Five people were injured on Sunday when Golden Dawn attacked an anti-establishment, anarchist club in the Piraeus suburb of Keratsini.
According to reports, up to seven people, whose faces were covered by helmets, broke into ‘Favela Free Social Centre’ shortly after 7.00 pm, shouting “you’re going to die” and “this is Piraeus”, proceeding to hit the attending members using iron bars and torches. The assailants smashed windows and furniture and chanted the slogan “Blood – Honour – Golden Dawn”. No arrests have been reported.
Specifically, according to eyewitnesses, the attackers, who were wearing helmets and chanting slogans in support of the extreme-right party, smashed their way into the ‘Favela’ Free Social Centre shortly after 7.00 pm, screaming “you are going to die” and indiscriminately hitting those gathered there for a weekly meeting using torches and iron bars.
Two of the injured were transferred to the hospital, one of which, Eleftheria Tompatzoglou, is among the legal team representing the family of the late Pavlos Fyssas at the ongoing trial against the neo-nazi party. Fyssas, also known as Killah P, was an anti-fascist activist and rapper who was stabbed to death by Golden Dawn member Giorgios Roupakias at Keratsini on 17 September. The murder is alleged to be part of a series of violent attacks by the nazi gang, mostly against migrant workers in the port city suburbs. The investigation led to the prosecution of dozens of Golden Dawn members, some of which are elected in the Parliament on a wide range of charges, not least among them participation in a criminal organisation.
The anti-establishment group recounted the incident on their Facebook page, stating: “When we opened the centre this afternoon for our weekly meeting, we were attacked by a group of Golden Dawn members with iron bars, helmets and flares. The space got damaged and people present were injured. We refute all the ridiculous reports that circulate in the media that explosives were found at the location and that our members’ homes have been under investigation. A longer statement will follow. This will not remain unanswered. We are not afraid of such attacks!”
Eleftheria Tompatzoglou also referred to her injury on her Facebook profile, posting: “They thought that they would stop us, judging by themselves and by the other coward little people that are following them. But what they don’t know and will never understand is that we are not the same. They don’t know that instead of scaring us, they making us tighter. They don’t know that our decision to run a free space in Piraeus is a conscious political decision that we will support till the end. They don’t know that as long as we are standing, we will fight for a society of equality and solidarity. They don’t know that Piraeus is ours. And what they certainly don’t know is that yesterday they broke the wrong heads.”
