Fighting fascism in Greece

The Greek ruling class is keen to deflect people’s anger at the cuts and the crisis towards migrant workers. But it doesn’t always get its own way.

Anti-racists and Senegalese groups were set to protest on Thursday of this week after a street vendor was killed by a train while fleeing police.

“We accuse the authorities of murder, and demand they stop these racist attacks,” said Petros Constantinos of the Keerfa anti-racist and anti-fascist coalition.

Meanwhile some 3,000 nationalists held an annual rally in Athens on Saturday.

They were marking the anniversary of a deadly skirmish between Greek and Turkish forces in 1996.

They included members of the Golden Dawn and Laos fascist parties.

Golden Dawn is a serious threat in Greece, but the Nazis face constant opposition.

“We are not facing a fascist coup in Greece,” said Petros. “The Independent newspaper ran an article about Golden Dawn building in schools.

“But they have a lot of problems when they try to do that openly.”