Status: 10/12/2021 3:57 a.m.
Right-wing extremists shock Greece with brutal attacks. Experts attribute it to the forces of the forbidden “golden dawn”. But right-wing politicians also sit in the government.
At the end of September, schoolchildren in the Greek city of Thessaloniki distributed leaflets calling for the fight against anti-fascism and for educational reform. Videos in social networks show how young people and men dressed in black suddenly storm out of a vocational school and attack the group with iron bars, axes, knives and stones.
On the very next day, violent riots broke out again at the same school: Dozens of students and teachers were locked in the school. The police can only bring the unrest under their control after about two hours.
The start of a whole series of violent attacks by suspected neo-Nazis against leftists, students and refugee workers in Thessaloniki – and also in the capital Athens.
A school in Thessaloniki is under police protection after a right-wing extremist attack.
Image: dpa
“With a lot of anger, kicks and fists”
Aphroditi Frangou also fell victim to one of these attacks. She works as a refugee worker for a left-wing movement. She and her colleagues were in the process of setting up an information stand in a suburb of Athens when they were attacked by 15 neo-Nazis.
“Quickly, without our noticing it, they positioned themselves in front of us and unfurled their flag with a fascist slogan,” she recalls. “Immediately afterwards they were after us, knocking two of us down, with a lot of anger, with kicks and fists, with their helmets on the heads and backs.”
Frangou herself was also slightly injured when she tried to protect one of her comrades-in-arms. That it didn’t get her worse – she’s just lucky: “At some point, in this phase of the attack, we heard” Let’s go! “From her boss.” After showing extreme right-wing greetings, the attackers quickly disappeared.
According to the lawyer, attacks carry clear signature
For Kostas Papadakis, the attacks of the past few days and weeks bring back extremely bad memories. Papadakis is a lawyer. During the mammoth trial against the party leadership of the right-wing extremist “Golden Dawn” he was one of the lawyers for the accessory prosecution. He knows their structures and their approach. “It is obvious that what is happening right now is not an insignificant and random occurrence,” he warns. “They are much more reminiscent of the daily actions of the thugs in 2012 and 2013, which we cannot go back to.”
The attacks followed certain patterns, the approach and the appearance of the attackers was identical to that of the thugs of the now banned “Golden Dawn”.
Papadakis therefore does not consider it impossible that there is a connection to the party’s former leadership. “We have to investigate a possible connection to the party members imprisoned,” he demands. “We have to find out who these people are who can manage to occupy a school for several days and who have weapons and other items to injure others.” Papadakis criticizes that the government does not act decisively enough against right-wing extremists, it even tolerates them. Because the political climate in the country has moved noticeably to the right.
A right-wing extremist as Minister of Health
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has restructured his cabinet several times in the past few months. There are at least three ministers in the current government with a nationalist, sometimes even right-wing extremist background. Thanos Plevris’ appointment as health minister caused the greatest sensation: Plevris was a member of the nationalist party LAOS for a long time. As a lawyer, he defended his father, a well-known anti-Semite and Holocaust denier, in court with the argument of freedom of expression.
In 2011, as a member of parliament, he described in a speech how he would proceed against refugees: “In my opinion, the migration problem can be solved in two ways, which must be openly expressed. The first way is to guard the borders. And so we know what we are talking about: there can be no border security without losses. To put it bluntly: without dead people. Guarding borders means dead people. “
After his appointment, there was great concern and criticism – including from the Jewish community in Greece. Plevris then apologized for earlier remarks. But doubts about his attitude remain.
If such politicians sit in government, right-wing extremist groups could feel strengthened and encouraged to take further violent actions, fears attorney Papadakis. That’s why he wants to take to the streets at the weekend: There should be a big demo against right-wing violence. And he hopes that everything will remain peaceful.