On the march: supporters of Golden Dawn, which now lies third in the polls, sing the national anthem at a rally in May /Yorgos Karahalis ’s far-right party goes on the offensive Golden Dawn makes further gains amid the nation’s economic collapse By Dina Kyriakidou , November 12, 2012

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rm raised in a Nazi-style salute, the leader of Greece’s fastest-rising Apolitical party surveyed hundreds of young men in black T-shirts as they ex- ploded into cheers. Their battle cry rever- berated through the night: Blood! Honour! Golden Dawn! “We may sometimes raise our hand this way, but these hands are clean, not dirty. They haven’t stolen,” shouted Nikolaos Mi- haloliakos as he stood, floodlit, in front of about 2,000 diehard party followers filling an open-air amphitheatre at Goudi park, a former military camp near Athens. “We were dozens, then a few hundred. Now we’re thousands and it’s only the be- ginning,” cried the leader of Golden Dawn, a far-right party that is seeing its support soar amid Greece’s economic collapse. Last month’s rally revealed the party, which de- scribes itself as nationalist and pledges to expel all illegal foreigners, has a new-found sense of triumph, even a swagger, that some Nationalist fervour: the party boasts of military efficiency, and some of its supporters, seen here find menacing. during an election rally, favour black shirts and straight-arm salutes. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis Riding a wave of public anger at corrupt politicians, austerity and illegal immigra- tion, Golden Dawn has seen its popular- Violent behaviour by Golden Dawn mem- Analysts believe that, ultimately, the ity double in a few months. A survey by bers, who often stroll through run-down party lacks the broad appeal and structure VPRC, an independent polling company, Athens neighbourhoods harassing immi- needed to gain mass traction. In World put the party’s support at 14 percent in Oc- grants, seems to boost rather than hurt the War Two Greece suffered massacres and tober, compared with the seven percent it party’s standing. famine in its fight against the Nazis, and won in June’s election. As the government imposes yet more the spectre of the 1967-1974 military junta Political analysts see no immediate austerity on an enraged public, the collapse still hangs heavy over its modern politics. halt to its meteoric ascent. They warn that of the ruling conservative-leftist coalition So why are many Greeks now turning to a Golden Dawn, which denies being neo- remains on the political horizon. The pos- party whose emblems and rhetoric, critics Nazi despite openly adopting similar ideol- sibility that Golden Dawn could capture say, resemble Hitler’s? ogy and symbols, may lure as many as one second place in a snap election is slim but Golden Dawn denies any such resem- in three Greek voters. real, say pollsters. blance. In an interview with Reuters at an “As long as the political system doesn’t open-air cafe in the Athens district of Pap- change and doesn’t put an end to cor- Golden Dawn’s target is agou, a traditional neighbourhood for mili- ruption, this phenomenon will not be simple. We want the absolute tary personnel, Ilias Panagiotaros, a Golden stemmed,” said Costas Panagopoulos, chief majority in parliament so we Dawn lawmaker and spokesman, explained of ALCO, another independent polling the party’s appeal. “Golden Dawn is the company. “Golden Dawn can potentially can replace the constitution only institution in this country that works. tap up to 30 percent of voters.” with our own. Everything else has stopped working or is The party now lies third in the polls, be- partially working,” he said. hind conservative and the Ilias Kasidiaris “We operate like a well-organised main opposition, the radical leftist Syriza. a Golden Dawn lawmaker army unit, because the military is the best

