Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party has caused
outrage by playing a Nazi anthem during a
charity food handout attended by thousands of
people.
Golden Dawn organised the handout in central
Athens, with scores of police officers on hand to
maintain order.
Greek authorities had initially banned Golden
Dawn from hosting the event in the party's
preferred location of Attiki Square. However
Golden Dawn simply changed the location to its
headquarters near Larissis Station.
More than 2,000 people crowded the streets
outside the premises, as party members wearing
their traditional black t-shirts distributed food and
clothing, after checking recipients' identity cards
to insure that non-Greeks were excluded.
A Greek version of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party
anthem, the Horst Wessel Song - known as
"Keep the Banner Flying" in Greek - was played.
From a balcony, Golden Dawn's leader Nikos
Michaloliakos addressed the crowd, which
enthusiastically booed every time he used words
such as 'democracy' and 'Pakistani'.
"The crime we committed was that we wanted to
hand out food to Greeks only. If we'd handed it
out to Pakistanis and blacks, there would have
been no problem," Michaloliakos told supporters.
"Foreigners out of Greece!" the crowd chanted
back.
The food hand-out was held on the 39th
anniversary of the restoration of democracy in
Greece, following the collapse of a 1967-74
military dictatorship.
"We didn't choose this day by coincidence,"
Michaloliakos said. "They say they are celebrating
the return of democracy. But they are really
celebrating state thievery, scandals, and treason."
'Pathetic copy of Nazis'
Golden Dawn has made substantial gains from
Greece's deep economic crisis, blaming the
country's large immigrant population as one of
the causes.
"The Golden Dawn phenomenon is very
dangerous," health minister Adonis Georgiadis
told Mega TV. "There is a big danger of
destabilisation and division."
Golden Dawn won 18 seats in the Greek
parliament, gaining almost 7% of preferences in
the two elections last year and opinion pools says
popular support continues to rise.
Earlier this year, a report by the Council of Europe
blamed the extremist group for a steep increase
in hate crimes against migrants in Greece.
Public order Minister Nikos Dendias described the
party as a "pathetic copy of Nazi totalitarianism"
while Panos Skourletis, a spokesman for left-wing
opposition party Syriza, claimed "they are trying
to align problems that people face in Greek
society with their own message of hatred and
Nazism.
"Golden Dawn will only be weakened when the
causes of the deep humanitarian crisis are
addressed and stopped."
The Nazi occupation of Greece during the Second
World War is still a sensitive issue to many Greek
nationalists, and thus the party denies it draws
inspiration from Hitler's movement.
However its members are often depicted
mimicking the Nazi salute. http://tinyurl.com/pchbtb7