Greeks in Germany warn against neo-Nazis
In a dramatic open letter, the Greek community of Germany called on Greek citizens to reject the ultra-right Golden Dawn and expressed shock at the rise of racist violence that has been linked to members and supporters of the organization.
Referring to the large-scale attacks by German neo-Nazis against immigrants in Rostock in 1992, the authors of the letter said: ?It hurts us to see similar incidents occurring in Greece.
?We cannot believe that in a country where fascism left behind hundreds of thousands of victims and deep wounds, criminals have been elected to Parliament and their party is given airtime on television channels, dealt with in a cowardly way and grossly underestimated.?
In a related development, Benjamin Abtan, president of the European Grassroots Antiracist Movement, reportedly sent an open letter to Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, asking him to remove Golden Dawn MP Eleni Zaroulia from the Greek delegation to the Council of Europe?s Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination.
Zaroulia, who is the wife of Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos, recently referred to migrants as ?subhumans? who are ?carrying all kinds of diseases,? while speaking in Greece?s Parliament.
Golden Dawn is a neo-Nazi party that puts Greece to shame in the eyes of its European partners, Abtan said.
In an interview with Skai TV aired late on Wednesday, Michaloliakos repeatedly denied that his party espouses a Nazi ideology and insisted that he and his lawmakers have been ostracized in Parliament and by the media.
