Rage against property seizures rising in Greece (videos)

Protesters clash with police in court rooms

A people’s movement against foreclosures of underprivileged citizens’ by the Greek state is gaining momentum, after a series of protests inside court rooms, ruling on cases of property seizures, resulted in physical confrontation with police. In the face of this reality that is gripping an increasing number of suburbs and neighbourhoods across the country, the Greek government’s narrative of only auctioning off property of richer ‘strategic defaulters’ appears to be crumbling. The areas where properties are being targeted for foreclosure are the lower income ones like Nikaia, Nea Ionia, Lavrio, Peristeri and the less wealthy suburbs of Thessaloniki. As Protothema newspaper revealed on Sunday, a house was auctioned off for a debt of only 500 Euros! The competent Justice and Economy Ministers have so far avoided taking a stance on the matter, while opposition parries New Democracy and PASOK said Greece is turning into Spain, where images of lower income people who had seen their houses seized for meagre amounts of debt were forced to live in the streets. SYRIZA is facing internal problems, as some of the party members were seen joining in with the protests against the foreclosures. The indignation of the popular movement against foreclosures was once more illustrated on Tuesday, when protesters managed to cancel the court proceedings of auctioning off an 80 sq.m house that belonged to a 6-member family. The rage of the people has reached such levels that riot police units have been deployed to protect court houses arbitrating on foreclosure cases.