Police in Greece arrested 21 Italian neo-fascists at the Athens airport on Tuesday evening as they arrived to commemorate the killings of two Greek members of the Golden Dawn party in 2013.
Police say that the group was comprised of members of the Italian CasaPound who were responding to a call for a far-right rally planned today in the Athens suburb of Neo Heraklion, as a memorial event for the two Golden Dawn members, who were murdered in 2013 outside the party’s offices.
“Today (yesterday) afternoon, 21 people from the CasaPound Italy delegation, which was in Athens to participate in the memorial events, were stopped by the police forces and taken to armored vehicles, without giving them any explanation,” CasaPound said in an announcement.
“It is unacceptable to stop and arrest 20 people who had just gotten off the plane to take part in a memorial event in honor of two young people who were murdered in cold blood,” said Gianluca Iannone, president of CasaPound Italia, and head of the delegation to Athens.
“The police intervention was arbitrary, unreasonable and involved a disproportionately strong police force. What is certain is that this unwarranted act of repression will not prevent us from honoring the memory of the two youths who were brutally murdered,” he added.
The name of CasaPound Italia is inspired by the American poet Ezra Pound, known for his anti-Semitic ideas. It was founded in 2003 and supporters of the movement describe themselves as neo-fascists, having declared their support and admiration for Benito Mussolini.
The organization had close ties with Golden Dawn, while its head met in 2015 with the leader of Golden Dawn Nikos Michaloliakos. Correspondingly, Golden Dawn officials had been at far-right gatherings organized by CasaPound in Rome.
The leader of the italian fascist movement CasaPound with the leader of the greek nazi party GoldenDawn #antireport pic.twitter.com/6ZZxpO8SWJ
— ★BILLakos★ (@billaros) September 7, 2015
According to Greek police sources, there was prior intelligence information about the expected arrival of the group in Athens on the occasion of pan-European calls in memory of the two Golden Dawn members.
They were arrested and are expected to be deported for reasons of national security.
Italian neo-fascists planned to commemorate 2013 killings in Greece
On 1 November 2013, two men approached the headquarters of the Golden Dawn party in Neo Irakleio, a northern suburb of Athens, by motorcycle and fired at three Golden Dawn members located outside of the party building.
Golden Dawn members Giorgos Fountoulis and Manos Kapelonis were struck and killed, and a third man, Alexandros Gerontas, was seriously injured. At least 12 bullets were fired in the attack which reportedly lasted ten seconds.
A witness reported that a man got off a motorcycle, wearing a helmet, and fired at ‘close range’. The attack, which was described by police as a “terrorist attack” was caught on CCTV which has been released publicly.
Two weeks later, a previously unknown anarchist militant group, ‘The Fighting People’s Revolutionary Powers’ claimed responsibility for the attacks in a communication to a local news outlet, and said that the attacks were in retaliation for the two months earlier murder of anti-fascist activist and rapper Pavlos Fyssas.
Police were unable to verify the authenticity of this claim of responsibility.
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