Golden Dawn offices damaged by bomb

 

By Alex Spillius, and agencies 2:47PM GMT 04 Dec 2012

A makeshift bomb exploded at the offices of the far-Right political party Golden Dawn near Athens in the early hours of Tuesday, ripping through a wall and smashing the windows of an adjacent building but causing no injuries, police said.

Police stand guard outside the Golden Dawn offices after the explosion Photo: REUTERS

A police official, who declined to be named, said the attack was most likely carried out by a far-Left group. "It was a powerful blast that caused a lot of damage," he said. "It looks like [domestic] terrorism."

The device packed with dynamite was placed outside the party's local offices in Aspropyrgos, an industrial suburb west of Athens.

The bombing was the first recorded occasion that the group has been targeted since its surge popularity during Greece's debt crisis. Riding a wave of public anger at austerity, corrupt politicians and immigration, its members have repeatedly been accused of using violence against immigrants.

There are growing calls for the banning of the ultra-nationalist party, whose members have been seen giving Nazi-style salutes and whose emblem resembles a swastika.

Golden Dawn has said it wants to rid Greece of all foreigners, including what it calls the "stench" of immigrants.

Latest opinion polls show the popularity of the party - the first ultra-nationalist group to enter parliament since a military junta was overthrown in 1974 - has risen since the last election in June, when Golden Dawn won 18 seats in the 300-seat parliament with 7 per cent of the vote.

A survey by VPRC, an independent polling company, put support for Golden Dawn at 14 per cent in October, making it third most popular party.

The party denies it is neo-Nazi and frequently accuses journalists and critics of mudslinging and misrepresenting it.

Explosions of small homemade bombs - usually gas canisters or explosives packed together - are frequent in Greece, which is in its fifth year of a recession that has left one in four jobless and eroded living standards.

Parliament recently lifted the immunity of three Golden Dawn MPs accused of smashing up migrant stalls at two open-air markets.

The party's main spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris assaulted two women during a live television discussion earlier this year.

Golden Dawn offices damaged by bomb - Telegraph