Revolutionary Struggle
Encyclopedia
Revolutionary Struggle (Greek
: Επαναστατικός Αγώνας, Epanastatikos Agonas — EA) is a Greek
rebel group known for its attacks on Greek government buildings and the American embassy in Athens. It is designated as a terrorist group by the Greek government, EU and US.
.
added RS to its list of designated terrorist organizations on June 29, 2007. On May 18, 2009, a U.S. State Department spokesman announced in a press briefing that U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton
had formally designated Revolutionary Struggle as a foreign terrorist organization under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act.
.
) in Dafni, Attica at 4.40am and resisted arrest by firing on the police officers. One of them, who was later found to have been on the terrorist watch list since 1995, was shot dead, but the other escaped. However, the escapee left forensic evidence which linked him to previous terrorist attacks.
In April 2010 after a long investigation, 6 suspected members of the group were apprehended. The subsequent investigation lead police to over €119,000 in cash, Zastava handguns
, fake IDs which were used to rent safehouses, explosives (195 kg of ANFO hidden in a motorbike garage) and detailed plans of future terrorist attacks.
Later, police investigating another address in Kypseli
rented under another false ID used by the suspects discovered an RPG-7
. Other weapons discovered here included many hand grenades, two Kalashnikovs
and an MP5 submachine gun
that ballistics later linked conclusively to previous attacks.
Prosecutors charged the six with participating in bomb attacks, participating in a terrorist group, attempted murder, and other crimes. The accused have previously denied any wrongdoing. However, in late April 2010, the three prime suspects being held confirmed their guilt in a letter to the press and promised to continue their revolutionary activities as long as they are living.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
: Επαναστατικός Αγώνας, Epanastatikos Agonas — EA) is a Greek
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
rebel group known for its attacks on Greek government buildings and the American embassy in Athens. It is designated as a terrorist group by the Greek government, EU and US.
2003-2007 attacks
The group first emerged in 2003 with a bombing attack on an Athens courthouse complex, following that up with attacks in 2004 on Citibank and an Athens police station. In May 2004, the group published its first manifesto in the Greek satirical magazine, To Pontiki, in which it expressed revolutionary, anarchist, anti-globalisation and anti-imperialist ideological aims. Following a January 12, 2007 RPG-7 attack on the U.S. Embassy, Greek authorities mistakenly described the group as a spinoff of Revolutionary Organization 17 NovemberRevolutionary Organization 17 November
Revolutionary Organization 17 November , was a Marxist urban guerrilla organization formed in 1975 and believed to have been disbanded in 2002 after the arrest and trial of a...
.
Responsibility
In a statement published in To Pontiki on January 25, Revolutionary Struggle admitted that it had carried out the embassy attack, claiming that the "strike was our answer to the criminal war against 'terrorism' that the US has unleashed over the entire planet with the help of fellow-traveling states".Terrorist designation
The European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
added RS to its list of designated terrorist organizations on June 29, 2007. On May 18, 2009, a U.S. State Department spokesman announced in a press briefing that U.S. Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
had formally designated Revolutionary Struggle as a foreign terrorist organization under the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act.
Investigation
In January 2009, Greek police said their ballistics tests showed the weapon used in RS's 30 April 2007 attack was used again in a 5 January 2009 shooting of a police officer. A second weapon used in the 5 January attack was tied by the police to a 23 December 2008 attack on a police bus. That attack was reported to have been claimed by a group calling itself Popular Action (Λαϊκή Δράση, Laiki Drasi), as a response to the 2008 civil unrest in Greece2008 civil unrest in Greece
The 2008 Greek riots started on 6 December 2008, when Alexandros Grigoropoulos , a 15-year-old student, was killed by two policemen in Exarcheia district of central Athens...
.
2010 arrests
On March 11, 2010, two men were spotted breaking into a car (SEAT IbizaSEAT Ibiza
The SEAT Ibiza is a car in the European supermini class, constructed by the Spanish car maker SEAT S.A., is SEAT's best-selling car and perhaps the most popular model in the Spanish firm's range....
) in Dafni, Attica at 4.40am and resisted arrest by firing on the police officers. One of them, who was later found to have been on the terrorist watch list since 1995, was shot dead, but the other escaped. However, the escapee left forensic evidence which linked him to previous terrorist attacks.
In April 2010 after a long investigation, 6 suspected members of the group were apprehended. The subsequent investigation lead police to over €119,000 in cash, Zastava handguns
Zastava Arms
Zastava Arms is a Serbian manufacturer of firearms and artillery. It was founded in 1853 when it cast its first cannons. It is currently the leading producer of firearms in Serbia and is a large contributor to the local defence industry...
, fake IDs which were used to rent safehouses, explosives (195 kg of ANFO hidden in a motorbike garage) and detailed plans of future terrorist attacks.
Later, police investigating another address in Kypseli
Kypseli, Athens
Kypseli is a neighbourhood which forms much of the 6th municipal department in the centre of Athens, the capital of Greece. The population of the area is 147,500.-Boundaries:...
rented under another false ID used by the suspects discovered an RPG-7
RPG-7
The RPG-7 is a widely-produced, portable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank rocket-propelled grenade launcher. Originally the RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and now manufactured by the Bazalt company...
