Golden Dawn Spokesman subject of arrest warrant after attacking like a Nazi during a televised debate - with the shocking video ! Greek economy continues to implode. Greek unemployment almost 22 percent and approaching the level os Spain and Greek tourism suffers as the turmoil continues.

http://blog.occupiedlondon.org/2012/06/07/ilias-kasidiaris-is-in-the-golden-dawn-hq-in-athens-following-assault-on-two-female-left-wing-reporters-witnesses/

Ilias Kasidiaris is currently hiding in the Golden Dawn HQ in Athens following assault on two female left-wing reporters — witnesses

Ilias Kasidiaris, the Nazi who physically attacked two left-wing MPs on air in the morning of June 7th (see video below) is currently hiding in the HQ of his party, Golden Dawn. Witnesses saw him entering the building, cheered on by approximately 50 members of his criminal gang. Kasidiaris is believed to be trying to buy himself time and to allow the 24-h deadline for the so-called autoforo (where the perpetrator of a crime is arrested on the scene). The deadline for his immediate arrest would be at midnight tomorrow.

It is known that Kasidiaris is currently in the Golden Dawn HQ (source, greek) and the police are currently defying the attorney’s orders for his immediate arrest.

Perhaps unsurprisingly so. At the May 6th elections, one in two members of the police force voted for Golden Dawn.

http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/8/56094

Golden Dawn spokesman attacks two MPs on live TV

by Damian Mac Con Uladh 7 Jun 2012

Ilias Kasidiaris strikes Communist MP Liana Kanelli in the face (Photo: newsnow.gr) A Golden Dawn MP attacked and slapped a Communist Party MP live on television on Thursday morning, moments after throwing a glass of water at a Syriza MP. In shocking and unprecedented scenes, Ilias Kasidiaris slapped Communist MP Liana Kanelli three times in the face during a live broadcast of a morning news show on Antenna TV. Kanelli had stood up to challenge Kasidiaris after he had thrown water at Syriza MP Rena Dourou.  The KKE MP was the only one to challenge Kasidiaris while a number of male guests, including former New Democracy interior minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, remained seated. State-run AMNA news agency says state prosecutor Eleni Raikou has issued a warrant for Kasidiaris' arrest. Kassidiaris does not have parliamentary immunity.  It is understood that special police units have been called in to assist in finding him. Kasidiaris also assaulted a number of people off air in the Antenna studio.  Condemned Caretaker government spokesman Dimitris Tsiodras has condemned Kasidaiaris' actions. "This attack is an attack against every democratic citizen, Tsiodras said. He added that "it is a vested right of our political culture that the elections campaign is held in a climate of democratic dialogue." Tsiodras concluded by saying the case is now in the hands of justice. In a statement, Syriza said that the attack exposed Golden Dawn for what it is, "the real face of this criminal organisation". It added that the constant postponments of criminal trials against Golden Dawn representatives "allowed them to continue their criminal activities with impunity". Pasok spokesperson Fofi Gennimata warned that "whoever hatches the snake's egg is playing with the country and democracy." "This young 'gentleman', the spokesman of Chryssi Avghi, proved today that he is a representative of a group of neo-nazis that apart from being ultra right are also cowards and bullies," she said. Gennimata continued, "We call on the political, cultural and journalistic world to condemn the incident and we express our solidarity to Ms Kanelli and Ms Dourou. We call on the people who voted for Chryssi Avghi to seriously re-think it." Both Syriza and Pasok said that they would no longer appear in any discussions if Golden Dawn representatives were present.  Trial adjourned On Wednesday, Kasidiaris has his trial for assisting an attack and robbery against a postgraduate student in 2007 adjourned until June 11. Based on an eye-witness report, Kasidiaris assisted five unidentified attackers that clubbed and stabbed a postgraduate student in order to take his identity card by providing them with the getaway car, which he owned. The Golden Dawn MP is also being charged with illegal possession of a firearm.

http://www.businessinsider.com/golden-dawn-candidate-attacks-syriza-candidate-on-live-tv-2012-6

And you thought US politics was ugly!

This happened in Greece!

