Desperate to keep the police on side, is the Greek government overlooking violent abuses?
Golden Dawn is having a field day while MPs from other parties are assaulted.
By Yiannis Baboulias Published 23 October 2012 16:09
Desperate to keep the police on side, is the Greek government overlooking violent abuses?
On Monday night, Nikos Dendias, the Greek Minister of Public Order, was a guest on New Folders, a well known Greek TV show, presented by journalist Alexis Papachelas. A relaxed and slightly ironic Dendias, seemed to be having a good time deflecting all the serious questions D Tsoukalas, the SYRIZA MP who was also a guest on the show, threw at him. By carefully avoiding answering any and all questions, Dendias only looked anxious for two things: To not allow Tsoukalas to sidetrack him from his immigrant-bashing agenda , and to not displease the very same police force that stood by while a man was attacked outside a theatre, and , according to the Guardian, allegedly tortured 15 detainees after an anti-fascist demonstration a few weeks ago.
Dendias defended the police in every turn, going as far as to say that the detainees were lying and the truth would shine once the coroner’s report was out. That he was in fact in possession of that knowledge. “Why haven’t they filed for lawsuits if they are telling the truth? These are lies and I will bring the Guardian to justice for slandering the Police force and our country. The police is there to protect our citizens and is loyal to the state. Isolated cases of violence might exist, but they will be brought to justice”. He repeated the same claims in the Parliament the next day.
Little did he know: on Friday afternoon, the coroner’s report was made available to the lawyers of the victims according to Avgi newspaper. Heavy bodily harm, extensive abuse, injury by pointed object (allegedly one of the detainees was “stubbed” with a taser, electrocuted to submission and then brutally beaten while still on the ground). The 15 people arrested two weeks ago stated that they were simply waiting for these reports, and of course they will file a lawsuit against the Greek Police.
A silence has befallen Dendias since. Trying to appear sympathetic towards the Greek police is not working well for him since they hang him out to dry at every opportunity . By declaring that he will establish a new task forces to “confront heavily armed criminals” (translating to extra pay for anyone who joins) and that he will try to deal with the fact that “their wages are stuck in the 60s”, he is trying to show that he and PM Samaras are there for them. He knows he has to, as police officers' support is fast shifting from the government to the far-right movement Golden Dawn. But the police is by now well beyond his control.
“50, maybe 60% of the police are with us now” Illias Panagiotaros (an MP with the Golden Dawn who participated in the attacks outside Corpus Cristi last week) admitted to Newsnight’s Paul Mason last Wednesday. Dendias, desperately trying to outflank the neo-nazi party from the right and win over the police at the same time, is failing miserably. His empty anti-immigrant rhetoric and his sucking up to the police, leads nowhere but to the complete loss of his ministry’s status.
There is no better indication of this than what happened this Sunday in Skouries Halkidikis. A demonstration was called to oppose the opening of a gold mine that would destroy much of the ancient forest the area currently enjoys, permanently gut the mountain and pollute the area extensively, essentially ending any hope of sustainable tourism growth, ended up being violently attacked and dispersed by riot police. The demonstrators were no hooded “anarchists” and “far left elements”, but concerned locals, who don’t want to see the natural environment around their houses destroyed.
Reports started coming in late in the evening: Police had blocked the road cars carrying demonstrators up the mountain used. Passing between the cars, they started breaking windshields with their batons, and in some cases shooting chemicals inside cars. If this sounds like an exaggeration, this “isolated incident” should serve as an example: An elderly man was arrested (after being driven to the hospital with heart issues) and charged with attempted manslaughter. The reasoning behind this charge? When the tear-gas canister was shot in his car, the man lost control of his vehicle and rammed a tree, thus endangering other drivers. In another “isolated incident” confirmed by multiple eye-witnesses, a 55 year old woman was forced out of her car, made to kneel and then kicked to the point where she had to be driven to the hospital by other demonstrators as her knee had sustained severe injury.
Later that night, when people tried to help those detained at Polygyros police station, a police officer in plain clothes attacked Katerina Igglezi, an MP with SYRIZA, pushed her and hit her with his baton. When she told him she was an MP he shouted his name with defiance and asked her what does she think she can do about it, as can be seen in the video of the incident. She went on to state that she will in fact sue him.
But he, like every police officer willing to go the extra mile, knows very well that probably nothing will happen to him. Dendias will not seek punishment, as in other similar cases. The police now operate well above the “laws of men”. The fact that Golden Dawn supporters reportedly attempted to intimidate locals during an earlier set of demonstrations, is telling. Their excuse the fact that SYRIZA and other left wing factions support the locals, is of no significance. That they were present to defend capitalist interests once again, is.
El Dorado, the Canadian mining company, might be strangers to such controversy, but Greece certainly isn’t. For months Keratea resisted the opening of a dumping field next to their houses and the ancient monuments that populate the area. For months, riot police intimidated them, attacked them, brutalized them and made their lives a living hell. In one of the worst incidents, a pregnant woman lost her baby when tear-gas was used right outside her house and caused her to pass out.
