ATHENS – Greek police stepped up their raids in the anarchist neighborhood of Exarchia, this time arresting four people in an operation to clear out squatters unlawfully occupying buildings, some abandoned.

The four men, three foreign nationals and one Greek, are known to authorities, sources who weren’t identified told Kathimerini, with police reportedly finding small quantities of cannabis, cocaine and heroin, six ecstasy pills, two cans of teargas, plastic replicas of a gun and a shotgun, four passports and an identity card, three laptops, nine mobile phones.

In the basement, they also found a motorcycle that had been reported stolen while the suspects were taken to a prosecutor and are facing charges of disturbing the peace, accepting products of crime, and violations of the drug and weapons laws.

Following the raid, police sealed the building and returned it to its legal owner as the anti-establishment gang Rouvikonas said it would resist the raids after vowing to protect the buildings.

The New Democracy government has been relentless in trying to clear out the area of drug dealers, anarchists, squatters and end violence although residents said authorities haven’t been able to deal with foreign gangs smashing car windows and looting them, even in daylight and near a major police precinct.

The former ruling Radical Left SYRIZA was accused of going easy on criminals, the party riddled with anarchist and terrorist sympathizers and moving to even try to get violent offenders released from jail.