A representative from the ultra-right, Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party threw water in the face of a SYRIZA (left wing) politician. Then when confronted by a communist party politician, he started repeatedly slapping her.

This was in the middle of a TV debate that's taking place about 11 days before a crucial election.

Remember, the Golden Dawn party stunned the world by crossing the vote threshold to enter parliament in the first round of the election.

According to Ekathimerini, there is now an arrest warrant out for him.

They provide this background:

Kasidiaris threw water at SYRIZA’s Rena Dourou and then repeatedly slapped Communist Party hopeful Liana Kanelli during a political debate.

The discussion turned into a brawl after Kasidiaris and Kanelli disagreed over whether there were oil reserves south of Crete and the Golden Dawn deputy objected to Dourou referring to a pending court case.

and....


http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_07/06/2012_445749

Arrest warrant for Golden Dawn spokesman after attack during TV talk show

An arrest warrant has been issued for Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris after he attacked two female parliamentary candidates on a live talk show on ANT-1 TV.

Kasidiaris threw water at SYRIZA’s Rena Dourou and then repeatedly slapped Communist Party hopeful Liana Kanelli during a political debate.

The discussion turned into a brawl after Kasidiaris and Kanelli disagreed over whether there were oil reserves south of Crete and the Golden Dawn deputy objected to Dourou referring to a pending court case.

The program went off air after Kasidiaris hit Kanelli but some reports suggested that scuffles continued when the cameras were off. The incident can be seen here.

Kanelli said that Kasidiaris’s behavior was proof of why some 450,000 Greek who voted for the neo-Nazi Chrysi Avgi on May 6 should withdraw their support in the June 17 election.

"With the power of their vote on June 17, citizens must isolate every thuggish hand, which has no qualms about striking at any time," said Kanelli.

Chrysi Avgi scored a stunning electoral rise on May 6, when it garnered 6.97 percent of the vote, compared with just 0.29 percent in 2009.

Prosecutor Eleni Raikou issued instructions for Kasidiaris’s arrest soon after the incident. Despite being elected to Parliament on May 6, Kasidiaris does not benefit from parliamentary immunity as the House has been dissolved so elections can take place.

Kasidiaris is due to go on trial for a separate incident on Monday. He has been accused of being an accomplice in the mugging of a student.

Kasidiaris has been charged with driving the car that carried five men who beat and stabbed a student outside the Athens University halls of residence in 2007 before stealing the victim’s identity card.

