Golden Dawn members gunned down on busy street
A drive-by double murder at rush hour in Athens has reignited Greece’s political tensions. Two members of the far-right Golden Dawn party died in what is believed to be political attack.
Two men in their twenties were shot down outside the headquarters of the Golden Dawn office in Athens Friday night. The two were members of the right-wing party, shot at close range by the killers believed to be on a motorbike. A third man was seriously wounded.
Police told Reuters that they believe the murders were politically motivated, the work of anti-establishment groups. But no-one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Police officials, who asked not to be named, said they believed the victims were shot at close-range with a 9mm pistol.
The double murder follows a government crackdown on the far-right party which uses swastikas as an emblem and has been implicated in the murders and disappearance of dozens of immigrants. In September, the government declared Golden Dawn – a party with 18 MPs in parliament – to be a criminal organisation, following the murder of left-wing Greek rapper Pavlos Fissas on September 17 by a Golden Dawn sympathiser.
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Politicians across the divide have condemned Friday’s attack.
“The murderers – whoever they are – will be dealt with unsparingly by our democracy. Let everyone know this,” the government’s spokesman Simos Kedikoglou told reporters outside the prime minister’s mansion.
Golden Dawn gave this statement: “Samaras’s anti-Greek government is to blame for the crime, which allowed out of control terrorists to murder young kids in cold blood.”
Greece’s public order minister, Nikos Dendias, said he would not allow Greece to become “anyone’s battlefield for settling scores”.
On Saturday, scores of police in riot gear cordoned off the streets surrounding the headquarters draped with a large Greek flag, in the northern Athens suburb of Neo Iraklio, a bustling area with cafes and restaurants nearby.