Saturday, September 29, 2012

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Greek police send crime victims to neo-Nazi 'protectors'

Far-right Golden Dawn party filling vacuum for those neglected by state after MPs elected to fight 'immigrant scum'

People hold sacks of potatoes during a food distribution organised by Golden Dawn, in Athens.
People hold sacks of potatoes during a food distribution organised by Golden Dawn, in Athens.
Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party is increasingly assuming the role of law enforcement officers on the streets of the bankrupt country, with mounting evidence that Athenians are being openly directed by police to seek help from the neo-Nazi group, analysts, activists and lawyers say.
In return, a growing number of Greek crime victims have come to see the party, whose symbol bears an uncanny resemblance to the swastika, as a "protector".
One victim of crime, an eloquent US-trained civil servant, told the Guardian of her family's shock at being referred to the party when her mother recently called the police following an incident involving Albanian immigrants in their downtown apartment block.

"They immediately said if it's an issue with immigrants go to Golden Dawn," said the 38-year-old, who fearing for her job and safety, spoke only on condition of anonymity. "We don't condone Golden Dawn but there is an acute social problem that has come with the breakdown of feeling of security among lower and middle class people in the urban centre," she told the Guardian. "If the police and official mechanism can't deliver and there is no recourse to justice, then you have to turn to other maverick solutions."

Other Greeks with similar experiences said the far-rightists, catapulted into parliament on a ticket of tackling "immigrant scum" were simply doing the job of a defunct state that had left a growing number feeling overwhelmed by a "sense of powerlessness". "Nature hates vacuums and Golden Dawn is just filling a vacuum that no other party is addressing," one woman lamented. "It gives 'little people' a sense that they can survive, that they are safe in their own homes."

Far from being tamed, parliamentary legitimacy appears only to have emboldened the extremists. In recent weeks racially-motivated attacks have proliferated. Immigrants have spoken of their fear of roaming the streets at night following a spate of attacks by black-clad men on motorbikes. Street vendors from Africa and Asia have also been targeted.

"For a lot of people in poorer neighbourhoods we are liberators," crowed Yiannis Lagos, one of 18 MPs from the stridently patriot "popular nationalist movement" to enter the 300-seat house in June. "The state does nothing," he told a TV chat show, adding that Golden Dawn was the only party that was helping Greeks, hit by record levels of poverty and unemployment, on the ground. Through an expansive social outreach programme, which also includes providing services to the elderly in crime-ridden areas, the group regularly distributes food and clothes parcels to the needy.
But the hand-outs come at a price: allegiance to Golden Dawn. "A friend who was being seriously harassed by her husband and was referred to the party by the police very soon found herself giving it clothes and food in return," said a Greek teacher, who, citing the worsening environment enveloping the country, again spoke only on condition of anonymity. "She's a liberal and certainly no racist and is disgusted by what she has had to do."

The strategy, however, appears to be paying off. On the back of widespread anger over biting austerity measures that have also hit the poorest hardest, the popularity of the far-rightists has grown dramatically with polls indicating a surge in support for the party.
One survey last week showed a near doubling in the number of people voicing "positive opinions" about Golden Dawn, up from 12% in May to 22%. The popularity of Nikos Michaloliakos, the party's rabble-rousing leader had shot up by 8 points, much more than any other party leader.
Paschos Mandravelis, a prominent political analyst, attributed the rise in part to the symbiotic relationship between the police and Golden Dawn. "Greeks haven't turned extremist overnight. A lot of the party's backing comes from the police, young recruits who are a-political and know nothing about the Nazis or Hitler," he said. "For them, Golden Dawn supporters are their only allies on the frontline when there are clashes between riot police and leftists."

Riding the wave, the party has taken steps to set up branches among diaspora Greek communities abroad, opening an office in New York last week. Others are expected to open in Australia and Canada. Cadres say they are seeing particular momentum in support from women.
With Greeks becoming ever more radicalised, the conservative-led government has also clamped down on illegal immigration, detaining thousands in camps and increasing patrols along the country's land and sea frontier with Turkey.

