Trial of far-right Golden Dawn leaders starts in Greece

Party chief Nikos Michaloliakos among 69 defendants accused of running criminal organisation that attacked immigrants and opponents


Nikos Michaloliakos is escorted by masked police officers in Athens in September 2013.

Five witnesses have reportedly been attacked by supporters of Greece’s neo-Nazi Golden Dawn outside the courthouse in Athens where leaders of the far-right party went on trial on charges of operating a criminal organisation.

Around 200 Golden Dawn supporters, many in black helmets and led by Michaloliakos’s daughter, Ourania, showed up outside the prison as more than 4,000 people took part in a demonstration organised by anti-fascist groups and trade unions chanting slogans and holding banners demanding the conviction of the neo-Nazi party.

The party began as a far right fringe party in the 1980s but rose to prominence on a wave of public anger over Greece’s financial meltdown that began in 2009 and years of austerity.

Its anti-austerity and virulently anti-immigrant rhetoric struck a chord for many disaffected Greeks, and it entered parliament in 2012. Despite having had its state campaign funding axed, Golden Dawn became the country’s third largest party in national elections in January, with 17 seats in the 300-seat parliament, winning 6.28% of the vote.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/20/greece-far-right-golden-dawn-nikos-michaloliakos-trial-start

Golden Dawn is already intimidating witnesses. This trial will be very significant in Greek politics.