Hate chants inciting violence against migrants at the national military parade in the Athens centre

Alert DateMarch 25, 2010 Country: Greece Address: syntagma square Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-migrant/xenophobia, Nationalism
General Type: Racist discourse Groups affected / Interested in: Migrants Strands: Racism Key Areas: Anti-racist Crime Legislation & Implementation, Racist violence - Hate Speech Statistics

Timeline

  • Hate chants inciting violence against migrants at the national military parade in the Athens centre

    Marines from the Greek Coastal Guard Corps chanted racist and violence inciting slogans against foreigners in Greece during the official National Day parade on March 25 in Athens. A video shot on the very central Panepistimio Blvd shows marines shouting: “We will spill some blood you Albanian pig”. Additionally hate chants were heard for Turks and Macedonians. Despite the wide reporting and reactions on the incident, no prosecutor initiated an ex officio investigation, as provided by t...

  • New anti-racism bill adopts Council Decision 2008/913/JHA of 28 November 2008

    The bill of the Ministry of Justice to combat racism and xenophobia, adopting the Council Decision 2008/913/JHA of 28 November 2008, received the unanimous approval of the cabinet. The Bill was filed in February 2011 by former minister Haris Kastanidis and came after a public consultation. It provides the automatic prosecution of racism and xenophobia and the protection of people not only based on criteria such as nationality, color or religion and sexual orientation. It establishes the&nb...

  • Anti-racism bill on combatting racism and xenophobia (Greece)

Marines from the Greek Coastal Guard Corps chanted racist and violence inciting slogans against foreigners in Greece during the official National Day parade on March 25 in Athens. A video shot on the very central Panepistimio Blvd shows marines shouting: “We will spill some blood you Albanian pig”. Additionally hate chants were heard for Turks and Macedonians.

The Minister for the Protection of the Citizen (ex Public Order) ordered a disciplinary investigation for the incident. The leader of the right wing political party LAOS in defense of the marines, claimed that this is a wrong persecution against motos which were perceived until yesterday as ‘the flag of Greek nation’.

No prosecutor initiated an ex officio investigation, as provided by the relevant law n.927/1979. Nevertheless, the recent approval of the anti-racism bill,  adopting the Council Decision 2008/913/JHA of 28 November 2008, provides the legal context to punish such actions.