. Other weapons discovered here included many hand grenades, two Kalashnikovs
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
and an MP5 submachine gun
Heckler & Koch MP5
The Heckler & Koch MP5 is a 9mm submachine gun of German design, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH of Oberndorf am Neckar....
that ballistics later linked conclusively to previous attacks.
Prosecutors charged the six with participating in bomb attacks, participating in a terrorist group, attempted murder, and other crimes. The accused have previously denied any wrongdoing. However, in late April 2010, the three prime suspects being held confirmed their guilt in a letter to the press and promised to continue their revolutionary activities as long as they are living.
List of attacks
- September 5, 2003: Bomb attack on an AthensAthensAthens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
courthouse. - May 5, 2004: Bomb attack on an Athens police station.
- October 29, 2004: Bomb/rocket attack on Greek police buses.
- June 2, 2005: Bomb attack on a labour ministryMinister for Employment and Social Protection (Greece)The Ministry of Labour and Social Security is a government department of Greece. The incumbent minister is Giorgos Koutroumanis.-List of Ministers of Employment and Social Protection:-List of Ministers of Labour and Social Security:-External links:*...
building. - December 12, 2005: Bomb attack on a finance ministryMinister for Economy and Finance (Greece)The Ministry of Finance is a government department responsible for the running of the public finance of the Greek state. The current minister is Evangelos Venizelos, who also holds the post of Deputy Prime Minister of Greece....
building in Syntagma SquareSyntagma SquareSyntagma Square , is located in central Athens, Greece. The Square is named after the Constitution that King Otto was forced to grant the people after a popular and military uprising, on September 3, 1843....
, Athens. - May 30, 2006: Assassination attempt on Georgios VoulgarakisGeorgios VoulgarakisGeorgios Voulgarakis is a Greek politician and the former Minister for Mercantile Marine, Aegean Sea and Island Policy.Voulgarakis was born in Crete and holds a PhD in economics from the University of Athens. He is a member of the New Democracy party...
, the Culture MinisterMinister for Culture (Greece)The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is a government department of Greece entrusted with the preservation of the country's cultural heritage, the arts, as well as sports, through the subordinate General Secretariat for Sport...
and former Public Order Minister. - January 12, 2007: Wasp 58 LAW rocketNexterNexter is a French government-owned weapons manufacturer.-Products:...
attack on the United States Embassy in Athens. - April 30, 2007: Shots fired at police station in Athens suburbe of Nea Ionia.
- December 23, 2008: Shots fired at bus transporting riot police outside Athens University.
- January 5, 2009: Shots fired at police guarding the Ministry of Culture building in Athens. A 21-year-old member of the riot police unit, Diamandis Mantzounis, was critically wounded in the body and leg. Weapons traced to those used in the 30 April 2007 and 23 December 2008 shootings.
- February 18, 2009: Failed car bomb attack on the CitibankCitibankCitibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...
offices in central Athens. Police later said the bomb was powerful enough to destroy the four-story building. - 9 March 2009: Bomb attack on a Citibank branch in suburban Athens.
- 12 May 2009: Bomb attack on a EurobankEurobankEuroBancshares, Inc. was a financial holding company located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. On April 30, 2010, the bank failed and its deposits and assets were seized by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation...
branch in suburban Athens. - 3 July 2009: Suspected firebomb attack on a tax office in Athens Ambelokipi district.
- 3 July 2009: Suspected bomb attack on a McDonald's in Athens Ambelokipi district causes "extensive damage."
- 2 September 2009: Explosion outside the Athens stock exchange causing minor injures to one woman and significant damage to the surrounding area. A second bomb in Thessaloniki causing minor damage and no injuries. The group is suspect.
- 16 February 2010: A bomb exploded outside of a JP Morgan Bank in Athens, authorities suspected the Revolutionary Struggle or Conspiracy of Fire NucleiConspiracy of Fire NucleiThe Conspiracy of Fire Nuclei is a radical anarchist organization based in Greece. SPF first surfaced on January 21, 2008 with a wave of 11 firebombings against luxury car dealerships and banks in Athens and Thessaloniki...
were responsible. - 13 May 2010: A bomb exploded outside Korydallos PrisonKorydallos PrisonKorydallos Prison Complex is the main prison of Greece, housing both maximum-security men and women. It is located in Korydallos, Piraeus. Its most famous detainees are the November 17 terrorist members and Colonel Nikolaos Dertilis, the last surviving member of the military junta. Korydallos...
in Athens, injuring a woman. Police suspected the Revolutionary Struggle. - 14 May 2010: Only one day after the bomb-explosion in Athens a second bomb explode in the court of Thessaloniki. One person was injured. The building got heavily damaged inside.
- 25 June 2010: A parcel bomb exploded within the Greek Ministry of Public Order. The bomb was addressed to the Minister of Public Order, Michalis ChrysohoidisMichalis ChrysohoidisMichalis Chrisochoidis is a Greek politician, member of the Hellenic Parliament for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement and the current Minister for Development, Competitiveness and Shipping.- Life :...
, but was instead opened by Giorgos Vassilakis, his aide. Giorgos was killed in the attack. While not immediately claimed by Revolutionary Struggle, Greek terrorism expert Dr Athanasios Drougas said the attack was likely carried out by the group.