The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), following a complaint by the Journalist’s Union of Athens Daily Newspapers (ESIEA), reported to the Council of Europe an attack against the reporter Petros Anastasiades by Golden Dawn members, which is the far right political party of Greece.
The case has been submitted at the online Platform for the Protection of Journalism and Safety of Journalists, according to ESIEA’s statement.
Petros Anastasiades is a journalist writing for Rizospastis, the official newspaper of the Greek Communist Party, and was attacked while covering a meeting regarding the refugee crisis at the Prefecture of Attica. A mob of 30 neo-nazis who are members of Golden Dawn assaulted him.
The timeline of the attack
Golden Dawn was represented at that meeting by Elias Panagiotaros, who is an elected member of the Greek Parliament and a member of the regional party “Greek Dawn”. When he took the floor, members of the left who wanted to leave the room were stopped by a group of 30 golden dawn member.
Tension was rising as the MP himself started shouting at the microphone series of insults towards the members of the left and the communist party. A little later, members of Golden Dawn attacked someone who was filming the incident on his smart-phone. Journalist Petros Anastasiades tried to protect the victim and was assaulted himself.
Elected representatives from other political parties were verbally attacked as well, while trying to evacuate the room. Policemen were actually present right outside but did not intervene. When asked why, they stated they were not called by the administration of the Prefecture of Attica.