Galery

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Two months after the raid in Tripoli, members of Golden Dawn rushed into a hospital again to look for foreign nurses. On Monday night, a "task force" of xenophobes had rushed into the hospital in Kalamata led by local deputy Dimitris Koukoutsis.

This time, the security guards of the hospital did not allow the Golden Dawners to do whatever they wanted. "They got on the floor of the first internal ward. Members of the hospital security met them and asked them what they were doing there. When the members of Golden Dawn explained that they wanted to inspect whether foreign nurses were working at the hospital, the security guards prevented them from entering the rooms, saying that they were not competent to carry out such inspections," said hospital director George Bezos.

The management issued on the following day a written message, declaring itself against the activities of the neo-Nazis. As regards the issue of nurses, the director assured the public that the hospital and the responsible state authorities have been closely following who performs such duties.

Upon leaving the hospital after the failed attempt to "restore order," the Golden Dawners met a group of Roma who were taking to the hospital a beaten friend of theirs, aged 22. According to Eleftheria newspaper, the Roma from Kalamata, who were convinced that racists had beaten the young man, decided that the Golden Dawners went to the hospital for them. Tension escalated immediately, the Roma called their relatives and the corridors of the hospital were quickly filled with people who wanted explanations from the far right representatives. The police arrived in time to appease the spirits.

However, the woes of the far right did not stop in the Peloponnese. Several days ago, residents, students and anti-fascist organizations in Zakynthos had held a protest procession to the local office of Golden Dawn on occasion of the visit of party deputy Ioannis Lagos.

The reason for his presence there was a free food-giving campaign. Later that evening, an event and a speech by the deputy before Golden Dawn’s local supporters had been scheduled.

When the protesters started to shout slogans against the neo-Nazis, Ioannis Lagos and other members of the organization faced them with the clear intent to cause a collision but the police forces that had cut off the area earlier were able to thwart it.

In his conversation with the police officer in charge, the deputy had almost ordered the police to force the protesters to leave the area. In addition, Ioannis Lagos required guarantees that they would not appear again at the party event in the evening.

"We have come to help and we are suddenly confronted by these guys. If we throw them into the sea, we will be found guilty and they will call us Nazis," he said. Commenting on the events, Golden Dawn’s spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris fully protected the deputy and repeated the threat: "Yes, we will throw into the sea anyone who tries to thwart our campaigns."