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Political assassination sparks a wave of outrage

18 September 2013 / 21:09:30  GRReporter
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Leader of Independent Greeks Panos Kamenos was attacked by people protesting against the murder of left activist Pavlos Fyssas. The politician went to Keratsini where members of leftist and anti-racist organizations had organized a protest procession against Golden Dawn. At first, Kamenos was verbally attacked by a group of youths who then subsequently did not hesitate to use violence. According to sources, he had left the place on the motorcycle of a collaborator.

Eyewitnesses state that the leader of Independent Greeks was kicked and punched in the face which made his nose bleed and some sources say that some of the attackers had hit him with wooden batons. Members of Kamenos’ security tried to protect him but the protesters hit them too. Meanwhile, the associate with the motorcycle had appeared as well. A little later, the guards had returned to the scene to take one of the cars of the politician’s escort but the demonstrators had recognized them and had attacked them again. It is worth noting that only two days earlier Panos Kamenos had urged the residents of a municipality in Halkidiki to lynch the mayor of the region.

"I visit the offices of Golden Dawn five to ten times a month. I was surrounded by a large number of people when I left the establishment and set off to go to my car, and I took out my knife to defend myself," George Roupakias, aged 45, who was arrested for the murder of 34-year-old rap singer and leftist activist Pavlos Fyssas, told the police. He admitted that during the fight he had stabbed the victim with a knife. According to doctors at the hospital in Nikea, the rap singer had two stab wounds in the left side of the chest.
 
The attacker is married and has two children; he worked in the fishing shops of his relatives in the region of Keratsini. Until very recently he had worked as a tanker driver for a petrol company and supplied tourist islands with fuel.

According to some reports, the attacker had started an argument with the 34-year-old victim in another case as well. The police are also investigating the probability of him being involved in the attacks recently organized near Keratsini by the far right.

According to the official police statement, the authorities had found an electric shock device at Roupakias’ house during the check. "As his wife stated in her testimony, there were a collapsible baton and leaflets of a particular political force at the house too," reads the message of the police. The woman was also arrested early in the afternoon after the items mentioned by her were found at her cousin’s house. As is already clear, her husband had called immediately after the attack to tell her to hide them. The police have requested permission to investigate the calls to and from their phones. The authorities arrested the chairman of the office of Golden Dawn in Piraeus after a police raid found a collapsible baton in the office too.

Early in the day the police investigated the premises of Golden Dawn in various areas of Athens. Party members were present during the inspection and after it spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris made ​​obscene attacks at journalists, stating again that Golden Dawn had had nothing to do with the attack.

The murder was condemned by all parties. Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection Nikos Dendias has announced that a public dialogue on amending Article 186 of the Penal Code for criminal organizations and on changing the definition of formation of an armed group in Article 195 will begin in the coming days.

"If the government does not enforce the law in order to break up Golden Dawn now it will bear the blame for everything that will follow," is one of the most frequent comments on the Greek web.

The murder of Pavlos Fyssas is the first political assassination in 13 years after 17 November 2000 when terrorists shot dead British military attaché Stephen Saunders. Golden Dawn has announced that it will hold a counter-protest in Keratsini on Thursday when party leader Nikos Michaloliakos and party MP Yiannis Lagos will deliver speeches. With the phrase "So far no legal proceedings against parties whose members were attackers have been initiated in the cases of political assassination," Golden Dawn admits that Pavlos Fyssas’ murder is political.

Tags: Crime newsPolitical assassinationLeft-wing rap singerFar right-wingersGolden DawnPanos Kamenos
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