Supporters of jailed anarchist Yiannis Michailidis clashed with police in the centre of Athens after an appeals court rejected his demand for early release from prison.
Demonstrators at a protest in solidarity with Dimitris Koufontinas, a convicted member of the guerilla group ’17 November’, in Athens, 8 March 2021. photo; EPA-EFE/ORESTIS PANAGIOTOU
After an appeal court rejected his request for release from prison with conditions, hundreds of people protested yesterday in Athens in solidarity with hunger striker Yannis Michailidis.
Members of left-wing parties and human rights groups and other citizens gathered in the central Syntagma square of Athens where they clashed with police.
Greek media outlet EFSYN reported that police used stun grenades, tear gas and water canons to break up the protest, and made 13 arrests.
Hunger striker Michailidis has meanwhile been transferred from prison to hospital. Athenian-Macedonian News Agency reported that, according to his doctor, “his condition has reached a perilous point”.
The 34-year-old anarchist has been on hunger strike since May, demanding parole, as he claims he has now served more than three-fifths of his 20-year jail sentence. The courts refused his release.
Known as “the archer of Syntagma”, during protests in 2011 he targeted police officers with a crossbow. He was arrested and charged with attempted homicide but released.
In 2013, together with three other people, he was arrested in Kozani, northern Greece, after a double robbery at a bank and at a branch of Hellenic Post.
The four arrested accused the police of torture, while they characterized the robbery as a conscious choice that was not aimed at personal enrichment.
He was tried in 2014 and found guilty of participating in the attempted murder of police officers in 2011, double robbery in 2013, and the possession of ammunition. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In June 2019, he escaped from the prison where he was being held but was re-arrested in January 2020 by anti-terrorist police. Appeals board judges rejected his request for parole on the grounds of his escape in 2019.
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