[...]
a group of 150 or so ARAS members, who had gathered from all over greece for this purpose, came early in the morning to the campus under the direction of their much older leader. they were coordinated, wearing armor under their matching jackets, helmets, and carrying clubs. as one of them began filming, the ARAS guys formed a tight linked-arm cordon around the 30 or so anarchists, kettling them, and began loudly (falsely) accusing the anarchists of having knives, molotovs, etc, to make sure the other gathered leftists around the campus could hear, and shouting "you will not squat."
this is already bizarre behavior, uncharacteristic behavior, and to say the least inappropriate. then, the leader of ARAS shouted "helmets," and the ARAS troops donned their protective helmets and mounted their attack on the unprepared and unarmed anarchist students.
at different times over the years here, anarchists and communists have clashed in the streets or at parties. i am on the anarchist side but i don't like the "sports team" mindset some have about such things. every time it is a disgrace that it happens, but even according to those who've witnessed some of the worst, it has never been as vicious, one-sided and prolonged as happened this morning. sometimes the "clash" is a shoving match-- during a demonstration turned riot, some anarchists are fleeing a charging line of police and the communists link arms to block their way. then the communists stand back and let the police do beatings on the anarchists. this has not happened recently but used to be more common.
[...]
MLs never understand why Greek anarchists have such visceral reaction against tankies. It's a rough lesson learned many times.
Aw yiss! Advent Calendar started early.