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, 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.
Protesters 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
“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.”
No comments:
Post a Comment