The autonomous Community of the Occupied Prosfygika under threat by the Greek state
The Community of the Occupied Prosfygika is one of the most emblematic examples of an autonomous urban housing community in Greece and Europe. Read more about their history HERE. Today, it is once again facing the threat of the State.
In the summer of 2025, a programmatic contract was signed between the Region of Attica, as the main project authority, the Ministry of Culture, and the Public Employment Service (DYPA), providing for the supposed “redevelopment–restoration” of the first four apartment blocks of the Prosfygika on Alexandras Avenue.
According to the timetable of the contract, the Community estimates that the imminent eviction and expulsion of more than 400 residents from the Prosfygika apartment buildings on Alexandras Avenue will begin within the next few months.
The Community declares that it will not concede a single inch of land to the regime and its companies and has decided to defend to the end its social proposal, its people, its structures, and its historical memory. Within this framework, its member Aristotelis Chantzis has begun a hunger strike until death as of February 5.
What follows is the announcement and the demands of the hunger striker:
HUNGER STRIKE UNTIL DEATH IN DEFENSE OF LIFE – Message to society, my family, my friends:
My name is Aristotelis Chantzis. As a member and resident of the Community of the Occupied Prosfygika of Alexandras Avenue, I am proceeding with a hunger strike until death, recognizing this action as a means of struggle to highlight a collective struggle aimed at preserving the Prosfygika of Alexandras Avenue as social housing and as a structure of solidarity for vulnerable social groups, as an organized community of struggle.
The threat we are facing is part of the broader attack by the state and capitalism against the world of community, self-organization, solidarity, and social resistance.
The Community of the Occupied Prosfygika was born around 2010, a period when Greek society was constantly in the streets, in assemblies in the squares, and in solidarity structures, trying to find a life solution against the boot of the memorandum regime. The Community of the Occupied Prosfygika is part and continuation of that movement, and as such continues to participate in social and class struggles.
The state, under every government that has passed, orchestrated the abandonment and degradation of the Prosfygika as a standard tactic prior to the advance of gentrification. Throughout these years, it has used every unethical means for the purpose of private profiteering by contractors and companies, and for strengthening the political clientele of regional governors, municipal authorities, and the government. If the community had not taken care of the Prosfygika buildings all these years, they would have been demolished long ago.
The Community of the Occupied Prosfygika constitutes a social proposal in opposition to the world of loneliness, individualization, insecurity, homelessness, and insufficient or even nonexistent medical care into which states and capitalism push us. We have built 22 solidarity structures for education, health, food, culture, art, technical housing support, the empowerment and collectivization of women and femininities, the democratization of the family, and the individual’s participatory involvement in common affairs. We build relationships of trust, safety, friendship, and solidarity with our fellow human beings. These relationships and structures are not limited to certain members but are our social proposal for the whole of society. We operate through direct democracy via weekly general assemblies and plenary conferences.
Our goal is the resolution of social problems. Our goal is the creation of a world of community and solidarity structures that support vulnerable social groups.
Through this hunger strike, I invite you to see this community up close, its solidarity structures and its residents; to get to know us; to expand the world of community; to unite our voices and our shared anxiety for life and for our struggles.
Regarding the hunger strike until death:
As the Community of the Occupied Prosfygika, we have decided to defend to the end our social proposal, our people, our structures, and the historical memory of the Prosfygika. It is our clear choice and our responsibility to give even our lives for the continuation of life. For we know that if the Prosfygika are evacuated, a large portion of us will end up on the street. The elderly and the sick will die on the street, and children will lose their homes and schools, with incalculable consequences for their physical or mental health and the course of their lives. Based on this collective decision of defense, I have voluntarily decided to proceed with a hunger strike until death with the utmost respect for life.
The method I have chosen allows the striker to sustain a long hunger strike, so that there may be adequate time to communicate the demands to society. Of course, I am aware that I may experience health complications from the first days and throughout the duration of the strike, not so much from starvation itself as from cardiac arrest.
I also know that even in the case of a victorious outcome, prolonged starvation may cause irreparable damage, mainly to my nervous system, even during the recovery period.
My diet includes:
Water, tea, 10–25 grams of sugar daily, 1–1.5 teaspoons of salt daily, Vitamins B1, B6, B12, magnesium, and potassium.
The demands of this hunger strike are:
1. IMMEDIATE CANCELLATION OF THE CONTRACT BY THE REGION OF ATTICA.
2. REMAINING OF ALL RESIDENTS OF THE PROSFYGIKA IN THEIR HOMES, IN THE PLACE AND AREA WHERE THEY LIVE AND WITH WHICH THEY ARE SOCIALLY, CULTURALLY, AND ORGANICALLY CONNECTED.
3. PRACTICAL GUARANTEES FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE PROSFYGIKA BY THE URBAN NON-PROFIT COMPANY UNDER THE NAME “RESIDENTS AND FRIENDS OF THE PROSFYGIKA OF ALEXANDRAS AVENUE (AMKE)” WITH ITS OWN FUNDING! – NOT A SINGLE EURO OF PUBLIC MONEY FOR THE “REDEVELOPMENT” OF THE PROSFYGIKA!
Aristotelis Chantzis
Member and resident of the Community of the Occupied Prosfygika of Alexandras Avenue
5/2/2026
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