Athens mayor vows to ban 'racist' charity act (far-right Golden Dawn food handouts for Greeks only)

[pampango]

Golden Dawn's previous Greeks-only handouts enjoyed considerable success

The Mayor of Athens has vowed to prevent an ultra-nationalist party from staging food handouts for Greeks-only in the capital's central Syntagma Square. Describing Thursday's planned handout as illegal, Giorgos Kaminis accused Golden Dawn on Wednesday of engaging in "racist and xenophobic charity".

Golden Dawn said it would ignore the mayor and distribute traditional Easter fare in the square. This Sunday marks the date for Easter for the orthodox church.

The once-marginal group, which is fond of Nazi literature and symbols but rejects the neo-Nazi label, is the third most popular party in recession-mired Greece. The party won 18 of Parliament's 300 seats last year.

Its members have been repeatedly linked with attacks on Greece's large immigrant population.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/05/20135272048855859.html

[pampango]

1. Update: Food distribution to Greeks only by ultra-nationalist group, broken up

Greek police have broken up an attempt by Golden Dawn to hand out food to only Greeks, in defiance of a municipal ban, with Giorgos Kaminis, the city's mayor, saying one of the ultra-nationalist party's politicians tried to punch him and draw a gun.

The punch by Giorgos Germenis, which was said to have taken place at a municipal charity distribution centre, missed Kaminis, landing instead on a 12-year-old girl, Greek media said. "The only thing these people know is the language of violence," Kaminis said on state television after the incident during his visit to the centre.

Party members, the Golden Dawn logo emblazoned across the back of their black T-shirts, arrived at the square more than two hours earlier than announced and began handing out bags of food after checking recipients' identity cards.

Scuffles broke out between the party members and riot police as authorities prevented the party's truck from unloading its cargo of meat and other goods. Police used pepper spray to repel other party members holding Greek flags on thick wooden sticks, and the truck was eventually forced to move on.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/05/201352103715660344.html