The attack occurred outside of the Athens Court of Appeals on Friday July 4th when Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos and deputies Giannis Lagos and Christos Pappas arrived at the court in order to provide supplementary testimony. The three have been imprisoned pending the completion of their trial together with other Golden Dawn officials who are accused of a range of charges including establishing and running a criminal organization and ordering violent attacks on immigrants.
As the police van arrived outside the court on Leoforos Alexandras in Athens, the gathered Golden Dawn supporters became aggressive, chanting slogans and attempting to push in closer against the police cordon throwing rocks and bottles. In response riot police deployed tear gas and flash grenades to keep the mob at bay.
A video of the clashes between Golden Dawn members and police
During the scuffles the two photojournalists attempting to photograph the clashes were injured when they were assaulted by Golden Dawn supporters. One of the journalists, a woman named Simela Pantartzi who works for the Athens News Agency, was taken to hospital after reportedly being thrown to the ground and repeatedly kicked.
On Monday Ms Pantartzi and the other journalist involved, Giannis Kemmos, testified about the incident together with the president of the Hellenic Union of Photojournalists Marios Lolos and another two witnesses.
The journalists made clear that the latest attack was part of a wider pattern which has seen reporters regularly intimidated and assaulted not only by Golden Dawn supporters but by party MPs as well.
According to their testimony a similar incident took place in January following the pre-trial imprisonment of MPs Giorgos Germenis and Panagiotis Iliopoulos, when Golden Dawn supporters had thrown glass bottles at a journalist with the public broadcaster DT while she was on air.
They also referred to a verbal and physical assault by party spokesperson Ilias Kasidiaris against cameramen and photographers in October outside the court of Evelpidon following the decision that he be released from pretrial imprisonment.
Photojournalist union president Marios Lolos noted how in such incidents the police took little action in defense of the journalists describing them as being ‘present but absent’. He also added that journalists covering Golden Dawn would often be filmed by members of the party, something which does not happen with any other political group. He claimed that the actions proved that neo-Nazi organisation seeks to identify and target specific journalists deemed as hostile.
This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso and its partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union. The project's page: Safety Net for European Journalists. A Transnational Support Network for Media Freedom in Italy and South-east Europe.