In the meantime, Golden Dawn is having a field day while MPs from other parties are assaulted and common citizens are charged with extraordinary charges after being attacked themselves. Their own MPs enjoy impunity, never heard of before in a functional democratic state. Mr Dendias will speak again about “isolated incidents” if you put this question to him. But the reality of the situation leaves no doubt, and our government looks comfortable with what’s happening. Their unwillingness to reform the police is now more than obvious.
In the past few days, there have been rumours of a Greek cabinet reshuffle. In a decent, functional government, there would be no place for Mr Dendias. But in our current state as a country and as a people, Dendias will remain where he is. If he doesn’t, I am really afraid of who might take his place, and what they would do.
Yiannis Baboulias is a Greek investigative journalist writing on finance, politics and pop culture
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8 comments
Well, Elina certainly has some strong feelings!
I think we might want to hear from Elina again, should GD really make it to exercise real power. I think that her typically right wing simplicity of argument might well be tempered by the time GD have finished. The trouble with GD, BNP, et al, is that they're so single issue oriented, they have no idea how to deal with the responsibilities of real government and servitude to the people of the country.
Whilst I have some empathy with anti-immigration and a re-evaluation of what multi-culturalism means within Europe, one cannot just leave it to narrow minded, uneducated, racist thugs to be able to differentiate between those who have integrated into, or, are making a positive contribution to society, and those who require their adopted county to mirror that which they have left. No country should be expected to assimilate their immigrant populations and finance their various lifestyle and identity demands without question, or balance.
The current situation in Greece, and indeed that of recent European history, should send a clarion call to all democratic Governments. The final vestige of those who feel marginalised within their own country will always be towards the extreme right. Immigrants are a large, easy and, more often than not, an erroneously identified target - Greece's problems extend way beyond a few illegal immigrants or multi-culturalist zealots.
This article is pure anti-Golden Dawn propaganda!
First of all parliamentary immunity was introduced into law by PASOK, &supported by New Democracy. The reason? As is becoming very clear (particularly with the coming out of the "Lagarde list" of over 2000 Greeks with secret Swiss bank accounts) & the economic collapse of Greece is that these formerly "mainstream" politicians who governef and financially raped Greece for 38 years, wanted to ensure that they'd never be prosecuted. Golden Dawn has been in parliament 6 months and already 4 of it's MP's have had their parliamentary immunity lifted (something they volunteered tp do) but non of the criminals of PASOK & New Democracy have had their parliamentary immunity lifted...indeed the curent leader of PASOK Evangelos Venizelos was forced to admit that he was in possession of and hid the "Lagarde" list for 2 yeara. (most likely cause it has his name and the names of his political/business associates on it). Criminal charges are warranted.
p.s. all polls now place Golden Dawn as 3rd largest political party and rising fast !
This is really getting out of hand. Way back the Turkish military called the Colonels' Bluff by parachuting in and segregating Cyprus' Turks for their own safety.
Where were the Greek xenophopes when they were needed to save Greece's sacred soil?
Surely it's about time that some present-day Ataturk sent Turkish divisions west. After all Turkey has proved to be the bravest member of NATO.
Why keep Turkey out of the EU and Greece in. Begs explanation.
Ottoman Empire Loyalists
Turkey will NEVER be allowed into the EU because Turks are asiatic mongoloids. Turks originate from Central Asia. Turks are NOT racially European & they also adhere to Islam, which is a religion that Europeans have fought for 1000 years to keep out of Europe. e.g. famous battles of Tours, Kosovo Polje, Lepanto, Vienna to name a few! All of present day Turkey is built upon the genocide and ruins of the 4000 year old Greek civilization of Asia Minor, which was annihalated by invading nomadic asiatic Turkish tribes. Turks are not European, neither racially, religiously or otherwise! Europeans have fought 1000 years to repel the Turkish marauders, e.g Siege of Vienna...in the near future a United Europe will send the Turk back to mongolia from whence they came.
My God what a post. The Shakespeare line comes to mind "methinks thou protesteth too much" If this report elicits such a rant then it is quite obvious it is true. THe Greeks are in for another dose of the colonels, I fear.
@ ELINA
I really like this "copy-paste rhetoric" the GD has going on.
Sorry but your propaganda is all wrong and founded upon flimsy excuses, bigotry and ludicrous lies. Need I remind you of the magazine Mihaloliakos (GD leader) published with Hitler on it's cover?
Or your Nazi salutes? Widely documented evidence.
So, fascism apologist ELINA, any other"copy-paste" responses you would like to share with us?
Why don't we have a little chat about that little unholy amalgamation of left wingers known as SYRIZA. The SYRIZA party is a collection of anarchists, communists, trotskyists, leninists, stalinists and maoists. In other words they openly follow and adhere to the ideology of mass murderers like Stalin, Lenin, Trotsky, & Mao. They are also great admirers of former communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and many of them were financially sponsored by him!
Let the Truth Shine Out !!
