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In Greece, a low-grade street war brews with neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party | In Greece, a low-grade street war brews with neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party |
(35 minutes later) | |
A Golden Dawn supporter gives a Nazi-style salute during a Saturday rally in Athens. | A Golden Dawn supporter gives a Nazi-style salute during a Saturday rally in Athens. |
(Yannis Kolesidis/AP) | (Yannis Kolesidis/AP) |
When last I came to the shadow of the Acropolis in October 2012, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party was in full ascent. The menacing Greek nationalists known for their black uniforms and modified swastikas were opening a network of political offices and distribution centers across Greece. Unchecked by the police — or, as some say, aided by them — the party’s followers were openly marauding through immigrant neighborhoods in nightly reigns of terror. | |
I came back to find the streets of Athens still very much under threat from these highly stylized Hellenic storm troopers, who are part of a wave of far-right nationalists gaining strength across Europe. In September, a suspected Golden Dawn activist stabbed the anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas to death in his Athens neighborhood. Last month, several dozen Golden Dawn loyalists marched through that same neighborhood, tearing down a banner honoring the rapper and attacking a well-known haunt of Greek anarchists. And this weekend, the group announced a new party called National Dawn, which is designed to get around a potential ban on the party. | |
Riot police clash with anti-fascist protesters who gathered to oppose a rally of Golden Dawn supporters. | Riot police clash with anti-fascist protesters who gathered to oppose a rally of Golden Dawn supporters. |
(Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) | (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) |
About 3,000 Golden Dawn supporters held a rally in Athens on Saturday. | About 3,000 Golden Dawn supporters held a rally in Athens on Saturday. |
(Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) | (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) |
As a low-grade street war brews between the far left and the far right here, there is an ever-present risk that crisis-plagued Greece could descend deeper into political violence. | As a low-grade street war brews between the far left and the far right here, there is an ever-present risk that crisis-plagued Greece could descend deeper into political violence. |
And yet, in recent months, authorities appear to have awakened to the threat posed by the Golden Dawn. Six of the party’s elected members of parliament – including party leader Nikos Michaloliakos – have been jailed pending trial on charges of forming and running a criminal organization. A trove of data collected from the cellular phones and laptops of arrested members contained photos of Golden Dawn recruits at training camps posing with assault weapons and giving Nazilike salutes. A recent law passed by parliament effectively stripped Golden Dawn of the state funding doled out to political parties. | |
Supporters of Golden Dawn hold party and Greek flags as they demonstrate in Athens on Saturday. | Supporters of Golden Dawn hold party and Greek flags as they demonstrate in Athens on Saturday. |
(Milos Bicanski/Getty Images) | (Milos Bicanski/Getty Images) |
At the same time, support for the neo-Nazi party among Greeks has vacillated. After Fyssas’s murder, approval ratings for the party plummeted. But after apparent retribution killings of two of Golden Dawn members a few weeks later, public sympathy for the party appeared to rebound. Some recent polls show support in the low double-digit range, slightly off their highs but not by much. | |
The big test now, political watchers here say, will be two important elections in May – one for local offices and the other for the European parliament. | The big test now, political watchers here say, will be two important elections in May – one for local offices and the other for the European parliament. |
The elections will be “a litmus test for how the Golden Dawn is doing in Greece,” said Nick Malkoutzis, a political commentator and deputy editor of the Kathimerini newspaper’s English edition. “There is a fear within the Greek political mainstream that because people tend to vote more freely in local and European parliament elections, a sizable amount of Greeks may vote for them just to give the establishment a slap in the face.” | |
Riot police clash with masked youths after entering an underground station to arrest protesters who gathered to oppose a nearby rally of members and supporters of the Golden Dawn party in Athens. | Riot police clash with masked youths after entering an underground station to arrest protesters who gathered to oppose a nearby rally of members and supporters of the Golden Dawn party in Athens. |
(Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) | (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) |