A timeline of far-right action since 2007

In institutions
In public spaces

2007

    7 June 2007
    In the European elections, the Popular Orthodox Rally (Laos) receives 7.15% (366,615 votes) and elects 2 MEPs. Golden Dawn receives 0.46% and 23,564 votes.

    16 September 2007
    In the national elections, Laos receives 3.80% (271,809 votes) and elects 10 MPs.

    25 March 2007
    At an international soccer match between Greece and Turkey in Athens, supporters of the Blue Army, a Neo-Nazi football hooligan group led by Golden Dawn member Ilias Panagiotaros, proceeds to give the Nazi salute from the stands of Karaiskakis stadium during the playing of the national anthem.

2008

    30 June 2008
    Attempted murder during an attack on Antipnoia, an open social space in Petralona, Athens. The perpetrators storm the premises, shouting: “Greetings from Golden Dawn. You are going to die, cunts!”

2009

    4 October 2009
    In the national elections, Laos receives 5.63% (386,205 votes) and elects 15 MPs. Golden Dawn receives 0.29% and 19,636 votes.

    9 May 2009
    Attack by roughly a hundred Golden Dawn members armed with helmets, shields, bats and flash grenades on refugees in the area of the former appeals court in Omonia, Athens, as the police turn a blind eye.

    23 May 2009
    Arson attack on an underground mosque in Aristomenous Street, Agios Panteleimonas, Athens. Five migrants are pulled out by fire-fighters and taken to hospital with injuries.

    26 May 2009
    Arson attack on the basement of the church of Agios Panteleimonas, Athens, where the priest offers shelter to refugees.

    2 June 2009
    Disruption of an event organised by Rainbow, a political party active among Macedonian speakers in Greece, by Golden Dawn members in the premises of the Foreign Press Association of Greece in Athens.

    9 July 2009
    Attack using Molotov cocktails, flares and smoke bombs on Villa Amalia, an anarchist squat located in Athens that was occupied from 1990 until its eviction in 2012, by a group of far-right supporters after the completion of a planned theatrical performance.

    23 November 2009
    Racist attack by dozens of armed, hooded men against migrant-owned shops in the Neos Kosmos district, Athens. Migrants are robbed and suffer material damage and injuries.

2010

    7 November 2010
    In the municipal elections in Athens, Golden Dawn receives 5.26% (10,222 votes) and its leader, Nikos Michaloliakos, is elected to Athens Municipal Council.

    23 January 2010
    Violent attack by a large group (Autonomous Nationalists) on an anti-racist rally in Ambelokipi, Athens, in which a number of protesters are injured.

    8 February 2010
    A raid by Golden Dawn members, led by Ilias Panagiotaros, enters the Old Parliament building in Athens and disrupts an Hellenic League for Human Rights event on the granting of Greek citizenship to second-generation migrant children.

    30 October 2010
    An assault squad tries to burn about 40 Bangladeshi Muslims alive in a mosque in Attiki Square, Athens. According to witnesses, 15-20 Golden Dawn members, holding sticks and poles, padlock the door of the place of worship, trapping the worshipers who are praying inside.

2011

    17 January 2011
    At a meeting of Athens Municipal Council, Nikos Michaloliakos gives a Nazi salute before leaving the meeting.

    11 November 2011
    A coalition government is formed under Prime Minister Lucas Papademos. Laos participates in the government with four of its MPs, including Makis Voridis and Adonis Georgiadis. It is the first time a far-right party joins the government since the political transition to democracy in 1974.

    10 May 2011
    The murder of a Greek man, Manolis Kantaris, during a streets robbery in Athens by Afghan people, is followed by organised and widespread episodes of racist violence by Golden Dawn members that take the form of a systematic pogrom. They establish “checkpoints” in Victoria Square, where attacks intensify at night, culminating in the murder of 21-year-old Alim Abdul Manan. Dozens of foreigners are injured during the attacks and migrant-owned shops are damaged.

2012

    17 February 2012
    Laos MPs Makis Voridis and Adonis Georgiadis join the liberal-conservative New Democracy party after a meeting with its leader, Antonis Samaras.

    6 May 2012
    In the national elections, Golden Dawn receives 6.97% (440,985 votes) and elects 21 MPs, taking seats in parliament for the first time.

    17 June 2012
    In the national elections, Golden Dawn receives 6.92% (426,027 votes) and elects 18 MPs.

    7 June 2012
    Ilias Kasidiaris, Golden Dawn’s spokesperson, strikes Communist Party of Greece (KKE) MP Liana Kanelli during a live TV show on ANT1 channel.

    9 June 2012
    Attack on an anarchist café-social space by eight Golden Dawn members in Veria, northern Greece. Among the accused is a party parliamentary candidate MP, Ioannis Sachinidis.