A witness gave police the license plate of the getaway car, which matched that of Kasidiaris’s vehicle. The spokesman for the far-right party denies taking part in the attack and claims that he was at the Metropolitan Hospital at the time, where he was representing the pharmaceutical company he worked for. Kasidiaris also claims that the witness to the incident is a SYRIZA official. This sparked his argument with Dourou on Thursday’s TV panel. and..... http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_07/06/2012_445935 Australian lender stops transactions with local banks  EU to call for ATEbank shutdown, while HSBC sells Greek subsidiary More and more signs are pointing to a deterioration in Greece’s ailing economy, as the European Commission is reportedly pressing Athens to shut down state-run ATEbank, an Australian lender has stopped transactions with the local credit system, and HSBC is selling its local stockbrokerage firm. Reuters reported on Thursday that according to sources in Brussels, the Commission is putting pressure on the Greek government to wind down certain lenders, including the biggest among the state-owned, ATEbank. “Some banks are going to be squeezed; some are going to be closed down,” an anonymous source said. “If you have a financial stability component, then you could be prepared to rescue a bank, but we are beyond that point now in a number of countries. ATEbank will have to be closed or wound down over time,” the same official told Reuters. The Athens News Agency reported on Thursday that Australia’s fourth-biggest lender, National Australia Bank (NAB), had announced its decision to stop all transactions with the Greek credit system due to uncertainty regarding the outcome of the crisis. All money sent from NAB will be directed to Greece through Deutsche Bank, it added. NAB officials attributed the decision to the recent downgrade of Greek banks and its policy of protecting clients, but Greek bank officials say that transactions with Australia are minimal. HSBC, one of the world’s leading banking groups, announced on Thursday the sale of its local stockbrokerage subsidiary to a group of investors led by the current chief executive officer of the Greek firm, Nikos Pantelakis. The local stockbrokerage held a 3.24 percent market share last month. Meanwhile, the economic climate index posted a small decline in May, according to a monthly survey conducted by the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research (IOBE). It fell to 76 points from 77.3 in April, a drop attributed to the pressure on the industry and construction sectors. and...... http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_07/06/2012_445940 Car sales grinding to a halt New cars on Greek roads posted a dramatic 46.9 percent decline in May on a yearly basis, as few are willing to buy a new vehicle in the midst of the crisis. Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) data show that 6,826 cars came into circulation in Greece last month, including 1,288 used vehicles from abroad. In the first five months of the year there were 36,070 newly registered cars. and.... http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_13880_07/06/2012_445934 Tsipras rejects civil service sackings  Leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras addressed a crowd of party supporters in Sparti, in the Peloponnese, on Thursday night Leftist SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras said on Thursday that his party would not fire any civil servants if it comes to power and would conduct its own evaluation of public sector employees, ending the cooperation that Greece has embarked on with the European Commission’s Task Force. Tsipras visited the National School of Public Administration on Thursday, where he told his audience that he would not proceed with the program of public sector sackings that the previous government agreed with Greece’s creditors. Athens has agreed to reduce the number of civil servants it employs by 150,000 by 2015. Some of this would come from bureaucrats retiring. “Using the [EU-IMF] memorandum as their playbook, New Democracy wants to fire 150,000 civil servants by 2015 but will not address the public sector being bureaucratic and dysfunctional,” he said. “Firings would limit its basic operations.” Tsipras added that the current process of creating an evaluation process for civil servants with the help of French experts brought to Greece by the EU Task Force would be abandoned. “We do not need any task force to tell us what to do,” he said. “The chronic weakness of our public administration is mainly due to the plundering of the public sector by governments that imposed party politics and patron-client relations,” he said, adding that there had been a lack of strategic planning. The SYRIZA leader also pledged to ban all consultants from the public sector, accusing previous ministers of hiring “armies of advisers and bypassing the public administration’s hierarchy.” Tsipras said he would trust civil servants regardless of their political beliefs. “There is potential for a public sector that will be based on meritocracy and its trained staff,” he said. Exit polls from the May 6 elections indicated that SYRIZA was the most popular party among civil servants. Greek unemployment rate rose to 21.9 percent in March Greece’s unemployment rate has risen to 21.9 percent, according to figures published by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) on Thursday. The unemployment rate in March 2012 was 21.9 percent compared to 15.7 percent in March 2010 and 21.4 percent in February 2012, ELSTAT