while in police custody. They have claimed multiple attacks under the DAC banner since spring 2021, most recently putting out a batch claim for a series of three attacks in mid-to-late June of this year. Those attacks targeted offices and work sites of state-owned companies that have recently lost worker lives during on-the-job accidents.