Bogdanos says retweet of post targeting migrant children was a ‘mistake’
In the wake of a public outcry, New Democracy lawmaker and ex-journalist Konstantinos Bogdanos said on Wednesday that he made a “mistake” regarding a post he retweeted on Twitter on Tuesday, which has now been deleted, that targeted children of migrants.
He also denied claims that he owns the site that published the story, which included a list of names of toddlers and their teacher at an Athens kindergarten.
“[On Tuesday] a mistake was made, which was corrected and there was an apology. My mistake was that I retweeted something that I did not check,” he said, noting that his critics were being malicious.
In the wake of the outcry, opposition parties called on ruling New Democracy to expel Bogdanos from the party.
“Mr Bogdanos reproduced an article from a well-known far-right website, which in its original form published the names of kindergarten pupils in Athens,” SYRIZA said in a statement.
“This is a criminal and horrific act that targets young children by inciting acts of violence against them,” it added, while lambasting Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis for what it said was the inclusion in his government of members of the far right and Holocaust deniers.
Center-Left KINAL said the publication of the names of kindergarten students by a government MP is “a vile, cowardly, and far-right act. With no excuses.”
“If Bogdanos remains in the parliamentary group of New Democracy it will mean, in the clearest way, that his ideas and practices are tolerated,” it added.
The Communist Party said the government has to explain itself about this leak and publication” of the personal data of toddlers, adding that New Democracy “cannot avoid its grave political responsibility.”
