Group of Popular Fighters (Anarchist Entity, Greece)

• Local Name: Ομάδα Λαϊκών Αγωνιστών
• Transliteration: Omáda Laikón Agonistón
• Alternatives: N/a
• Status: 2013 – Dormant
• Conflicts: Greek Anarchist Militancy

The Group of Popular Fighters [OLA; Omada Laikon Agoniston] is a small Greek anarcho-communist militant organization active in and around Athens. The group appears to be made up of more than a dozen veteran left-wing terrorists.¹ It allegedly operates as a subsidiary of the Revolutionary Struggle Group [EA; Epanastatikos Agonas].² The OLA presents itself as the defenders of the common people.³ It notably protested against dangerous working conditions, home lending practices and foreclosures, the Greek justice system and the plight of poor pensioners.⁴ The group is known for its Germanophobic sentiments. It has raged against German economic imperialism and declared war on its “capitalist machine”.⁵ The OLA has also expressed hostility towards Israel.⁶

The OLA devotes considerable attention to public relations. It has published several lengthy communiqués explaining its views. The group usually communicates through statements on mobile memory drives left behind for journalists in public places.⁷ The group has also occasionally publishes communiqués on Greek anarchist websites.⁸ Senior EA operative Panagiota Roupa allegedly wrote some of the OLA’s tractates.⁹

Senior EA members Nikos Maziotis and his wife Roupa are thought to have played a key role in the OLA’s formation somewhere in late 2012 or early 2013.¹⁰ On Jan. 14, 2013, OLA members carried out their first attack when they sprayed gunfire at an Athens office of the conservative ND party.¹¹ In June 2013, the group claimed responsibility for the incident. On Dec. 30, it shot up the residence of the German ambassador in the Greek capital’s Halandri suburb.¹² In January 2014, the OLA fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a Mercedes car dealdership on the outskirts of Athens.¹³ The group was later linked to the April 2014 car bombing of the Greek national bank. In December 2014, OLA militants raked the Israeli embassy with gunfire.¹⁴

In the summer of 2014, Maziotis was apprehended. Although the OLA continued to launch attacks, the arrest apparently affected its operational capabilities. The group went dormant for some time until it bombed the Greek industrial federation’s headquarters on Nov. 24, 2015.¹⁵ The OLA was also behind a failed attempt to bomb the labor ministry in April 2016.¹⁶ In 2017, the group bombed a bank and a courthouse.¹⁷