This is popular front a podcast focus on the very niche and kind of geeky

details of Modern Warfare with me Jake Hanrahan. Today we're speaking to artist and activist Molly Crabapple.

She's going to be speaking about the raids taking place in Exarchia.

Exarchia is the stronghold of the militant anarchists in Greece in Athens.

They've basically been fighting with the police trying to stop them doing these raids,

but the police have been sent in by the new government

a raid in all the squats where they look after refugees and basically run their own

little autonomous commune. Molly was there recently she's going to be telling us

what's going on and why the government

is suddenly deciding now to crack down on Exakia. If you like what we're doing

here at Popular Front and you want the bonus episodes please support at patreon.com slash popular front.

Firstly I think maybe the best thing to do will be to describe exactly what Exarchia is you know the history of the

place and how it's become this you know basically an anarchist community within the middle of

Athens yeah so Exarkia is a neighborhood about a mile from Centagama Square,

you know, the capital of Athens.

It's a neighborhood of, you know, cafes, shops, mad graffiti, zero cops up until recently, and it's a neighborhood

that's defined by its leftist anarchist history. It's the sort of place where there's a squatted park called Navarino Park that, you know,

anarchists basically came in with, what do you call it, it, black hammers and tore up the pavement

and like planted gardens, right?

It's the sort of place where you see graffiti

in English, Greek, and Arabic that says

Greeks and foreigners, we live together,

...