Greeks protest against Golden Dawn attack on Communists

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/13/greeks-protest-golden-dawn-attack-communists

Thousands of Greeks took to the streets of Athens on Friday to protest against a violent attack on Communist party members by black-shirted supporters of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party which left nine people in hospital with serious injuries.

In what was described as a murderous attack – and the most serious violence since the extremist group was elected to the country's parliament last year – about 50 men wielding crowbars and bats set upon leftists as they distributed posters in a working-class district of the capital late on Thursday.

In a statement KKE, the Communist party of Greece, said: "The way in which they acted and the weapons employed … are evidence of the murderous nature of the attack. Among the Golden Dawners, some of whom had covered their faces or wore helmets or [party] shirts, were their leaders, well-known fascists and thugs."

With the Communist party preparing to stage a youth festival in the coming days, Thursday's midnight assault comes amid mounting fears that the far right is trying to cultivate an atmosphere of civil war in Greece. Prominent members of the virulently anti-immigrant Golden Dawn have openly predicted that the debt-stricken country is heading towards civil war.

<snip>

[socialist_n_TN]

1. Hey Starry, have you heard of any self defense militias........

put together by the KKE? That's what it's going to take and of course that's fundamental Bolshevism. If the fascists aren't stopped here when they go after the far left, the next stop is going after Syriza, then PASOK, then everybody else.

[Starry Messenger]

2. No, but that doesn't mean they haven't.

I just haven't been able to follow up closely on events. I did see a statement by the KKE and it indicated there had been a massive demonstration against this violence.

I know that they have people who protect crowds from violence at demonstrations, but I don't know if they are active outside of that role.