Greece violence concerns Europe council

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjoern Jagland has expressed concern over the rising violence in Greece and other parts of the continent.

“An extremely dangerous development” is emerging in Greece and in other parts of Europe, Jagland said on Thursday, adding that “Sections of society are becoming more radicalized, and there is a real risk that hate speech turns into violence and coldblooded murder.”

Jagland went on to say that he plans to visit Greece in October for discussions with Greek authorities over the violence in the country and added that the authorities are “very interested in our assistance.”

“In Greece, they have a party which has a number of seats in the parliament that actually combines hate speech and incitement to violence, with violence,” said Jagland, referring to the Golden Dawn neo-Nazi group.

He made the remarks after Pavlos Fyssas, a 34-year-old hip-hop singer and an anti-fascist activist, died in a state hospital on Wednesday after being stabbed twice outside a cafe in Keratsini in western Athens.

A 45-year-old man, who admitted to the killing and an alleged member of the group, was arrested at the scene.

The death drew condemnation from across Greece’s political spectrum.

Government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou blamed the killing on the Golden Dawn party, which has denied any connection to the murder and condemned the group’s “raw violence” and called on other parties to “raise a barrier to the vicious circle of tension and violence.”

“This government is determined not to allow the heirs of the Nazis to poison our social life, to commit crimes, to terrorize and to undermine the foundations of the country that gave birth to democracy,” Prime Minister Antonis Samaras lashed out at the party in a televised address to the nation on Thursday.

On Wednesday, violent clashes erupted between Greek police forces and anti-fascist protesters who staged demonstrations in different cites against the killing of the leftist musician.