Lena Verde — 02/09/2026, No. 1737

KEERFA is taking part in all the anti-racist and anti-fascist struggles of September, launching a new period of mobilization against the murderous government. The fight against racism and the fascists will be central to defeating its attacks, making its overthrow a reality and, together with it, wiping out all the far-right scum that its policies encourage.

The programme of action is already full:

• It begins with a press conference on Thursday 3 September at the Athens Bar Association, in solidarity with the refugees who revolted in the hellhole of Sintiki, demanding that the death camps be closed, asylum and papers be granted, and the borders be opened to all refugees and migrants.

• It continues with a trip to Thessaloniki and participation in the all-workers demonstration on 5 September, together with the trade unions and the entire workers’ and youth movement.

• This will be followed by a rally in Patissia on 6 September and an event in Agios Panteleimonas on 13 September against the new fascist attacks in the area.

• And it will culminate in the major demonstration in Keratsini on 18 September, marking 13 years since the Golden Dawn murder of Pavlos Fyssas.

The Mitsotakis government, with the fascist Plevris at the forefront, is going all in on the persecution of refugees and migrants, hoping that it can turn public anger over its crimes and scandals against them and save itself from collapse. The violent repression of the recent revolt in Sintiki, the illegal transport of refugees from Gavdos in ship garages like rats, as has happened before, and the new detention camps it is preparing inside and outside Greece, reaching as far as Africa, are racist crimes that require a mass response. The same is true of the racist poison that its minister continues to spread, together with his lies and slanders against the solidarity movement.

In every post or interview, Plevris shamelessly talks about “illegal immigrants” and boasts about his inhuman policy of making their “lives unbearable.” He did the same in a recent television appearance — where else? — on SKAI, where he defended the existence of the Sintiki hellhole, the imprisonment of refugees there, and the violent repression of their recent revolt.

He also described the detainees’ letter as “provocative” and “tear-jerking” — the letter they sent to KEERFA and the Greek people, crying out for freedom. The previous day, in a social media post, he had questioned where it came from and claimed that “it was actually written by the far-left KEERFA.”

“We expect no other response from the Minister for the Persecution of Migrants and Refugees, Th. Plevris, than lies and slander against both the refugees themselves and those who stand in solidarity with them,” KEERFA stated when it published a second letter from the Sintiki protesters together with relevant photographic material.

“Once again they say, ‘We do not know what sin we have committed.’ Plevris wagged his finger at them, presenting himself as the guardian of his own version of European civilization: the fascist and far-right version that identifies with barbaric crimes inherited from colonialism, with Nazism that ended in Auschwitz, and with their modern forms — the genocide in Gaza and the devastating wars that destroy the lives of millions. Even priests showed compassion for the revolt of the persecuted people in Sintiki. In another era, of course, Th. Plevris would have deported even the twelve apostles as illegal immigrants.”

It is time to put an end to the government of the killers of Pylos, Tempi and Palestine.

Press Conference on the Sintiki Revolt

KEERFA, together with the refugees who revolted in the camp, is holding a press conference entitled “Let the voice of the refugees from the revolt in the Sintiki detention camp be heard. Justice now! Freedom!” on Thursday 3 September at 12:30 p.m. at the Athens Bar Association.

Alongside the refugees, who will take part in the press conference through letters, written statements and videos from Sintiki, speakers will include Magda Fyssa; Kostis Papaioannou, director of Simeio for the Study of the Far Right; Lefteris Papagiannakis, director of the Greek Council for Refugees; Vasilis Kerasiotis, lawyer for prosecuted Sintiki detainees; Evgenia Kouniaki, lawyer for detainees at the Corinth camp and victims of the Pylos shipwreck; and Petros Konstantinou, coordinator of KEERFA.

The press release states:

“The revolt of the refugees in the detention camp in Sintiki, Serres, continues, as does the repression against it. More than 300 refugees raised their voices and are asking for solidarity with their one and only demand: FREEDOM. They asked, ‘What sin have we committed?’ and Plevris replied that asking for asylum in this country is a crime.

It is time to put a stop to the government’s uncontrolled racism. When it is not drowning refugees at Pylos, it is destroying their lives in detention camps from Sintiki to Corinth. It is time to end this inhuman imprisonment, to give asylum and papers to refugees and migrants, and to stop criminalizing refugees. Through its racism, the government is once again opening the way for fascists, as the attacks in Patissia show. Thirteen years after the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, there must be no tolerance for fascism and racism.”

Second Letter from Refugees About the Repression of the Revolt at the Sintiki Camp

Yesterday we peacefully asked for our freedom, and the authorities responded by firing smoke bombs and tear gas.

They entered our trailers, dragged us out, beat us and locked us in the rooms.

Most people cannot find enough space inside the rooms and are sitting out in the sun.

It is 3 o’clock now and we still have not received any food since yesterday afternoon.

Why are they treating us this way? What crime have we committed apart from dreaming of Europe?

