Golden Dawn threatens to destabilise Greek government
BRUSSELS - Greece’s neo-fascist Golden Dawn threatens to spark snap
elections by pulling all 18 of its members from the 300-seat
parliament.
If Golden Dawn members walk out, then special elections would have to
take place in every district they represent in order to replace
them.
Golden Dawn leader Nikolaos Mihaloliakos on Thursday (26 September) said
some polls indicate the opposition would win, which could undermine the ruling
coalition, reports Reuters.
"Golden Dawn holds a weapon in its hands to cause a political
earthquake. Those in charge should bear that well in mind," he
said.
He said no final decision has been made yet to quit
the assembly.
Interior Minister Yannis Mihelakis told Skai TV on
Thursday that the snap elections would antagonise an already fragile government.
"The whole affair has already damaged the country
enough. A general election would just make things worse," he said, referring to
the recent murder of a left-wing rapper by a man with alleged Golden Dawn
links.
Other leaders dismissed the threat and welcomed the
group to leave the parliament.
"It's not a threat. It's a great opportunity,"
deputy prime minister Evangelos Venizelos told Reuters on
Wednesday.
A poll by Rass for the Eleftheros Typos newspaper
earlier this week found that support for the neo-fascist group plummeted by 2.5
percentage points to 5.8 percent following the fatal stabbing of Pavlos Fyssas.
Fyssas’ murder sparked protests against the group,
when a self-proclaimed Golden Dawn member admitted to plunging a knife into the
34-year-old’s chest.
The party had seen a rise in popularity over the
past year but has been accused by human rights groups of committing violent acts
against immigrants and Greeks who oppose it.
Golden Dawn members, in some cases, posted YouTube
videos of themselves destroying market stands run by
immigrants.
Some 10,000 took to the streets in Athens last week
in an anti-fascist demonstration organised by unions and
activists.
Meanwhile, police made a handful of arrests of
Golden Dawn members found illegally carrying or owning firearms. Officers also
raided three police stations on Tuesday but only after the government replaced
seven senior police officials to ensure “absolute
objectivity”.
The government wants to dissolve the group.
But instead of an outright ban, senior officials
have opted to find evidence that would label the party as a criminal
organisation in a wider effort to undermine it.
A senior court official told reporters on Wednesday
that Greek prosecutors investigating the group have already found evidence
linking it to criminal activities.
Authorities are also investigating a statement
posted overnight on Wednesday on the website of the Hellenic Special Forces
Reserve Union.
The statement, allegedly posted by the special
forces reservists, calls for the people to unite with the army to overthrow the
governing coalition.
It said Greece should withdraw from its bailout
obligations and that special courts should be set up to prosecute people
responsible for Greece’s financial crisis.
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