Another cycle of bloodletting
The bloody attack against the Aghia Paraskevi Police Station confirmed in the most tragic manner that the terms of terrorism have changed. November 17 was a closed and almost professional organization with an ideo-political foundation and a certain code of conduct, in contrast to the terrorism groups we are seeing today, which are trying to create strongholds within the city similar to the Italian Autonomia Operaia movement of the 1970s. They have a different style of rhetoric and their attacks are more frequent, more varied and, to a great degree, more indiscriminate. When the riots of last December began to abate, the fantasy of keeping the momentum of protest alive fueled bands of so-called hoodies to continue raids against symbols of the establishment. The prevailing climate, meanwhile, has pushed the more extreme of these groups to turn to armed violence. It is very likely that we will see the creation of disparate armed groups whose motivation may be either criminal or political, depending on expediency. The amateur nature of such groups will make them vulnerable but also all the more unpredictable. This new brand of terrorism does not have the same ideological inhibitions that traditional «leftist terrorism» had in terms of its selection of targets and consideration of casualties. This new brand is nihilistic; its objective is to kill and it doesn’t care how it is viewed by the public. As such, it is likely that this new round of attacks will be much bloodier. The most recent attack also confirms that these groups firmly target the police. Traditional «leftist terrorism» may have hated the police but they saw the police as a tool used by the authorities and not as the cause of their grievances. The blood that was shed in Aghia Paraskevi has also heightened the police’s sense of insecurity and this fear, in combination with poor training, increases the odds of us seeing them react dangerously as well.
