Athen’s rebel quarter Exarcheia fights gentrification and state repression

Athen’s rebel quarter Exarcheia fights gentrification and state repression Elvis Takahashi Mantello on Fri, 09/25/2026 - 09:45 Influx of foreign capital and law-and-order crackdowns threaten legendarily left-wing neighbourhood A man runs from police in Athens on September 14, 2019, after a rally held to protest against police raids on migrant squats in Exarcheia neighbourhood (AFP) Off For decades, Exarcheia has been one of the most politically and socially distinctive neighbourhoods in central Athens. The area has been a gathering point for grassroots organisations, anti-authoritarian and left-wing groups, and migrants and refugees who found community support there.  But Exarcheia is changing, and the people who made it what it is are being pushed to the edge. Rising rents, tourism, foreign property investment, redevelopment, and an expanding police presence are reshaping the neighbourhood and pressuring the community that has sustained its character.  “The human geography of Exarcheia is changing a lot,” says Nikos, a resident of Exarcheia and a member of the No Metro in Exarcheia Square assembly who has been in the movement since its beginnings around five years ago. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); “The cost of living crisis is rampant at the moment,” he says. Some people active in the neighbourhood’s social movements had to leave because of rising prices, he says, diminishing “the dynamics and the force of the community and of the neighbourhood”. Exarcheia’s transformation began before the centre-right New Democracy government came into power in 2019. During and after Greece’s turbulent economic crisis, short-term rentals such as Airbnb expanded across central Athens as international investors entered the property market. At the same time, prices remained relatively low. The introduction of the Golden Visa programme - which grants a five-year, renewable permanent residence permit to non-EU nationals