A ruthless drive-by murder of two young members of the far-right Golden Dawn party may draw Greece into a “cycle of violence,” local politicians warned.
Two Golden Dawn supporters, aged 22 and 27 years old, were shot
dead outside the party’s office in the capital of Athens during
Friday rush hour.
Another man, wounded in his chest and stomach, currently remains
in critical condition.
CCTV camera footage indicates the attacker got off a motorbike
driven by his accomplice and fired at his victims from close
range in front of many witnesses.
Twelve bullets from a 9 mm gun were found at the scene, with
police saying that the weapon has been used in previous crimes.
No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack and
investigators are still determining if the shooting was in
retaliation for the fatal stabbing of an anti-fascism rapper by a
Golden Dawn sympathizer in September.
The murder of Pavlos Fissas, also known as Killah P, sparked a
wave of protests across the country and prompted a government
crackdown on Golden Dawn - which it labeled a “neo-Nazi
gang.” The government also blamed the party for assaults on
immigrants.
The party’s leader, Nikos Mihaloliakos, and several other members
were arrested and are currently awaiting trial on accusations of
running a criminal organization.
Golden Dawn’s political opponents stand united in condemning the
attack, demanding that those behind Friday’s killings be brought
to justice.
Greek public order minister Nikos Dendias has expressed his
sorrow for the deaths of the two young men, saying “the
country won’t be allowed to become a battlefield for the settling
of scores."
“We can’t let this cycle of violence continue. This must end
here,” Makis Voridis, senior MP for the New Democracy party,
told local Mega TV.
A lawmaker from the leftist opposition Syriza party, Golden
Dawn’s fierce opponent, said the attack was “a blow for
democracy.”
"It feeds fascism, it doesn’t beat it," he wrote on
Twitter.
Panos Kammenos, a member of the right-wing Independent Greeks
party, has warned of forces looking to drag the country into
“a civil war.”
“Clearly there are those who want to destabilize this country
politically,” he said.
Memorial services were held outside the Golden Dawn offices on
Saturday to honor the party members killed in Friday’s shooting.
The party claimed 18 seats in Greece’s 300-member parliament in
the 2012 election, managing to capitalize on anti-immigrant
sentiment throughout the country.
Golden Dawn has rejected accusations that it is a neo-Nazi party,
despite its swastika-like emblem and the fact that its leader has
publically denied the Holocaust.