said. This means there were 1,075,081 unemployed Greeks in March. The number of employed amounted to 3,843,905 people, while the number of inactive to 3,372,144. The highest unemployment rate was in the 15-24 age group, where it reached 52.8 percent, up from 42 percent a year earlier. There was also a substantial rise in the jobless rate for those aged between 25 and 34, where it rose to 29.8 percent from 22.1 percent in March 2011. and..... Greek tourism battered by political crisis, fear  A Greek flag flutters at sunset on the beach front of the Olympia Riviera resort. By Yannis Behrakis & Renee Maltezou When he took a job as the manager of one of Greece's biggest resorts overlooking a sandy beach near Ancient Olympia, the cradle of the Olympic Games, Michalis Minadakis thought he had the goose that laid the golden egg. But seven years later, his dream of a bonanza with sun-seeking tourists is in ruins as the country's debt crisis has deepened, sparking talk of a Greek exit from the euro and social unrest that has begun to scare off visitors. "Germans have been good friends of Greek tourism but they're afraid to come over now,» said Minadakis, his eyes fixed on empty sunbeds around a pool at his Olympia Riviera Resort that boasts four hotels and a beach that is 1.2 miles long (2km). "This will be a very tough year. The hurdles we are facing are huge,» he said, adding that he had suffered a 25 percent drop in bookings this year and received 50 percent fewer visitors from Germany, Greece's biggest tourist market. Tourism, which slumped by 25 percent in 2009-2010 only to rebound last year, is crucial to Greece's economy, accounting for 15 percent of its output and one in five jobs in a country where unemployment has hit a record high of 21 percent. Greece's sandy resorts, azure waters and ancient temples remain popular, but will not, it seems, be enough to pull it out of a fifth year of recession. Andreas Andreadis, the head of Greece's tourism enterprises association (SETE), said he feared revenues would plunge this year. «We will see a considerable drop,» he told Reuters. «A negative number, something like 10-15 percent."The pain is already being felt - tourist receipts for the first quarter tumbled by 15.1 percent to 396.3 million euros from 466.7 million euros, the Bank of Greece said. The Greek tourism minister held a brainstorming session with industry officials last week to try to draw up an anti-crisis plan and later said the state needed to spend more on advertising to attract last-minute bookings. Separately, Greek and European tourist operators are mounting their own publicity and price-cutting campaigns. "We are trying to save what can be saved,» said Yannis Retsos, head of the hoteliers' association. «Anything close to a 10 percent revenue drop would be a success." Political turmoil Last month's inconclusive parliamentary election, which left the country without a government and saw a party intent on renegotiating an international bailout that has kept the country afloat come second, increased the uncertainty. Days after the election, reservations slumped by 50 percent. A repeat election on June 17 that may determine Greece's future in the euro - during what is the first month of the lucrative tourist season - has hoteliers and travel agents on edge. Retsos said the uncertainty was damaging tourism and that the country needed a stable government to restore confidence. The battle now was to contain losses, he added. "We've already lost half of the season and are fighting for July, August and September,» he said. International media reports reflecting growing resentment against Germany among ordinary people, political pundits and the popular press, coupled with warnings that anti-austerity strikes and protests could disrupt people's holidays, are not helping. "I was a bit anxious coming here because of what the media reported about Greeks hating Germans,» said Britta Missler, a German tourist. «When I go back to Germany I'll tell everybody there is no need to worry." About 2.2 million Germans visited Greece last year, but many now appear to be plumping for other destinations such as Spain or Turkey. Athens, where about a dozen hotels have shut down, and other big cities have been hardest hit. "The German-Greek relation problem is huge. Only time can fix what's broken,» said Retsos. Last month, TUI Germany advised Greece-bound customers to take more cash in euros after its travel agents reported a surge in questions from customers about what would happen if Greece were to exit the euro and reintroduce the drachma. "My friends said I'm crazy to come to Greece,» said 35-year old Robert Leoniuk from Poland, who was staying at the Olympia Riviera resort with his wife and three-year-old son, and said he had taken a wad of euros with him just in case. Fight back Only last year, Greece was celebrating a record 16.5 million tourists - after two difficult years - as cheaper fares and upheaval in Egypt and Tunisia made it a popular destination. That had raised hopes that the sector was on the road to recovery and might even be able to save the sickly economy. A rise in visitors from Eastern Europe, Russia and Israel may help make up for the loss of tourists from Germany and Britain, but industry officials fear it will not be enough. Domestic tourism - which accounts for up to 25 percent of total tourism revenues - is unlikely to save the day. Greeks' incomes are being severely squeezed as they reel from salary and pension cuts, layoffs and tax rises, In the heart of Monemvasia, a town on the southeastern Peloponnese peninsula with a medieval