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Anastasia Balezdrova 

Hundreds of residents of the neighbourhood around St. Panteleimon Church in central Athens lined up early in the morning to get free foodstuffs handed out by members of Golden Dawn.

Party members dressed in black were guarding the corners around the rectangular square. Policemen and members of the riot forces were deployed a few metres away of them. There was almost military order on the square itself, which is reasonably considered a party territory.

People were patiently standing in front of the tables, behind which the party members were sitting. They showed them their identity cards and then, the youths in black carefully wrote down their names and telephone numbers. When asked why people had to submit their telephone numbers, the party members replied that they needed them in order to inform the people about further campaigns.

After registering, the people moved to the stands with foodstuffs where they received pasta, fresh fish, milk, potatoes, carrots and juices.

The campaign involved Golden Dawn’s spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris, parliamentary representative Christos Papas, Ilias Panaiotaros known for his violent rhetoric and other deputies. They were regulating the distribution of foodstuffs and directing everyone willing to give blood to the mobile laboratory they had secured.

Indicative of the attitude of the members of the xenophobic party to foreigners was the reaction of Ilias Panaiotaros to an elderly woman who wanted to get foodstuffs. He drove her off with the following words: "Lobster, spaghetti with shrimp and roe and everything from Tsipras, from Tsipras. You do not belong here. Go to Tsipras and Papariga."

The campaign ended peacefully. At the end, the members of Golden Dawn gathered up the tables and chairs they had brought and then cleaned and swept the square.

According to police information, about ten people broke at that time into a mini market owned by a Pakistani citizen and located near the square. According to his complaint, the attackers entered the shop, stole a number of soft drinks and handed them to passersby.

Meanwhile, SYRIZA, the Communist Party and the Democratic Left have announced their decision to abstain from voting on the resolution of the Parliamentary Commission on Ethics, which condemns violence in the actions of members of the party.

The Commission meeting lasted two hours to rule that "if the out of the parliament illegal and undemocratic behaviour of deputies continued," then it would propose President Evangelos Meimarakis to hold a discussion with party leaders. The Commission, however, opposed the attacks involving members of Golden Dawn, but representatives of left parties abstained from voting and requested a more stringent and specific description of Golden Dawn’s blameworthy positions and actions.

Today, one of SYRIZA’s deputies, who had also been the object of attack by members of Golden Dawn, explained the party's position with the fact that the text of the resolution did not describe the violence as racist. As expected, social networks are buzzing with comments, the authors of which stated that SYRIZA is trying to conceal the actions of anarchists in this way. "Let someone from SYRIZA inform the families of those killed in Marfin Bank that unfortunately, they were victims not of racist but of ordinary violence," was one of the comments.

Later today, the case file for the involvement of members of Golden Dawn George Germenis and Panagiotis Iliopoulos in attacks on immigrant sellers in the market in Rafina was submitted to the prosecutor of the Supreme Court. It will have to rule whether the case file will be sent to the parliament with a request of withdrawing their deputy immunity on charges of usurpation of authority, violation of public and domestic tranquillity and unprovoked robbery.

The same procedure was applied to their party colleague Konstantinos Barbarousis for attacks on immigrant sellers in the market in Mesolongi, which also involved the officer guarding him.

More photos from the free foodstuffs delivery campaign are available in the photo gallery of the event.