Riot police attacked the crowds  — including members and MPs of MeRA25 — wanting to celebrate the decision against Golden Dawn outside the court. Cornered, people were vomiting and unable to breathe.

Around 20,000 people, including our own DiEM25 and MeRA25 members & MPs in Greece, were outside of the high court in Athens awaiting the verdict on the neo-nazi criminal organisation Golden Dawn.

A historic verdict was delivered this morning.

The Greek high court has found the highest ranking members and former MPs of Golden Dawn guilty for coordinating a criminal organisation, making them and their abominable neo-nazi organisation illegal! This is a great victory for democracy and justice.

Crowds awaiting the verdict outside of the courthouse in Athens.

The Golden Dawn party attained 18 MPs in 2012. This criminal inquiry began in 2013 after the murder of an antifascist hip-hop artist Pavlos Fyssas was conducted by a self-confessed member of Golden Dawn, with more than 60 people affiliated with the party having been aware of the murder and other criminal offenses such as violent attacks and racketeering. All former 18 MPs of Golden Dawn were found guilty for participating in a criminal organization and 7 of them guilty for directing a criminal organization, which is the graver offence.

But this decision against the neo-nazi criminal organisation Golden Dawn has been undermined by the shocking behaviour of the Greek police.

Earlier, riot police attacked the crowds outside the court that were celebrating the decision. People of MeRA25, among many others, were cornered — with people unable to breathe and vomiting.

“As guilty verdicts against the Nazis were being delivered in the Athens court, DiEM25 members demonstrating outside were attacked by riot police with CS gas. Unable to breathe and vomiting, we succeeded in escaping into a side street. A riot squad followed us and fired more CS canisters. I approached their leader & asked him to stop as people were dispersing “F… off” was his reply. When I showed him my Parliamentary ID card, he said: “Yet another reason to f… you!” So, while some Nazis are imprisoned, Nazism lives on – in the police!””

— Yanis Varoufakis

Thankfully our party members have since managed to run away. But this entire incident highlights that the seeds of fascism have been deeply planted in our society, and it will take much more than a court decision to root them out. Our struggle continues.

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