About
20 activists of Greek fascist organization "Chrysi Avgi" (Golden Dawn)
interrupted late Tuesday the promotion of Greek-Macedonian dictionary
in Athens, organized by party of Macedonians in Greece "Rainbow".
During the promotion, a group of masked individuals
entered the International Press Center in order to cause an incident.
They damaged the equipment of the cameramen, destroyed the promotional
materials and verbally attacked the promoters, including renowned U.S. Professor and linguist Victor Friedman.
After receiving information that the police is about
to arrive at the facility, "Chrysi Avgi" members ran away and the
promotion resumed.
"Chrysi Avgi" was recently registered as a political
party and has close ties with the parliamentary nationalist party LAOS
of Georgios Karatzaferis.
One of "Rainbow" leaders, Pavle Vaskopoulos told
Macedonian TV station "Kanal 5" the incident was a signal that "Greek
authorities start to fear the Macedonianism in Greece", adding this is
a disgrace for Greece, which cannot be hidden from the European public.
Last night's incident occurs five days before the
European Parliament elections in Greece. According to the Greek
neo-nazis, the 15,000-word dictionary prepared by Vasko Karadza should
not have been issued, because the Macedonian language had not existed.
On the other hand, promoters stress it is a testimony on the existence
of the Macedonians and a response to the Athens' stance on the alleged
non-existence of the Macedonian language.
According to the Macedonian Organization in Greece, the Greek Neo Nazi Group is sent by the Greek Government to disrupt or stop any kind of event organized by the minorities. The group is also protected by Athens, no members have ever been arrested.
According to US Professor Victor Friedman, there was police presence outside the building who did not intervene, rather waited for the Chrysi Avgy members to leave, and only after entered the building.
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