Ilias Panagiotaros, candidate for the extreme right Golden Dawn party, addresses supporters during an election campaign rally in Athens June 11, 2012 (Reuters/John Kolesidis)
(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Published: 16 May, 2012, 11:22
Half of Greek cops go ultra-nationalist at elections
More than half of all police officers in Greece voted for the far-right ultra-nationalist party Golden Dawn – described by many as neo-Nazi – in the elections on May 6. This gave them a record 7 per cent of the vote, securing 21 seats in parliament.
The analysis published by the country’s To Vima (The Tribune) newspaper reveals much of the contribution came from the country’s police officers.
The journalists studied the voting results in several constituencies in Athens, where 5,000 police officers in service in the Greek capital cast their ballots.
Greek police vote Nazis
At some polling stations, the party obtained a striking 19 to 24 per cent of votes. According to the newspaper, at the 11 polling stations (numbered from 806 to 816) located near the police station Ellas, the neo-Nazis received most votes.
The four polling stations located near the riot police station MAT, used by the police, recorded percentages of between 13 and 19.
The newspaper underlines these figures are impressive.
Greece’s neo-Nazis threaten hospital raids against immigrants
The Greek extreme right party Golden Dawn has stepped up assaults on immigrants by threatening to remove them and their children from hospitals and kindergartens.
The neo-Nazi rhetoric comes as Greece prepares for its crucial elections scheduled for Sunday, June 17
If Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) gets into parliament as polls predict, the party says it will carry out raids on hospitals and kindergartens and it will throw immigrants and their children out on the street so that Greeks can take their place, Golden Dawn MP Ilias Panagiotaros said in a rally address in Athens.
Over the last few years, illegal immigration into Europe and Greece in particular has skyrocketed, whilst the Greek economy has plummeted.
The Greek government has piled up a mountain of debt over the years. Its European neighbors and the International Monetary Fund have twice bailed out the country.
But many Greeks are angered at the terms of the rescue packages.
The government imposes far-reaching austerity measures, cut wages and pensions, and eliminates thousands of government jobs.
This is forcing extreme factions of society and even ordinary citizens to point the finger of blame at immigrants.
Riding the wave of discontent the Golden Dawn party managed to get around 7 per cent of the vote in the May 6th elections, winning 21 seats in parliament.
Greece’s far-right Golden Dawn party rallies supporters ahead of this weekend’s general election. It has been dogged by controversy since winning 7% of the vote in the inconclusive 6 May parliamentary election. The party’s rise of the party is linked to concern over violence and crime
GREECE’S leftist Syriza party has accused Germany of ”terrorising” Greek voters into supporting pro-bailout parties in a repeat election being held on Sunday, and claimed that Berlin and Brussels were bluffing in their threats to cut off emergency funds.
Alexis Tsipras campaigns. Photo: AFP
A senior aide to Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras defiantly claimed that Europe’s dominant partners were ”not serious” in their confrontation with Greece’s so-called ”anti-austerity” parties.
Yiannis Bournous, head of European policy, said a Greek exit from the euro would lead to the collapse of French and other banks exposed to Greek debt and the swift unravelling of the single currency.
Germany, he said, was engaging in Cold War-style brinkmanship, ”daring the other side to push the button” without being prepared to detonate the nuclear option of withholding tranches of Greece’s €130 billion ($164 billion) bailout.
Syriza’s leadership is adamant that a victory in Sunday’s election would force German Chancellor Angela Merkel to back down and ease the terms of repayments on Greece’s debt as part of a broader, pan-European shift to a more ”pro-growth” approach.
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