SPECIAL REPORT 2 Golden dawn Greece’s far-right party goes on the offensive

institution in any country.” Changing fortunes of Greek parties Short, squat and combative, Mihalo- Share of vote in last three elections and voting intention liakos once praised Hitler and denied the according to recent polls Nazi gas chambers existed. A former spe- cial forces commando in the Greek army, ELECTION RESULTS POLL RESULTS he met the leaders of the Greek military junta while in prison for carrying illegal weapons and explosives as a member of a Syriza far-right group in 1979. 30% When pressed on such issues, Golden Dawn says they are all in the past and it is looking to the future. New 20 Democracy For years after Mihaloliakos founded the party in 1985 it remained marginal: in the 2009 elections Golden Dawn won just 0.29 percent of the vote, or fewer than 20,000 10 votes. Yet in June, the party amassed votes from across the political spectrum, wiping Golden Dawn out the more moderate nationalist LAOS 0 Pasok party and winning support from as far left May June July Aug. Sept.Oct. as the communist KKE party, pollsters said. Now it is stealing votes from New De- Source: Greek interior ministry and polling companies Pulse, MRB and VPRC mocracy, which flip-flopped on the inter- national bailout keeping Greece afloat and, after coming to power, imposed harsh cuts tra, an unemployed Athenian, as she walked of the podium, flagged with a big sign instead of relief measures. Though Golden through the party’s rally at Goudi park. “All reading “Getting the stink off the country”, Dawn attracts mainly urban male voters up the other politicians have sold us out.” while speakers delivered patriotic oratories. to 35 years old, the party is also gaining its The gathering was a chance for the par- A short film showed highlights of the share of women and the elderly, primarily ty to relish achievements and flex muscle. year, which included attacks on immigrant those suffering unemployment or falling Well-built youths in black T-shirts embla- street vendors, clashes with police outside living standards, say pollsters. zoned with the Swastika-like party logo parliament and food distribution to the Part of its appeal is down to the sort of stood in military formation at the entrance. poor. When the film showed Golden Dawn welfare work that Hamas, the Palestinian Two men stood to attention on both sides lawmaker Ilias Kasidiaris slapping a female party, does in Gaza. Golden Dawn distrib- communist lawmaker, Liana Kanelli, across utes food in poor neighbourhoods, helps old the face on live TV, youths bellowed pro- ladies get money safely from ATMs - and fanities against the victim. has also set up a Greeks-only blood bank. “Golden Dawn’s target is simple. We One story repeated at cafes, but not veri- want the absolute majority in parliament fied, is that of a Greek whose house is taken so we can replace the constitution with our over by immigrants. When he asks the po- own,” Kasidiaris told the crowd. “It will lice for help, he is given the Golden Dawn then be easy to immediately arrest and de- number. Not only do they throw out the port all illegal immigrants.” squatters but deliver the house clean and Pollsters were ready to write off the painted, the tale goes. party when Kasidiaris slapped Kanelli af- “I voted for Golden Dawn for the first Combative: Nikolaos Mihaloliakos, leader of ter she swatted him with some papers dur- time in June and I will vote for them again Golden Dawn, said on a recent TV programme ing a dispute he was having with a Syriza because they are the only ones who really that Hitler was a ‘great personality of the 20th lawmaker. Kasidiaris says he was defending care about Greece,” said 45-year-old Deme- century’. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis himself; Kanelli says she was coming to the

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aid of the Syriza lawmaker after Kasidiaris nian was attacked with a sword by a masked workers who leave for their jobs in the morn- had thrown water at her. motorcycle rider; in August a young Iraqi was ing fear they may not come back home.” Painting Golden Dawn as an aberration stabbed to death. Golden Dawn strongly denies any in- stemming from the financial crisis, pollsters “This is not even the tip of the iceberg - volvement in racist attacks. Several of its said the party’s support would dwindle. The there are even more attacks that are not re- members have been detained in relation to opposite happened - the party gained 3 to 4 corded anywhere,” said Daphne Kapetanaki such assaults, but have been released for lack percentage points in polls as a direct result of the UNHCR. of evidence. of the Kasidiaris incident. Victims or witnesses sometimes identify One Nigerian victim, 31-year-old Confi- “In this slap, Greek society saw the Golden Dawn members as the attackers. Ja- dence Ordu, said he was beaten up by Golden whole, immoral political establishment get vied Aslam, head of the Pakistani Commu- Dawn supporters in broad daylight in Athens slapped,” said Panagiotaros, a thick-set man nity in Greece organisation, estimates that in January as passersby looked on without with a shaved head and a goatee. “People about 400 Pakistanis have been attacked intervening. Ordu, who was granted asylum thought: finally!” in the past eight months by Golden Dawn when he came to Greece five years ago, said supporters. “There is a huge climate of fear,” he was walking out of a central Athens sub- ‘SPEAK GREEK OR DIE’ he said. “People don’t leave their houses and way station when four men dressed in black In parliament Golden Dawn’s 18 lawmak- attacked him, shouting “You don’t belong ers cluster in a rear corner of the marble- here. Greece is for Greeks”. covered hall, but make no attempt to hide We will seal the borders but “I tried to fight back but there were four of their ideology. Recently, Panagiotaros asked do it properly, not the nonsense them,” said Ordu. “They kept punching and the welfare ministry to find out which ba- they are doing now. Then we will hitting me while I was on the ground. There bies admitted to state day-care centres were immediately deport all illegals. was nothing I could do. So I acted like I was actually Greek. Eleni Zaroulia, wife of par- dead until they left. I had blood all over my ty leader Mihaloliakos and also a lawmaker, Ilias Panagiotaro face and arms.” described immigrants as “every sort of sub- a Golden Dawn lawmaker, describing Bleeding profusely, he went to a nearby po- human who invades our country carrying what the party would do if it won power lice station. He says police first demanded to all sorts of diseases.” Artemis Matthaiopoulos, another Golden Dawn lawmaker, was formerly the bassist for a heavy metal band called Pogrom, which produced songs such as “Speak Greek or Die” and “Auschwitz”. Rights groups say racist attacks in Greece have been surging, but that many immigrants are reluctant to report them because of their illegal status or mistrust of the police. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other groups recorded 87 racist attacks in the first nine months of the year (comparable statistics for previous years are not available). Perpetrators often used clubs or crowbars and sometimes large dogs, say rights groups. In May an Alba-