    12 June 2012
    Golden Dawn member Vangelis Stefanakis, along with another person and a pitbull terrier, attack the Communist Party (KKE) election kiosk in Agia Paraskevi, Athens, injuring municipal councillor Giorgos Tsimpoukakis of Laiki Syspeirosi, the KKE’s local election platform.

    12 June 2012
    A group of around 20 people attack five Egyptian fishermen at their home in Perama, Piraeus. They seriously injure Abuzid Ebarak in the head, who does not manage to escape. At public event in a café in Perama beforehand, Ioannis Lagos, Golden Dawn MP, states that “from now on the Egyptian fishermen in Keratsini will be accountable to Golden Dawn”. The attack on the Egyptian fishermen would form one of the four main cases in the Golden Dawn trial.

    8 September 2012
    Groups of Golden Dawn supporters attack immigrant street vendors in street markets in Rafina, eastern Attica, and Messolonghi, destroying their stalls. The leader of the attack in Messolonghi is Golden Dawn MP Konstantinos Barbarousis.

    10 September 2012
    Knife and arson attack on the barber shop of a Pakistani immigrant in Metamorfosi, Athens. In 2017, the perpetrator was finally sentenced to 13 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.

    15 September 2012
    With sticks, fists and kicks, four Golden Dawn members attack people who are handing out leaflets of the Piraeus Anti-Nazi Initiative in Plaka, Athens, leaving one man injured. On 24 April 2018, Nikos Apostolou and Nektarios Saloufas are handed a 5-month suspended sentence for their role in the attack. Grigoris Demestichas and Thodoros Koliogiannis were later identified as the other two perpetrators.

    22 September 2012
    A group of people carry out three consecutive attacks against Pakistanis, who they rob and stab. Golden Dawn member Konstantinos Kontomous is arrested and charged for complicity in attempted murder, being an accomplice in robbery, grievous bodily harm, arson, etc. On 9 November 2017, he was finally sentenced to 13 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.

    25 September 2012
    80 Golden Dawn members attack the Tanzanian community in Kypseli, Athens, during a meeting of its members, causing material damage.

    11 October 2012
    A group of Golden Dawn members, in the presence of Golden Dawn MPs and the police, harass the actors of the Corpus Christi play and journalists outside Chytirio Theatre, Athens.

2013

    16 April 2013
    Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, characterises Golden Dawn as “neo-Nazi and violent” and calls for its ban on the basis of international treaties.

    22 September 2013
    Supreme Court prosecutor Efterpi Goutzamani initiates an urgent preliminary investigation, which she assigns to deputy prosecutor Charalambos Vourliotis, in order to determine whether the charge of a criminal organisation can be substantiated in the case of Golden Dawn.

    28 September 2013
    The accusation of forming of a criminal organisation for Golden Dawn is substantiated. Counter-terrorism officers arrest 20 people, including Nikos Michaloliakos, Ilias Kasidiaris, Ilias Panagiotaros, Ioannis Lagos, Nikos Michos and Giorgos Patelis. According to the prosecutor’s finding, the criminal organisation dates back to 1987.

    17 January 2013
    Shehzad Luqman, a 27-year-old Pakistani immigrant, is murdered in Petralona, Athens, by Dionysis Liakopoulos and Christos Stergiopoulos. The two perpetrators, who would be also defendants in the Golden Dawn trial, are later arrested at Syntagma Square, Athens, and admit to the act. They are finally sentenced on 6 May 2019 to 21 years and 5 months’ imprisonment each.

    28 January 2013
    A high school student is injured in a knife attack by a Golden Dawn member outside his school in Paleo Faliro. One of the perpetrators, Giorgos Apostolopoulos, also a defendant in the Golden Dawn trial, is sentenced to 10 years and 6 months’ imprisonment. On appeal, the sentence was reduced to 6 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.

    28 February 2013
    Golden Dawn members attack teacher Maria Troulou and her partner Savvas Mavridis during an antifascist march in Parikia, Paros.

    2 May 2013
    Attempted attack on Athens Mayor George Kaminis by Golden Dawn MP Giorgos Germenis in the municipal food bank. The MP, in an attempt to punch the mayor, hits a 12-year-old girl in the face. When the mayor’s bodyguard tries to remove him from the area, Germenis makes a gesture towards a weapon that he is carrying.

    8 June 2013
    Attack with an expandable baton on antifascists in Karditsa, Thessaly. Karditsa Single-Member Misdemeanour Court hands Dimitris Gogoulos, a fire-fighter and Golden Dawn official, a suspended 11-month jail sentence.

