Recent opinion polls in Greece has found that support for the far right party, Golden Dawn, is much higher in the police force than in the general public. Recent violent events has seen police ignore severe acts of violence and even partake in it.
Golden Dawn MP, Ilias Panagiotaros told the BBC “we have more than 50 per cent of police staff that are following us – maybe more – every day it is growing”. Last week the same man led a demonstration that closed down a performance of the Terence McNally play Corpus Christi. He was filmed shouting racist and homophobic insults at the director, all while rocks were flying into the open air theatre.
The police stood by, acting oblivious. In a separate incident, footage shows Golden Dawn MP Christos Pappas “de-arrest” a demonstrator, pulling him from a police detention coach, as the police do nothing. Though Golden Dawn members have attacked migrants frequently, in the past month the far-right party has stepped up its presence on the streets.
Alarm is spreading among sections of society not previously affected by the party’s actions. During a motorbike protest last week, a clash with Golden Dawn occurred. A unit of the motorbike-mounted police called Delta Force arrested 15 demonstrators, stripping them naked in the prison cells and using Tasers, stress positions, humiliation techniques and beatings.
“The Delta police arrived and spoke about Golden Dawn as if they were their siblings, including the officer in charge. They praised Hitler, saying he was better than Stalin,” a detainee said.
Lt Col Christos Manouras, the spokesman for the Athens police told the BBC: “I am categorical that in this incident none of these things happened in the headquarters building of the Attica police. Greek police respect human rights – and this is a non-story.” Police inaction is now fuelling Golden Dawn supporters’ violent attacks, as they no longer fear prosecution.
Theodora Oikonomides, a journalist at the alternative radio network RadioBubble, who has covered the rise of Golden Dawn, voices a fear common to many: “Golden Dawn’s favourite themes, such as xenophobia, homophobia and anti-Semitism have now become part of Greek public discourse, whether at the political or at the social level.
“By failing to take action against Golden Dawn while nodding and winking to its electorate at every opportunity, the Greek politicians – who are now in power with the support of European partners – have opened a Pandora’s box that will not close any time soon.” Golden Dawn has gone from eight local offices at election time to 60 nationwide. It is polling consistently as the third most popular party at 12 per cent. Source: BBC