Golden Dawn, they are of course not "nazists", both in the sense that their ideology is nothing like nazism and also in the sense that they actively rejected the label "nazi"/"fascist", altough by now, 2012 it is probably painfully obvious to most quasi-informed people that labels such as "nazi", "fascist", "racist", "xenophobe" are put on any white organisation that wants to look out for the ethnic interests of their own group. People of European descent that like Golden dawn for example feeding starving own starving people is simply not accepted in a multicultural society. That is "nazism."
For those that actually take the multicultural media serious, I can inform you that nothing or 99% of what the mainstream mulicultural media reports about Golden dawn or any other anti-multiculti organisation, and society in general is accurate. If anti-multiculti parties got into power, these rats would have no job anymore.
For example multicultural media often reports that "Golden dawn attacks immigrants." what they fail to mention is for example that yes, they attack immigrants but they attack racist immigrant thugs that rob old greek men and ladies as they try to go to the store to buy food for themselves, after Golden dawns help has been requsted by the Greek victims. So Golden dawn beating up racist african thugs that rob old Greeks, is translate in multicultural media too : "Neo-nazi Golden dawn ruthlessly attacks refugees."
Another example I see a lot, multicultural media reports "Fascist haters of the Golden dawn racist party attack arab vendors", when the truth is that the vendors were illegal aliens, selling drugs and contrand, and Golden dawns aid was requested by the the local Greek vendors that feared for their lifes and their childrens lives, after the police did nothing.
Or illegal aliens selling drugs at schools, and Greek mothers pleaded with the Police to do something, which they did not, and then they turned to Golden dawn, and Golden dawn threw the drug dealing illegal aliens out. The reaction to this in multicultural media is ofc "Jew killing blood drinking neo-nazi fascist homophobes strike at the innocent and browned skinned."
I mean, these multiculturalists are nothing but lying racist scum. It is the multiculturalist that are genocidal that import millions of third worlds into Greek and Europe, with the sole aim of destroying the native communities, it is the multiculturalist that makes racial laws such as affirmative action with discriminate based on race, but it is ok, as long as the ones being described against are white, then it is called "positive discrimination." It is positive because those hurt by it are white. That is the multicultural defintion of positive, and indeed the aim with their entire ideology. It is the multiculturalist that are neo-nazist by the terms exact defintion, multiculturalist strive for racism and genocide, they banned peoples views, even the poll here suggest that Golden dawn is "nazi" and that "nazist"(meaning white people who do not want to become a minority in their own country) should be imprisoned. Multiculturalist support EU, Which is a political units which leaders are not elected by the people, thus un-democratic and dictatorial, it also imprisons people for their views, and tries to control every aspect of society, thus making it totalitarian. A totalitatrian multicultural dictatorship.
To sum this section up. If you are white, and you listen and believe in multicultural media, you are like a jew during 1930's Germany listening and beliving in nazi media.
There is a Marxist policy of population replacement all across Europe, many cities now resemble the third world, where the indigenous population are being pushed out and replaced by foreigners, mostly third world people, this policy is celebrated by politicians and any dissenters are arrested and charged with so called hate crimes.
The reality of the failure of these artificially created societies is kept from the people through a complicit media and state and media intimidation of truth tellers, although the internet has woken up many people. It’s the indigenous population that face persecution, inequality, oppression, and left wing hate and tyranny. Many immigrants know their elevated status and take full advantage of it, rubbing it in the noses of the indigenous population, which causes greater anger and resentment and a deeper fracturing of society.
These Marxist do not hide their genocide agenda, one very senior front bench politician of the last far left Labour administration in the UK stated that ‘the British as a race aren’t worth saving’. Others stating that they have no problem with there being no indigenous people in Europe in the future, and that is one purpose of mass immigration, there are many others.
Golden Dawn know all this full well and are fighting to secure their nation for their people, demonising them with the old tired and desperate Nazi and fascist label doesn’t wash anymore, they’re fighting for the continued existence of their people, identity, heritage, and culture, and doing so the only way they can because they know their political parties do not serve them, to hate them for doing this makes you the racist and a supporter of genocide.
Also regarding this ridiculous anti-gay spat, Golden dawn is not anti-gay for reacting when anti-christian leftists attack christianity.
Would multiculturalists stand up and support the degrading of Judaism in the same manner they support the degradation of Christianity? If the theaterplay showed Muhammed as being gay, to provoke muslims, would leftists support it? I can assure you the anti-white anti-christian multiculti cadrè would not. In fact if there was a play about degrading Islam or Judaism, "anti-fascist"(The actual fascists) would probably be attacking the theatre goers with knives and sticks.
Despite the leftist/liberals insistance, people of European descent does not want to become a minority in their own countries. If this is not obvious then :
White american minority 2042 -US census bureau.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/15/population.race
Ethnic british minority 2066
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/8142176/White-Britons...
73% of ethnic british would be unhappy if UK turned into a white minority state.
http://www.migrationwatchuk.org/excel/YouGov-Poll-Restricting-NonEC-Mig3... -Yougov
The majority of British veterans says they would not have fought in ww2 if they knew the multiculturalists would take over.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1229643/This-isnt-Britain-fought...
"The English as a race are not worth saving'" -Jack Straw
Labour party admits the aim with mass-immigraiton was the destruction of the British ethnic community.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/6418456/Labour-want...