Rally in memory of slain rapper under way in Keratsini

A rally commemorating Pavlos Fyssas, the 34-year-old rapper killed by a self-professed member of Golden Dawn five years ago, got under way in Keratsini, near Piraeus, on Tuesday evening.

Several people left flowers at his monument with protesters asking for the ongoing trial on his death to be completed with the conviction of Giorgos Roupakias, the man who stabbed him.

Relatives, friends and dozens of protesters gathered in the street named after the slain rapper. The march was headed by Fyssas's mother, Magda, and is expected to end outside the offices of Golden Dawn in Piraeus.

Fyssas's family said in a statement it will continue its efforts to bring his killer to justice and reveal Golden Dawn's real neo-Nazi ideology.

“It is an opportunity for us to remind them of our self-evident position: That we will fight until the very end not to surrender Pavlos' neighborhood to his killers,” the family said.

“We will not allow them to roam the neighborhoods our children are growing up in and poison their soul with blind hatred. The condemnation of neo-Nazis on the streets must be followed by the formal sentencing through justice, which must be heavy and comprehensive,” it added.

About 1,000 policemen are positioned in Keratsini and Piraeus hoping to avert clashes between the protesters and members of far-right groups.

After the end of a march in memory of Fyssas in the city of Patra, a small number of people with masks burned trash bins outside the police headquarters and threw petrol bombs against a riot police unit which responded with tear gas.