Protest against racist violence
Around 3,000 anti-racist campaigners and immigrants took to Athens’s streets last night to protest against the violent clashes involving right-wing groups which followed the Greek soccer team’s defeat to Albania on Saturday. An Albanian man was killed in Greece and several others were injured after the game. Yesterday’s protesters chanted ant-racism slogans in Greek and Albanian. Police used tear gas and made 10 arrests after some youths threw firebombs and stones in Omonia Square. Police sources confirmed yesterday that a group calling itself «Blue Army,» which has a website portraying itself as the Greek national team’s official fan club, has links to the neo-Nazi organization Chryssi Avgi. Authorities estimate Blue Army has over 150 members. Some distributed leaflets before Greece’s match against Turkey on Wednesday night. Around 50 people disrupted a prefectural council meeting in Thessaloniki to protest against the anti-immigrant stance of Panayiotis Psomiadis, the town’s prefect. Psomiadis said attacks against him only increased his popularity.
