On November 6, at dawn, Mata Kastrisiou woke up in panic. The thirty-year-old was warned of the arrival of workers and trucks ready to cut down the approximately seventy trees enthroned on Exárchia Square, in the center of the Athenian district of the same name, known to be historically anti-establishment. She alerts her comrades and goes at full speed to the scene of the “ecological crime”, according to the terms used by the activists. “We shouted at the workers, asking them to show us the permits to cut the trees. They didn’t have any! “, protests the artist.
With a thousand other residents, Mata Kastrisiou demonstrated the same afternoon, facing jets of tear gas launched by police officers who came as reinforcements. “But we did not let ourselves be intimidated, we filed a complaint and the Athens prosecutor asked the company that the work be stopped until the permits were presented. Despite this, the workers continue to work! “, exclaims the young woman.
For more than a year, Mata Kastrisiou has established herself as one of the leading figures of the movement opposing the construction of a new metro station on Exárchia Square. Line 4 should serve thirty-five stations in the Attica region, which surrounds the Greek capital. The conservative government and the Athens town hall are defending this project which, according to them, will help relieve congestion in the city center, suffocated by car traffic. But, in Exárchia, residents regret that other proposals aimed at building the station elsewhere than on this square, shaded by tall trees, were not accepted.
The birthplace of Greek anarchism
Since August 2022, the construction site, surrounded by sheet metal and protected by around fifty police officers, has been at a standstill. The residents had managed to slow down the work thanks to multiple demonstrations, a petition and an appeal to the Supreme Court, arguing that they had not been consulted and informed by the municipality. For Alexis Likoudis, who came to demonstrate on November 11, “there is a political will from the conservative government to silence this protest district, which has always been at the forefront of student revolts and solidarity movements.” The battle to preserve trees was thus mocked by the Minister of Labor, Ádonis Georgiádis, who described it as “revolutionary gymnastics”.
Exarchia is not a neighborhood like any other. Historically marked on the left, it saw the birth of the student uprising against the military junta in power from 1967 to 1974. On November 17, 1973, the colonels sent the army into the École Polytechnique, a few meters from the main square. The assault left at least twenty-four dead and dozens injured. A founding event for the Greek left. In this cradle of Greek anarchism, there are no banks or big brands.
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