The leader of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party in Greece, Nikos Mihaloliakos, was arrested by police on Saturday on charges of forming a criminal organisation.
Three other Golden Dawn MPs, including party spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris, and nine other party members have also been arrested.
The killing of anti-racist activist and musician Pavlos Fyssas by a supporter of Golden Dawn has sparked protests across Greece and calls to the Greek government to ban the neo-Nazi party.
The government has started an inquiry into the activities of Chryssi Avgi or Golden Dawn, which won nearly 7% of the vote in 2012 parliamentary elections and 18 seats in the 300-member Greek parliament. It was the first time that the extreme-right has been represented since the end of Greece’s military junta in 1974.
Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has vowed to keep Nazism from ”poisoning” the country’s life and government officials say the party must now be treated as a “criminal organisation”.
“This government is determined not to allow the descendants of the Nazis to poison our social life, to commit crimes, terrorise and undermine the foundations of the country that gave birth to democracy,”Samaras declared.
In recent months, Golden Dawn has been accused of perpetrating attacks on migrants and political opponents – including an attack on Communist Party members earlier this month which is said to have left nine people in hospital.
Its badge resembles a swastika and some senior party members have praised Adolf Hitler. , and its members wear black T-shirts and combat trousers at anti-immigrant demonstrations.
Jewish groups have repeatedly called on Greece to ban Golden Dawn. Two weeks ago, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S.Lauder said Greece’s democratic forces “have a moral obligation to unite against Golden Dawn leaders”, especially those who “publicly incite to crimes, preach hate against minorities, deny and belittle the Holocaust, or viciously assault people based on the color of their skin, their ethnic background, or their political views.”
Party leader Nikos Michaloliakos has declared there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz and has questioned the number of Jews killed in the Holocaust
“Golden Dawn party leaders are openly antisemitic, racist, have denied the Holocaust, and its members have reportedly targeted dark-skinned individuals in Greece through various violent acts,” said Abraham H. Foxman, National Director or the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
“Its doctrine echoes Nazi principles by proposing that “only men and women of Greek descent and consciousness should have full political rights,” and the party recently held a blood drive to collect blood “only for Hellenes,” i.e. ethnic Greeks.
