No tolerance for violence

Incidents of politically motivated violence have been showing a very worrying increase in the past few weeks, with the most recent being an assault on a New Democracy lawmaker trying to have dinner in a trendy downtown Athens neighborhood and the vandalization of the Teiresias offices.

The ideological identity of the perpetrators and the targets of such violence is of no importance. After all, the nihilism of violence does not make any such distinctions.

Those who until recently believed that the use of force and destruction was justifiable in campaigns to express opposition and in protests are now also finding themselves in the cross hairs of people who are nothing short of thugs.

The government and the responsible authorities need to take a stand and deal with the phenomenon in a decisive way that will express the fact that such behavior will not be tolerated. Giving any leeway or protection to this kind of thing will almost certainly lead to a tragedy one day.