Follow Reuters Special Reports on Facebook: Dangerous streets: Immigrants try to calm other immigrants during a rally to protest against the facebook.com/ReutersReveals increasing harassment they face in Greece. REUTERS/John Kolesidis

SPECIAL REPORT 4 Golden dawn Greece’s far-right party goes on the offensive

see papers proving he was a legal immigrant before taking down details of the assault. “I’m scared all the time and I watch my back all the time,” he said. “I only go to places I know. I never go out at night.” Like other victims, he accuses Greek po- lice of supporting Golden Dawn and hin- dering immigrants in reporting attacks. In a July report, advocacy group Human Rights Watch said gangs of Greeks were regularly attacking immigrants with impunity and authorities were ignoring victims or dis- couraging them from filing complaints. Greek police deny accusations they are soft on, or even sometimes work with, Golden Dawn. Public Order Minister Nikos Dendias has vehemently denied re- ports that police were beating up illegal im- migrants and has threatened to sue British newspaper over the issue. He is at such odds with Golden Dawn that the party ridiculed him during the youth festi- Vote winner: Ilias Kasidiaris, a Golden Dawn lawmaker, and, below, the party’s logo. It is a val at Goudi park. traditional Greek meander and has no connection to the Nazi Swastika, says the party REUTERS/ But a member of the police officers’ Panayiotis Tzamaros union, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, admitted there was some sym- pathy for the party among the ranks. “There In one case that shocked New Democracy, told Ger- are some among the police who ideologi- the nation in 2010, two man media that Greece’s cally support Golden Dawn and a handful Afghans lethally stabbed a woes were similar to that have been violent against illegal immi- 44-year-old Greek on the conditions that led to the grants,” the unionist said. “But these cases street to steal his video collapse of the Weimar are being probed by justice.” camera as he was taking Republic in Germany his pregnant wife to hospi- and ushered in the Nazis. WEIMAR REPUBLIC tal. They were caught trying Extreme leftist populism With more than one million foreign na- to sell the camera for 80 euros and “an extreme right, you tionals in Greece, a country of 11 million ($101) and were later sentenced could almost say fascist, neo- people, tensions are unlikely to ease any to life in prison for murder. In another Nazi party,” were clashing in the same time soon. While the government regularly much-publicised case, a grandfather was way that battles between communists and rounds up thousands of immigrants, only a killed on a bus for a handful of coins. fascists marked the 1919 to 1933 Weimar few hundred are sent to specially-built de- Such incidents, unheard of in Greece years, he said. tention centres. a few years back, have fanned resentment Syriza is already leading New Democ- Many migrants pouring in from Asia and against foreigners, who are also seen as racy in some opinion polls and Golden Africa, mainly through Greece’s porous bor- stealing jobs while one in four Greeks is Dawn could grow stronger, say some ob- der with , dream of moving on to oth- unemployed. The jobless rate among young servers. George Kyrtsos, an editor who er European countries, but find themselves Greeks is even higher – more than 50 per- managed the election campaign of the far- trapped in Greece by EU rules that return cent for those under 25. right LAOS party, said: “If New Democ- them to their point of entry. Aid groups say Ahead of a visit to Berlin in October, racy shows signs of collapse, we may see they are often forced into crime to survive. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, leader of outrageous situations... [Syriza and Golden

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Porous border: Illegal immigrants making their way along the Egnatia motorway near Greece’s border with Turkey. Thousands of arrivals from Africa and Asia take the route in search of new lives in Europe, but find themselves trapped in Greece by rules. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis

Dawn could become] the two top parties cating corruption and jump-starting the and Simon Robinson fighting it out on the streets.” economy, but most importantly closing the Golden Dawn, which gives few details borders and expelling all illegal immigrants. FOR MORE INFORMATION of its finances beyond saying it is funded “We will seal the borders but do it prop- Dina Kyriakidou, Bureau Chief, Greece by supporters, is now opening offices across erly, not the nonsense they are doing now. and Cyprus the country and in Greek communities Then we will immediately deport all ille- [email protected] overseas, including New York. gals,” he said. “Although, when we come to Richard Woods, Senior Editor, Enterprise Panagiotaros, the party spokesman, said power, they’ll leave by themselves.” and Investigations, EMEA he and his colleagues would even be ready [email protected] for the top spot. The party’s priorities for Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou and Michael Williams, Global Enterprise Editor government, he said, would include eradi- Deepa Babington; Editing by Richard Woods [email protected]

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