Galery

1

The brutal murder of the 44-year-old Manolis Kantaris in the city centre sparked clashes between Greeks and immigrants yesterday evening. The incident made the inhabitants of the old centre of Athens to go into the streets and protest against the rising crime in the central districts and the frequent attacks. Among the protesters were present members of radical organisations that support the idea that all foreigners should be expelled from Greece.

One foreigner was attacked by members of the far-right racist organisation Golden Dawn, and a policeman was wounded. 24 people were detained and two of them will be charged. One was charged with possession of illegal weapons, and the other – with vandalism after the police caught him breaking windows along Hevden Street.

Despite the acts of the members of the far organiaations the anger of ordinary citizens is strong, because the crime which led to the unrest is especially cruel.

The cause for the chase between natives and immigrants is an attack on a man who went to bring his car at five o’clock on Tuesday morning to get his wife to the maternity hospital. His wife was waiting for his signal that the car was in front of the building when she had to come down and then both of them to go to the hospital. One of the happiest moments in their lives had come - the birth of their little girl. But three immigrants of unknown origin met the man on his way to the car.

The victim was stabbed at least three times in the neck, back and arms by the assailants in the early hours of Tuesday morning. They wanted to steal the video camera that the future father had to record the birth of his daughter. After the man was late his wife and his mother went down to the exit of the building to see what happened. The two women saw the 44-year-old son and husband bleeding to death on the pavement and loosing his live before their eyes.

The incident shocked deeply the entire community in Greece, and reminded politicians that the lack of coherent policy to control immigration and combat crime can not help but give their victims. The mayor of Athens George Kaminis and the Minister for Citizens Protection Christos Papoutsis began to pass the ball on who is more to be blamed for the situation with the rising crime and illegal immigration in the centre of Athens.

Meanwhile, the Greek media reported that the widow of the 44-year-old victim gave birth to a healthy little girl who will live without a father. At the same time, the leader of the far right party LAOS Georgios Karatzaferis hastened to declare that the government should deport all illegal foreigners from the country as quickly as possible. Without accusing the immigrants in the country, Karatzaferis said: "You will see who the perpetrators are when the police reveal the crime," and recalled the case of the two policemen killed in Redi in March, for which the authorities revealed that the assailants were immigrants from countries of the former Soviet Union.

According to the leader of LAOS, many Greek citizens act as heroes by not leaving some of the capital’s neighbourhoods which are dominated by immigrant groups, and where the crime is high. Referring to the fatal death of Manolis Kantaris, Karatzaferis incites the xenophobic inclinations, saying: "At some point we should get rid of all those to save the Greek citizen."

The case caused serious tension and sporadic clashes were reported during the protest of the Greek trade unions today. A group of residents near the Third September Avenue and Ipirou Street stopped the strikers’ flow to the meeting point on Syntagma Square. They asked the protesters to give tribute where the 44-year-old man lost his life and sing the national anthem. Apparently, the participants in the protest against the government policy did not like the proposal or how it was made and this led to partial clashes. According to zougla.gr, more sober-minded inhabitants of the area took the heat out of the situation and let the participants in the protest to proceed.