It is sad that it took the murder of a Greek before the media and public opinion finally were galvanised into serious discussion of the Golden Dawn movement.
Over the years there had been occasional reports of their most outrageous attacks, such as overturning stalls and trashing merchandise of immigrant vendors at open-air fairs and markets as well as the other incidents I had described in my previous post. Now it comes to light that in the past two years there have been 900 documented attacks serious enough to cause injury. A few of the victims were brave enough to show their scars or broken teeth on camera. Some said they were attacked by packs of 15 - 25 men wearing GD T-shirts. There are likely to have many more attacks that were not reported because the immigrant had no papers and was afraid he would be deported, or because he knew there was little point in doing so since the assailants were likely to go free and retaliate. Some say they went to the police but were discouraged from lodging a formal complaint against the assailants.
In my previous post I had mentioned how one reason GD have been able to act so brazenly, without regard for repercussions, is because they are supported by a significant proportion of the police force. Two senior police officials have resigned, two more suspended, and seven police officers have also been suspended. And that is before the Supreme Court completes their study of the 32 case files that involve GD members.
Recent opinion polls had shown GD popularity (intent to vote for them at next elections) at 8.3% before the murder. Yesterday polls showed them at 5.8%. Media commentators made a great deal about this drop of 2.5% within a week. I am concerned that it is still as high as 5.8% after one of their members confessed to murdering the singer.
Over the years there had been occasional reports of their most outrageous attacks, such as overturning stalls and trashing merchandise of immigrant vendors at open-air fairs and markets as well as the other incidents I had described in my previous post. Now it comes to light that in the past two years there have been 900 documented attacks serious enough to cause injury. A few of the victims were brave enough to show their scars or broken teeth on camera. Some said they were attacked by packs of 15 - 25 men wearing GD T-shirts. There are likely to have many more attacks that were not reported because the immigrant had no papers and was afraid he would be deported, or because he knew there was little point in doing so since the assailants were likely to go free and retaliate. Some say they went to the police but were discouraged from lodging a formal complaint against the assailants.
In my previous post I had mentioned how one reason GD have been able to act so brazenly, without regard for repercussions, is because they are supported by a significant proportion of the police force. Two senior police officials have resigned, two more suspended, and seven police officers have also been suspended. And that is before the Supreme Court completes their study of the 32 case files that involve GD members.
Recent opinion polls had shown GD popularity (intent to vote for them at next elections) at 8.3% before the murder. Yesterday polls showed them at 5.8%. Media commentators made a great deal about this drop of 2.5% within a week. I am concerned that it is still as high as 5.8% after one of their members confessed to murdering the singer.
A historic day, journalists and commentators kept saying all day yesterday. The first mass arrest of Greek politicians since 1974, when the dictatorship was ended. The head of GD party, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, four more Members of Parliament, two police officers and 13 citizens were arrested yesterday, charged with being members of a criminal organisation. In addition to several counts of murder and violent attacks such as those I described in my previous two posts, charges include money laundering, extortion of protection money, turf wars with other criminal organisation. There is evidence they were recruiting school pupils as young as 14. The party's finances are also under investigation, so charges of tax evasion may follow. It is a sad reflexion on the latent racism of society and the government that the hundreds of attacks including at least two murders of immigrants were not enough, it took the murder of the Greek singer Pavlos Fyssas to cause such a public outcry that it finally galvanised the government into action. Still, better late than never. Many commentators have compared GD to a serpent. A serpent may writhe a while after having its head lopped off, but it eventually dies. I hope that is what will happen, that it is not like another creature in Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra, with numerous heads, sprouting two heads to replace each one that gets cut off.
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