We are paying the price for the European dream with tears and suffering, and we do not know what sin we have committed.

Where is justice, land of justice? Where is freedom? Where are human rights?

We asked for your help and left our children behind. Why this oppression, repression and humiliation?

We faced death to reach you, without knowing that we would encounter such oppression. We left our country in order to find food among you.

We are coming to you.

We ask for your help.

We are grateful for the generosity of our Greek brothers and sisters.

I will send you some videos. Images of the smoke bombs.

I will send you a video soon, but I hope I can find one showing them beating us.

Pavlos Lives — Smash the Nazis

DEMONSTRATION — Friday 18 September, 5:30 p.m., Pavlos Fyssas Memorial, Keratsini

Pavlos lives — smash the Nazis

Justice for the Sintiki revolt!

Close the detention camps

Asylum, papers and open borders

for refugees

Jail the killers of Pylos

Thirteen years after the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, we have the power to defeat the fascists who are trying to establish themselves once again in our neighbourhoods and schools. The government of people like Plevris is paving the way for them. The struggle against fascism cannot succeed unless it is connected with the fight against racism and solidarity with refugees, whom governments demonize in order to redirect anger away from poverty, wars and disasters.

The revolt in Sintiki and the letter of protest from the 300 refugees in the detention camp brought the government’s brutal policy of “prison or deportation” to the forefront, with indefinite detention as its main weapon. This is a continuation of the racist border policy that led to the mass killing of 600 refugees at Pylos.

Trump and the international far right have suffered blows to their far-right and racist campaign. They were confronted by the uprising in Minneapolis after the killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good, people who stood in solidarity with migrants against deportations and persecution by ICE agents.

Orbán is now a thing of the past in Hungary, while the attempted pogrom in Belfast backfired, and enormous anti-fascist demonstrations in the city stopped the supporters of Elon Musk. The Palestine solidarity movement is a force against Islamophobia, which imperialist powers use in an attempt to justify their crimes in the wars that create refugees.

The anti-fascist movement, acting massively and in unity, with workers, young people and migrants standing side by side, succeeded in defeating the Nazi murderers of Pavlos Fyssas and Shahzad Luqman. The conviction of Golden Dawn in the courts sealed that victory.

However, as the New Democracy government collapses, it is turning to the far right for support and beating the drum of racism. It continues the criminal policy of pushbacks at the borders. The trial before the Naval Court over the Pylos crime has still not been scheduled, while the 21 Coast Guard officers who were referred for felony charges remain in their positions.

Following Ceuta, they are working with their like-minded European counterparts and dictatorial regimes to immediately open a camp in Africa for the detention of refugees arriving in Europe by boat. They have turned Sintiki into a camp of torture, like the camps run by paramilitary gangs in Libya. They have also targeted Javed Aslam, president of the Pakistani Community, for deportation.

The government is steadily taking steps towards normalizing fascists, including Golden Dawn supporters and Kasidiaris, allowing him to open offices in central Athens and roam around presenting himself as a political prisoner while on leave from prison.

Racist Attacks

Fascist and racist attacks and provocations against migrants and the Left are returning. The attack in Patissia is a warning that the far right is once again targeting migrant neighbourhoods — Patissia and Agios Panteleimonas — where Golden Dawn assault squads used to stab people under police protection. Athens municipal councillors belonging to the political heirs of Golden Dawn and Kasidiaris spread racist poison, targeting migrant-owned shops and the presence of refugee children in schools and facilities for minors.

The call by the “Pavlos Killah P Fyssas” Cultural Association for Anti-Fascist September 2026 must sound the alarm for a powerful return of the anti-fascist and anti-racist movement, so that we do not leave a single inch of ground to the murderers of Pavlos Fyssas and Shahzad Luqman.

We must strengthen solidarity with refugees, put the killers of Pylos in prison, and win justice for the refugees’ revolt in Sintiki.

We begin with the mobilizations at the Thessaloniki International Fair and in Patissia.

Not one step back!

KEERFA — UNITED MOVEMENT AGAINST RACISM AND THE FASCIST THREAT

We fight against racism directed at migrants and refugees, to change our living conditions and stop the attacks we face.

Last May, after our community’s annual celebration — a community that has existed in Greece for many decades and has a long history of activity and struggle — our president was attacked by fascists. That is why we are here today (editor’s note: at the Workers’ Resistance Coordination meeting on 28 August to organize the mobilizations at the Thessaloniki International Fair), and why we want to participate in the demonstration in Thessaloniki.

We have also been fighting for workers’ rights for many years, most importantly for social security so that we can secure a decent pension. Many of us work as domestic workers and end up receiving poverty-level pensions. We cannot live on them, maintain a household or even guarantee that we have food. We have families here, with needs. We hope that the demonstration in Thessaloniki will have a positive result.

Aurora and Dalia
Union of Filipino Workers — KASAPI