Athens: Squatters face prison after years of repression

Campaign launched to cover appeal costs for Koukaki Squats Community

~ Kate Moschou ~

As their appeal trial approaches, members of the Koukaki Squats Community (KSC) in central Athens have launched a funding campaign to help cover mounting legal costs. Several comrades face 6.5 years in prison after being convicted on three misdemeanour charges, following their arrest during the 2020 eviction of one of the squatted buildings.

The Koukaki Squats Community (KSC) in central Athens included three buildings which had stood abandoned and decrepit before being occupied in 2017. Until their final eviction in 2020, the squats—at 45 Matrozou Street, 21 Panaitoliou Street, and 3 Arvali Street (also known as the Blue House)—were a hub of anarchist struggle and communal life.

KSC opened its doors to people in need of shelter and collective living, who wanted to fight back against state violence and injustice. The community hosted a lending library, public baths and laundries, a free clothing bazaar, and spaces for political assemblies and public events. As part of wider struggles against gentrification, state repression, and ecological destruction, it stood in solidarity with political prisoners, anti-fascism, and resistance to patriarchy, racism and militarism.

Fascist groups carried out multiple arson attacks against the squats, while the state launched a campaign of repression. All three buildings were violently evicted—first in 2018, again in 2019, and finally in 2020. On each occasion, squatters mounted combative resistance and attempted to reoccupy the spaces. These actions led to multiple court cases, aimed at exhausting them economically and mentally.

After the final eviction of the Matrozou squat in 2020, the arrested comrades were convicted of three misdemeanours, yet received an unprecedented sentence of six and a half years’ imprisonment without suspension. This outcome followed a state-led media offensive, with even the President of Greece publicly calling for attempted murder charges. Although the sentence is currently suspended pending appeal, this is the first time in Greek history that squatters—and more broadly, political activists without felony charges—face the real threat of prison.

Legal costs for all KSC-related cases—including lawyers’ fees, court charges and potential financial penalties in case of conviction—are enormous. Solidarity events and donations have covered part of the expenses, but needs remain high. To help meet these, the Koukaki Squats Community has launched a crowdfunding campaign on Firefund and are appealing for comrades to donate.

The appeal trial is set for 2 December 2025.

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