    10 July 2013
    Golden Dawn attack on the Synergio social space in Ilioupoli, Athens. A column of roughly 40 motorcycles with Golden Dawn members and supporters, including Golden Dawn MP Nikos Michos, arrives at the social space. A group of 15 people with sticks and helmets invades the area, causing material damage and injuring people. The attack is supervised by Golden Dawn MP Ioannis Lagos from his car. The Three-Member Misdemeanour Court convicts Lagos and Michos for instigating the attack and for grievous bodily harm, Thomas Barekas, Christos Galanakis, Dionysis Agiovlasitis, Giorgos Stampelos and Giorgos Kalpitzis, who would be defendants in the Golden Dawn trial, are convicted for the attack.

    12 September 2013
    Organised violent attack on PAME trade unionists in the Perama shipyards, Piraeus, while they are erecting posters for the 39th Communist Youth Festival. A group of more than 30 people, some of whom are wearing Golden Dawn T-shirts, attack the PAME members with sticks and iron bars, injuring Sotiris Poulikogiannis, who is taken to hospital. This incident is one of the four main cases forming the Golden Dawn trial.

    15 September 2013
    Golden Dawn members and MPs, led by Ilias Panagiotaros, violently disrupt a memorial service for the victims of the Battle of Meligalas, Messinia, which took place in September 1944 between the Greek resistance forces of the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) and the Security Battalions, which collaborated with the Axis powers. The Golden Dawn members harass the mayor of Oichalia during his speech, causing the Meligalas Victims Committee to leave the event.

    17-18 September 2013
    On the night of 17 September, 45-year-old Golden Dawn member Giorgos Roupakias fatally stabs 34-year-old musician Pavlos Fyssas in Keratsini, Piraeus. The perpetrator is arrested at the murder scene. He is accompanied by a group of roughly 40 Golden Dawn members that had come from the organisation’s offices in Nikaia, Piraeus. The murder is one of the four main cases comprising the Golden Dawn trial.

2014

    25 May 2014
    In the European elections, Golden Dawn receives 9.39% (536,910 votes) and elects 3 MEPs.

    August 2014
    After examining more than 100 cases, the special examining magistrates launch a main investigation of 78 defendants, 30 of whom are in temporary detention. Eight of the 16 members of the Golden Dawn parliamentary group are among the detainees.

    2 April 2014
    Takis Baltakos, cabinet secretary in the New Democracy-led government of Antonis Samaras, resigns after a recording of a private conversation between him and Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris is published.

    18 October 2014
    Prosecutor Isidoros Dogiakos submits a 700-page recommendation that describes Golden Dawn as a militarily organised criminal organisation under the complete control of its leader. He proposes to refer to trial 18 Golden Dawn MPs and 52 others, a total of 70 out of the 85 individuals investigated.

    17 August 2014
    Golden Dawn’s Youth Front vandalises and draws swastikas on the walls of the 14th and 15th high schools in Palia Kokkinia, Piraeus, on the 70th anniversary of the Kokkinia roundup, when over 150 Greeks were executed by the Nazis while thousands more were taken to Haidari concentration camp.

    23 August 2014
    Attack on a same-sex couple in Varnavas Square, Pangrati, Athens. A group of 10-15 people in black T-shirts and shaved heads beat two men who are drinking beer on a bench, launching a racist tirade against them before throwing bleach and wastewater at them. The two victims, a Greek and a recognised refugee, end up in hospital, one of them with a broken leg.

    30 October 2014
    Desecration of the Holocaust memorial in Athens with swastikas and symbols of the neo-Nazi organisation Unaligned Meandrian Nationalists (AME).

2015

    25 January 2015
    In the national elections, Golden Dawn receives 6.28% (388,447 votes) and elects 17 MPs.

    February 2015
    The Judicial Council of Athens Appeal Court, with a 2-1 majority, accept the arguments of the prosecutorial proposal and issues a decree running to 1,109 pages referring to trial 69 defendants, including the Golden Dawn leadership.

    20 April 2015
    The trial of the 69 defendants by the Athens Three-Member Criminal Appeal Court begins.

    20 September 2015
    In snap national elections, Golden Dawn receives 6.99% (379,581 votes) and elects 18 MPs. A coalition government is formed between the Radical Left Coalition (Syriza) and Independent Greeks (Anel).

    25 January 2015
    A Golden Dawn assault squad, led by parliamentary candidate Nektarios Saloufas, attacks members of the Anticapitalist Left Front–Left Front Coalition (Antarysa-MARS) outside the former school of Pavlos Fyssas in Keratsini, Piraeus, which is operating as a polling station.

    27 February 2015
    The neo-Nazi organisation Combat 18 desecrates the monument for Pavlos Fyssas in Keratsini, Piraeus, with swastikas and carries out an arson attack on the self-managed and anti-fascist social space of Pasamontana in Korydallos, Piraeus.

    17 and 18 May 2015
    Attacks on a self-managed social space in Peristeri as well as the Agros squat in Ilion by the neo-Nazi organisation Combat 18.