fortress and Venetian style homes, Anastassia Livieratou keeps the family tradition of making silver jewelry inspired by local history and life alive. "We have no Greek clients anymore. They cannot afford to buy anything,» said Livieratou gazing at a deserted street through the window of her empty shop. «It's a lost year for us." [Reuters] ekathimerini.com , Thursday June 7, 2012 (13:27)   and around the horn in Greece..... http://www.athensnews.gr/portal/1/56093 News bites @ 9 by Damian Mac Con Uladh 7 Jun 2012 Cycling activists bike past parliament, 6 June 2012 (Eurokinissi) 1. ANTIMEMORANDUM SAMARAS Antonis Samaras, the New Democracy leader, said on Wednesday that he was the "architect of the anti-memorandum" and had been the main force in changing it. In a live interview on the enikos.gr website, Samaras said that his changes prevented the country reverting to the drachma: "If I had not done it we would have reverted to the drachma already. Europe accepted the amendments I proposed." The New Democracy leader proposed that people with bank loans should not have to pay more 30 percent of their monthly income in installments and called for the extension of unemployment benefit to two years. 2. TSIPRAS GOES G20 At a special event at the Zappion Mansion in Athens on Wednesday, Syriza's Alexis Tsipras told ambassadors from G20 countries that the memorandum is leading Greece to destruction. He stressed that the Syriza platform is not a programme for Greece's exit from the eurozone. He said his party's plan is the only way out of the crisis and is the only plan which will help country become an equal and dignified partner of the EU and eurozone. 3. DESPERATE FOR DEBATE Antonis Samaras should "stop hiding" and come out for a one-to-one debate "without monologues prepared in advance", the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) Alexis Tsipras told a campaign rally in Elefsina on Wednesday evening. He called on Samaras to appoint "whichever journalists he desires" for the debate, even the New Democracy spokesman Yiannis Michelakis "provided that he accepts a live confrontation in a substantial, non-standardised format". 4. DON'T FORGET PASOK In a tacit acknowledgement that its dominant role in Greek politics is over, Pasok leader Evangelos Venizelos has told voters that only Pasok can guarantee the necessary functioning of any coalition government to emerge from the June 17 elections. In his view, any such government would have to be "a governance of national joint responsibility". If that doesn't happen, dead "deadlock will be inevitable, regardless of which first party is first". 5. PHARMACIES The caretaker health minister has said that the serious problems faced by patients in obtaining prescriptions would be resolved in the next few days. Christos Kittas was speaking after patients formed long queues in search of needed drugs outside pharmacies associated with the National Organisation for the Provision of Health Services (EOPYY). He said medication would become available from Thursday and urged patients not to all descend on EOPYY pharmacies at once. 6. NO CHANGE FROM ECB The European Central Bank dashed investors' hopes of an easing of monetary policy or another flood of cheap liquidity for banks despite saying that the eurozone money market has again become "dysfunctional". The ECB left interest rates on hold at 1 percent at its monthly meeting. The move raised pressure on EU political leaders to outline a solution to the bloc's festering debt crisis at a summit later this month. "Some of the problems in the euro area have nothing to do with monetary policy," ECB chief Mario Draghi told a news conference. "I don't think it is right for monetary policy to fill other institutions' lack of action." 7. JUNE SUMMIT UNLIKELY German Chancellor Angela Merkel played down expectations on Thursday that a European summit at the end of the month could produce a master plan for the future of Europe but said it would come up with an agenda to integrate further. "I don't believe that there will be one single summit that will decide the big throw," Merkel said in an interview with public broadcaster ARD, to be aired later on Thursday. She added that more Europe was necessary and that closer integration in some parts of Europe - such as in the euro zone currency bloc and the Schengen area of free movement - would lead to a two-speed Europe. 8. DANGEROUS PRECENDENT The refusal of European central banks to accept losses on their Greek sovereign bonds and a full payout to some other investors who did not sign up to the deal set dangerous precedents for future debt restructurings, one of the deal's negotiators said. The IMF, European Central Bank (ECB) and other European central banks refused to take part with bonds they held. "They were exempt from the debt exchange and that set a very bad precedent looking forward," said Hung Tran, deputy managing director at the Institute of International Finance (IIF), which represented private sector creditors in the deal. 9. HOSPITAL FOOD SHORTAGES The director of a state hospice catering for 260 chronically ill patients has said that the institution has had no meat or chicken supplies since Friday, is unable to pay its electricity and gas bills and is lacking in necessary medication. The 170 employees at the foundation, located in the central Athens district of Kypseli, have not been paid since February. Meanwhile, officials at Leros psychiatric have written to the health ministry telling it that it cannot "meet the basic food needs of the mentally ill, who are hungry now due to large gaps in [the supply of] food".