Golden Dawn Threatens Hospital Raids against Immigrants in Greece
THE GUARDIAN: Far-right party says it will throw immigrants and their children out on the street, as some hospitals run short of supplies

In an atmosphere that has become increasingly electric before Greece's crucial election, the far-right Golden Dawn has ratcheted up the rhetoric by threatening to remove immigrants and their children from hospitals and kindergartens.

Earning loud applause at an election campaign rally in Athens, Golden Dawn MP Ilias Panagiotaros said: "If Chrysi Avgi [Golden Dawn] gets into parliament [as polls predict], it will carry out raids on hospitals and kindergartens and it will throw immigrants and their children out on the street so that Greeks can take their place."

Medical supplies and beds at some hospitals are running desperately short. The governor of the state-run Nikea hospital, Theodoros Roupas, called on doctors to stop non-essential surgical interventions because of a critical shortage of gloves, syringes and gauze. The order was revoked when Roupas found emergency supplies later in the day.

"The situation is really critical and getting worse every day," said Dr Panaghiotis Papanikolaou, a neurosurgeon at the hospital. "There is not enough medical staff to cope and huge shortages of supplies. There's no money to even service scanners and surgical microscopes … we're talking about a major healthcare crisis – not in the making, it is happening now." » | Helena Smith in Athens | Tuesday, June 12, 2012

GUARDIAN VIDEO: Greece on the breadline: Jon Henley's euro debt tales » | Jon Henley, Alex Healey and Mustafa Khalili | Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Greek New [sic?] Dawn's Ilias Kasidiaris Sues Women Over TV Row
BBC: The spokesman for Greece's far-right Golden Dawn, who slapped a left-wing politician and threw water over another on a TV debate, is suing his victims.

Ilias Kasidiaris went to an Athens court to announce he would sue the women for defamation.

Mr Kasidiaris is also suing the TV station, Antenna, for illegal detention after staff tried to stop him leaving following the incident last Thursday.

Golden Dawn will be contesting a critical Greek election this Sunday.

Mr Kasidiaris avoided an arrest warrant for the attack, lying low until it expired.

Under Greek law, the arrest warrant for a minor crime must be carried out by midnight the day after the incident took place for an immediate trial - otherwise it goes to judicial procedure and a much later trial date is set. » | Monday, June 11, 2012

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A Slap to the Golden Dawn's Popularity
A politician from Greece's neo-Nazi party is now a fugitive after assaulting a colleague on a television talk show. Prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for Ilias Kasidiaris, the spokesman for the far-right Golden Dawn party. The attack shocked Greeks who are just days away from elections which will determine their future in the Eurozone. From Athens, John Psaropoulos reports.

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Greeks Protest against Violent Neo-Nazi MP On the Run
THE GUARDIAN: Golden Dawn spokesman who assaulted leftwing politicians evades arrest as protesters denounce fascism

Protesters across Greece poured on to the streets of cities Friday night, denouncing the "dark force" of fascism as the spokesman of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party continued to elude arrest more than 24 hours after his extraordinary on-screen assault of two female leftwing politicians.

Nine days before fresh general elections, the fault lines in Greek society are deepening.

And late on Friday, as a police manhunt for Ilias Kasidiaris [F] showed little sign of yielding a positive result, the divisions were on full display.

While anti-fascist demonstrators descended on public squares, supporters of Golden Dawn crammed into a hotel in Athens to hear the party's leader, Nikos Michaloliakos, rail against immigrant "scum" and the corrupt and crooked system that had brought the crisis-hit country to such a "dark place".

"There is growing polarisation. People are becoming increasingly radicalised thanks to all the rhetoric in the EU and here against the anti-austerity leftist majority and that is opening the door for Golden Dawn," said veteran activist Petros Constantinou. "We are demonstrating not only against the rise of the far right but against those who have enabled fascism to take root." » | Helena Smith in Athens | Friday, June 08, 2012

Griechische Politikerin holt zum Gegenschlag aus

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