But in an environment of ever increasing hate speech and mounting tensions, the party's heavy-handedness is also causing divisions. A threat by Golden Dawn to conduct raids against vendors attending an annual fair in the town of Arta this weekend has caused uproar.

"They say they have received complaints about immigrant vendors from shop owners here but that is simply untrue," said socialist mayor Yiannis Papalexis. "Extra police have been sent down from Athens and if they come they will be met by leftists who have said they will beat them up with clubs. I worry for the stability of my country."
Seated in her office beneath the Acropolis, Anna Diamantopoulou, a former EU commissioner, shakes her head in disbelief. Despair, she says, has brought Greece to a dangerous place.
"I never imagined that something like Golden Dawn would happen here, that Greeks could vote for such people," she sighed. "This policy they have of giving food only to the Greeks and blood only to the Greeks. The whole package is terrifying. This is a party based on hate of 'the other'. Now 'the other' is immigrants, but who will 'the other' be tomorrow?"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/28/greek-police-victims-neo-nazi


10 comments:

Anonymous said...

The police here in the UK care not a jot for British people.

We need to build self help communities like here in Greece.

ENGLISHMAN said...

It will naturally be painful,trying to unravell the marxist insanity,the greeks have made a good start and now terror haunts the traitors in government that implemented the crimes against the people.If only the English people had a party that speaks and ACTS for them,unfortunately we value our apathy more than our freedom,and such strength as is in us is diluted down the pub by fat ignoramuses in football shirts,who are so afraid that they hide in a sea of alchohol.

Anonymous said...

‘Rabble-rousing leader’, eh? Not at all like the Guardian, then. So the party’s symbol ‘ bears an uncanny resemblance to the swastika,’ does it?
The symbol is the ancient Greek ‘key’ pattern, also known as a ‘meander’. It dates from centuries before Christ. So is the Guardian flaunting its ignorance here or is it doing a spot of its own rabble rousing? It looks like the Guardian stirring up hatred by implying, tenuously and disingenuously, a link between Golden Dawn and the long-defunct Nazi Party.
Preaching to the ignorant and gullible…

Anonymous said...

The Greeks are further into the mire than we are so consequently they have seen what is intended to be the future for the West before we have done.

In 2013 a large part of our industry will close down due to the government imposed tax on CO2 emissions that will reach £70 per ton by 2030.

We will also start to see regular power cuts as Coal,Oil and Gas powered power stations producing 40% of our electricity will be closed by order of the EU over the next few years.

If the proposed EU tax on financial transactions goes ahead then Britain will be crucified within the next 5 years as we can also expect a huge rise in EU immigration to Britain caused by the likes of the Greeks and Spanish coming here to take advantage of our higher benefits and pensions.

Pensions and benefits have already been sharply reduced as part of the Euro bailout and this process is by no means over!

Anonymous said...

How the BBC denies Israel’s occupation.

http://electronicintifada.net/content/how-bbc-denies-israels-occupation/11713


Anonymous said...

GRI££IN PUT'S HIS FOOT IN IT AGAIN


BNP leader Nick Griffin defends Fenian comment on Twitter.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-19777479

Anonymous said...

'7,500 US officials serve Israel interest, Tel Aviv biggest threat to US'

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/30/264293/7500-us-officials-serve-israel-interest/

Anonymous said...


British 'foreign legion' trebles in decade
Army recruits from abroad soar past 12,000


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/campaigns/our_boys/4563766/British-Foreign-Legion-trebles-in-decade.html#ixzz2800CvT5y

Anonymous said...

HAIL GD, WE CAN TAKE A LESSON OF THESE LADS.UNITY IS A MUST 88

Anonymous said...

NEWS FLASH.


Five arrested over far-right attack in Liverpool city centre.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19800322