Monday, September 30, 2013

Greek Neo Nazi Golden Dawn party defined by Greek government as a Criminal Gang

Express.co.uk ‎- 9 hours ago
THE leader of the Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party was arrested ... any role in the rapper's killing, ordinary Greeks expressed their revulsion ...

Greek neo-Nazi leader arrested after stabbing

THE leader of the Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party was arrested yesterday in a dramatic police crackdown after a fatal stabbing.

Nikos-Michaloliakos-has-been-charged-with-forming-a-criminal-organisation-REUTERS- Nikos Michaloliakos has been charged with forming a criminal organisation [REUTERS]
Nikos Michaloliakos, party spokesman Ilias Kassidiaris and deputy Ilias Panayiotaros were among 16 party members held in a counter-terrorism operation. Warrants have been issued for a further 19.
Michaloliakos was charged with forming a criminal organisation.
The crackdown came 11 days after the murder of anti-racism rapper Pavlos Fyssas, known as Killah P.
The Greek government was finally forced to act after months of accusations that they were not tackling the far-Right party.
Although Golden Dawn vehemently denied any role in the rapper’s killing, ordinary Greeks expressed their revulsion by taking to the streets across the country last week.
In Athens protesters clashed with police as they tried to march on the party’s offices.
Golden Dawn, whose logo resembles the swastika and whose members are prone to giving Nazi salutes and dress head to toe in black, has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent years.
Polls show it is now the third most powerful political force in Greece after being catapulted into parliament last year with 18 MPs.
It promotes itself as the only force willing to take on Greece’s “rotten establishment” .
Golden Dawn has been blamed for violent attacks on immigrants but that had seemed to increase its popularity.
Amid rumours of backing from wealthy shipowners, it has opened offices across the country.
Spokesman Kassidiaris threatened last week that it would establish cells in “every corner of the world, or wherever there are Greeks”.
Its links with British neo-Nazis date back to the Eighties and it is has begun to spread to Germany, Australia, Canada and the US.
Five MPs arrested yesterday will keep their parliamentary seats unless they are convicted of a crime.
The rest of the neo-Nazis rounded up were rank-and-file members, many thought to have been involved in a recent spate of attacks on immigrants. Golden Dawn expressed outrage over the crackdown in a text message to journalists.
It read: “We call upon everyone to support our moral and just struggle against the corrupt system! Everyone come to our offices!”
A later text message called for supporters to head to police headquarters “with calm and order”.
About 30 people gathered.
There are signs that Golden Dawn’s ideology may not travel well.
The party’s attempts to establish a Canadian office met with a lukewarm reception. Father Lambros Kamperidis, a Greek Orthodox priest living in Montreal, said: “Their philosophy and ideology does not appeal to Greeks living here.
“We all got scared when we saw they were giving a press conference.
greece, neo-nazi, golden, dawn, race, hate, killah p, fatal, stabbedProtesters hold a banner featuring the anti-fascist musician Killah P [GETTY]
As we heard their deplorable views they were condemned by community leaders and the Church
Father Lambros Kamperidis, a Greek Orthodox priest
“As we heard their deplorable views they were condemned by community leaders and the Church.”
In reference to Golden Dawn’s tactic of trying to recruit members by tapping into anti-immigration resentment, Father Kamperidis said: “We are all immigrants in Canada.
“The really bad thing is that in opening here it gives the impression, to people who don’t know the situation, that it is supported by a lot of Greeks, which is not the case.
“It has hurt Greece, the Greek cause, and Greeks’ reputation more than anything else.”
In Greece, tensions continue to rise. In an attempt to reassure the public, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told reporters: “Democracy can protect itself. Justice will do its job.”
The crackdown began last week with the arrest of a policeman said by his colleagues to also be working as a bodyguard for the party, during a raid on its offices in the western town of Agrinio.
Christos Fotopoulos, head of the Greek association of police staff, said: “Over the last three years there are many incidents in which fellow officers tolerated violence by Golden Dawn members.”
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