    21 October 2015
    Desecration of the Jewish cemetery in Nikaia, Piraeus, by Combat 18.

2016

    16 August 2016
    Attack on the self-managed social space Antivaro in Menidi, Attica, by Combat 18.

2017

    6 March 2017
    Pogrom against Roma people in Menidi, Attica, by the Unaligned Meandrian Nationalists and Combat 18.

    31 March 2017
    A 24-year-old student, Alexis Lazaris, is severely beaten by a group of 6-7 people near the Golden Dawn headquarters in Athens. Christos Zervas, a Golden Dawn parliamentary candidate, branch secretary and a temporary employee in the parliamentary office of party leader Nikos Michaloliakos, is arrested as a perpetrator. He is handed a seven-year suspended sentence for robbery and grievous bodily harm.

    1 November 2017
    A group of Golden Dawn members attacks Evgenia Kouniaki, a civil action lawyer in the Golden Dawn trial, outside the courtroom where the trial is taking place.

    3 November 2017
    The far-right organisation Krypteia claims responsibility for an attack in which stones were pelted at the home of an 11-year-old Afghan child who won the draw in his school to bear the flag at the 28 October parade to mark Greece’s entry into the Second World War.

    22 November 2017
    The far-right organisation Krypteia claims responsibility for the beating of Imam Saget Kabar in Piraeus.

    3 December 2017
    Desecration of the Holocaust memorial in Kerameikos, Athens.

    14 December 2017
    Desecration of the Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki.

2018

    5 June 2018
    From the floor of the parliament, Golden Dawn MP Konstantinos Barbarousis calls on the Greek army to arrest the country’s president, prime minister and defence minister. Before leaving, he shouts “your heads will be found in Prespa”, a reference to the Prespa Agreement, which resolved a long-standing dispute between Greece and North Macedonia on the latter’s name. The entire Golden Dawn parliamentary group is expelled from the chamber. Nikos Michaloliakos announces the expulsion of the MP.

    2 October 2018
    Takis Baltakos, former cabinet secretary in the Samaras government, and Dimitris Kammenos, former Anel MP, form a new far-right party called Force of Hellenism.

    25 February 2018
    Attack on the Favela social space in Piraeus by Golden Dawn members. Five people are injured, including the Fyssas family attorney Eleftheria Tompatzoglou, who suffers severe craniocerebral injuries. The perpetrators shout while entering the area “we will fuck you, cunts, you are going to die!”.

    11 March 2018
    An arson attack on the offices of Positive Voice, which represents people with HIV, in the centre of Athens. The perpetrators storm the premises from the first-floor balcony and douse it in petrol, causing a fire. They also remove the rainbow flag from the facade.

    22 March 2018
    Arson attack on the offices of the Afghan community of immigrants and refugees by Krypteia.

    23 April 2018
    Members of the Patriotic Alliance of Lesvos and Golden Dawn members throw flares, set fire to bins and throw stones at refugees gathered in Sappho Square, Mytilini, injuring 35 of them.

    7 June 2018
    Arson attack on a camp of migrant land workers in Nea Manolada, Ilia, by Krypteia.

    24 June 2018
    Molotov cocktail attack on the PIKPA squat in Petralona, Athens, by Krypteia.

    4 September 2018
    Two underage refugee children are attacked outside an accommodation centre in Oreokastro, Thessaloniki.

    25 December 2018
    Desecration of the Holocaust memorial for the Jews of Kastoria, Western Macedonia.

2019

    26 May 2019
    In the European elections, Golden Dawn receives 4.87% (275,734 votes) and elects an MEP. Greek Solution receives 4.18% (236,347 votes) and elects an MEP.

    7 July 2019
    In the national elections, Golden Dawn receives 2.93% (165,711 votes) and falls short of the parliamentary threshold. Greek Solution receives 3.70% (208,806 votes) and elects 10 MPs. A few days after the parliamentary elections, on 13 July 2019, Ioannis Lagos announces his resignation from Golden Dawn. Two more former MPs follow, Nikos Kouzilos and Panagiotis Iliopoulos.

    March 2019
    Attack by masked men on a group of unaccompanied Afghan minors in Konitsa, Ioannina.

2020

    4 June 2020
    Former Golden Dawn MP Ilias Kasidiaris announces the founding of a new nationalist party, which he will lead, called Greeks for the Homeland.

    21 August 2020
    Resignation of the last Golden Dawn MEP, Athanasios Konstantinou.

    7 October 2020
    The Athens Three-Member Appeals Court announces its verdict in the high-profile Golden Dawn trial. Most of the defendants are found guilty while the seven leading members are found guilty of directing a criminal organisation.

    14-15 October 2020
    The Athens Three-Member Appeals Court announces the sentences of the guilty defendants in the Golden Dawn trial.