Riots in Athens
Published by deviousdiva February 4th, 2008 in Neo-nazi.On Saturday here in Athens there were riots when an anti-fascists groups clashed with Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avgi, the far-right extremists). I had to go downtown but before I left the house I checked to find out exactly where they were so that I could avoid that area. Thankfully, I didn’t come across any trouble. Apparently there will be an investigation into whether the police protected the neo-Nazis and allowed them to attack the demonstrators. I think it is quite well known that the police (not only in Greece) generally side with the neo-nazis either by doing nothing or by actually allowing them to attack people. There is a suggestion here that the police actually helped them. I doubt very much if any of the Golden Dawn people will be arrested or charged with anything even though two people were stabbed and others were injured by flying stones.
Please visit Teacher Dude and Surviving Athens for more.
I will update this post when I know more.
Technorati: golden dawn, extremists, neo-nazi, police, greece
18 Responses to “Riots in Athens”
- 1 Pingback on Feb 4th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
- 2 Pingback on Feb 5th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Apparently there will be an investigation into whether the police protected the neo-Nazis and allowed them to attack the demonstrators. I think it is quite well known that the police (not only in Greece) generally side with the neo-nazis either by doing nothing or by actually allowing them to attack people.
I’m sure you have loads of evidence for this “well known” assertion. Can you please provide it? Also, in my experience in Greece, it is usually these “anti-fascists” that provoke and initiate violence with police then run off to their sanctuary known as university soil. Is this not correct?
Both the leftists and Facists go unpunished. I cannot remember the last time any demonstraters were punished. Usually they get arrested and then released.
Anyone with access to e-katherimerini newspaper can research this–they have a search function. If anyone can find of a case where a demonstrater/rioter was arrested and actually served significant jail time, please let me know.
I wish they could do like the USA and make a serious example out of them to discourage others from similar actions,.
Cyngin Poppycock-Balderdash, if you have seen some of the videos and pictures shown on the tv channels here, they are pointing out that the Golden Dawn group were hiding behind the police, attacking people and then running back behind them. This to me seems to be more than just preventing the two sides clashing ?
I have only ever seen the police going after and arresting the left-wing rioters. I am not condoning ANY rioting or violence. What the self-styled “anarchists” do when they go out burning things and fighting with the police is wrong in my opinion. What I am saying is that the police shouldn’t be siding with extremists of any kind and that in my experience, they lean to the right-wing not the left.
There are many, many examples of the attitudes of the police all over the internet. Some caught on camera. You only have to search.
All the major and serious newspapers have not reported any favouritism shown towards the the Golden Dawn demonstrators.
Diva, please be a little more responsible.
Yes, DD, please be sure not to show any independent thinking. After all, we know that the Greek newspapers are so responsible and are exemplars of high-quality investigative journalism. Just conform to what the Greeks tell you: that is what foreigners in Greece are supposed to do. Know your place.
Oh Martin, there you go again, casting negative aspersions on everything Greek. When will you tire of this?
The Greek media is not exemplary but probably no worse than other medias around the world. However, in instances of riots between extremist youths I’d rather believe the reporting from serious Centre Left and Centre Right news outlets rather than film footage taken by Antifa activists. Relying on these sources only exacerbates the problem.
One way or the other living the capital in the mercy of left and right facists is a disgrace though!
Both the Golden Dawn as well as the so called ‘democratic’ extremist scums have absolutely no right to turn the life of the inhabitants such a misery!
Precisely John. The property and dignity of many sensible ordinary people is damaged or disrupted by these lunatics.
Pip pip Old bean, ye of the positive comments, please provide us examples of news outlets that, in your view, are exemplar.
Diva, thanks however I am not entirely convinced.
I saw the reports on ET1, Net and Mega. I am told (by Greek friends) that these are some of the more responsible channels. Are they wrong ?
If there is no question that MAT might have been supporting Golden Dawn, why are these major channels talking about it ?
I also said:
But I did see the images on ET that had the GD people (that they had highlighted in the footage) running between MAT and then going back behind them.
Anyway, it is obvious that whatever I say here, you will try and discredit it so let’s wait and see if anything does come of the complaints of police collusion. Somehow, I doubt it but who knows.
I remember when Teacher Dude got beaten up by them and was hospitalised, he got a lot of negative comments saying he must have done something wrong and that he should just forget about it and get on with his life. Fortunately, a few people believed him and he is pursuing his case.
If there is wrong-doing on the part of the police in this case, shouldn’t we be concerned ?
for those who are not entirely convinced, and urge for more responsibility (sic):
http://news.kathimerini.gr/4dc.....008_258169
did you say mainstream centre-right news paper ?
Kathimerini is precisely that.
And if Kathimerini isn’t “responsible” or “convincing” enough, I will translate what policemen have said themselves (I don’t have time to translate the whole thing, and some version of it will probably be published in the english version of kathimerini anyway)
from the article:
[on] the infliltration of extreme right elements among riot police ranks. The Police maintain that riot police were simply trying to avoid a direct encounter between the two groups but failed to stop Golden Dawn from moving towards anarchists
(notice they don’t dispute the infiltration itself, which is evident from various photographs and videos)
Some high ranking officials of Asphaleia maintain that this was not a case of unpredictability about what was going to happen, but a failure of the initial plan of the police.
A member of the police union critisised the police leadership by saying : “there was a group of 200 policemen charged with making arrests, and even though flagrantly unlawfull actions were taking place in front of them, there were no arrests”
The images broadcasted on TV where members of golden dawn are recorded amidst riot police caused a serious uproar even among police officers serving in riot police ranks. According to reliable sources, the images provoked tention in the riot police headquarters. The secretary of the union of police officers A. Botaitis said : “these images are a reference to other times”
And for foreigners or “naive” greeks (my ass), when we say “other times” in greek in this context, we mean pre-1974 aka JUNTA !!!!
I guess the police officer union guy must be wildly irresponsible for saying things like that…
I wouldn’t trust Mega. They’ve distorted facts on many occasions (I’m a student and the way they covered last year’s sit-ins and protests had nothing to do with reality).
As far as the incident is concerned, I wasn’t present, so I don’t know for sure what happened. But of course, it goes without saying that the job of the police is not to side with or cover up for any violent extremists.
And we should also bear in mind that the police have covered up for Golden Dawn in the past.
Thanks for all your information. More later.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/yr9dyo
Hi MBE. I’ve implemented the tiny url within comments, so hopefully you shouldn’t have to think about it.! Just posted the article you mentioned ! Thanks