U.S. warns Greece visitors about ‘unprovoked’ violent attacks against foreigners

[Onur]

Apparently the Greek police arrested regular African American tourists by confusing them with immigrants in Athens and recently USA issued a warning for all the US citizens who wishes to travel to Greece about unprovoked violent attacks in Greece coming from neo-nazis and Greek police.


U.S. warns Greece visitors about ‘unprovoked’ violent attacks against foreigners
The U.S. Embassy in Athens updated its travel advice Friday for American citizens visiting Greek cities, warning them to beware of the possibility of “unprovoked harassment and violent attacks” against people who could be mistaken for foreign migrants.

Greece has seen an increase in racist violence over the past year, with dark-skinned migrants attacked by groups of men armed with metal bars, knives and wooden bats. Tens of thousands of migrants have also been rounded up by police in a government crackdown on illegal immigration.

The country has also seen a rise in popularity of the extreme nationalist Golden Dawn party, which went from a fringe group in 2009 elections to win nearly 7 per cent of the vote and 18 seats in the 300-member Parliament in June. The party advocates that all immigrants should be expelled, but denies its members have been involved in racist attacks.

In a security message, the embassy said the State Department's travel section had been “updated to inform U.S. citizens of a rise in unprovoked harassment and violent attacks against persons who, because of their complexion, are perceived to be foreign migrants. U.S. citizens most at risk are those of African, Asian, Hispanic, or Middle Eastern descent in Athens and other major cities.”

The travel advice on Greece also said the embassy “has confirmed reports of U.S. African-American citizens detained by police authorities conducting sweeps for illegal immigrants in Athens.”

Tourism is a major source of revenue in Greece, and the country is sensitive to any travel advice that might affect visitors. The country is struggling through a deep financial crisis that has left one in four Greeks out of work and the country facing a sixth year of a recession.

“Greece was and remains a safe country,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras said in a statement. “The isolated incidents of racist violence which have occurred are foreign to Greeks, our civilization and the long tradition of Greek hospitality.”

Delavekouras stressed that the government was “following a zero tolerance policy” against such incidents “and is taking all the necessary measures for the prevention and suppression of such behaviour, which we condemn.”

On Thursday, police said a 31-year-old Greek policeman had been arrested on suspicion of robbing migrants at gunpoint in a racially tense part of central Athens.

The muggings took place in the capital's Aghios Panteleimon district, home to thousands of immigrants from Asia and Africa — many of whom entered Greece illegally. The crime-ridden area has become a flashpoint of recent racist attacks, with gangs of ultranationalists smashing immigrants' shops and attacking dark-skinned people.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1288863--u-s-warns-greece-visitors-about-violent-attacks-against-foreigners

[Pontios]

I am sure our people can tell apart a Pakistani or Albanian apart from an American tourist. That whole "Neo-Nazi" thing is really getting old now too. If you cannot tell apart a nationalist and a Nazi apart, I don't know what to tell you... Most of the immigrants that get attacked are Pakistani or Albanians who do not speak English but Greek... That entire article did not say anything about Golden Dawn being "Neo-Nazi" so please, no extra propaganda.

[RussiaPrussia]

they should send some money so the state can run normally, greece is fluted with immigrants because the government has no money to work properly.

[Linet]

I am a savage :naughty2:....my hobbie is to attack carefree tourists :laugh:

[Incal]

You should read what the say about Turkey lol. Matter of fact those US government travel warnings paint any country as if they were some kind of post apocalyptic no man's land. I think they even issue warns for places like Japan or Iceland lol.

[Twistedmind]

Americans are issuing warnings for it's citizens for those countires where US is not most loved nation. It is not secret that Greeks are not verry fond on US.

[alb0zfinest]

I am a savage :naughty2:....my hobbie is to attack carefree tourists :laugh:

I don't doubt it one bit :D

[Sikeliot]

I want to go to Greece. :( I just won't speak and they won't know I am a tourist. :lol:

[Queen B]

I want to go to Greece. :( I just won't speak and they won't know I am a tourist. :lol:
Wear sandals and socks together and you are safe. :rotfl:

[gregorius]

I will go to greece this year :cool: could care less what those americans think.

I know for sure if those greeks go to pakistan or some other extreme islam land and do wrong stuff like wearing a cross they will be public excecuted.

[Pontios]

I will go to greece this year :cool: could care less what those americans think.

I know for sure if those greeks go to pakistan or some other extreme islam land and do wrong stuff like wearing a cross they will be public excecuted.

Exactly, and they want the Greek government to build them a mosque in Athens, those hypocrites. Build a Church in Islamabad or Kabul, and then we can talk about building a mosque in Athens.

[Onur]

Here is a similar case in Greece. This time two more tourists has been attacked and badly beaten by the police in Athens while they walk in the streets. Also, an Indian scholar who came to Athens for a conference in an university has been arrested by the police for confusing him as a Pakistani immigrant;


The tourists held by Greek police as illegal migrants
Greek police have stepped up efforts to catch illegal immigrants in recent months, launching a new operation to check the papers of people who look foreign. But tourists have also been picked up in the sweeps - and at least two have been badly beaten.

When Korean backpacker Hyun Young Jung was stopped by a tall scruffy looking man speaking Greek on the street in central Athens he thought it might be some kind of scam, so he dismissed the man politely and continued on his way.

A few moments later he was stopped again, this time by a man in uniform who asked for his documents. But as a hardened traveller he was cautious.

Greece was the 16th stop in his two-year-long round-the-world trip and he'd often been warned about people dressing in fake uniforms to extract money from backpackers, so while he handed over his passport he also asked the man to show him his police ID.

Instead, Jung says, he received a punch in the face.

Within seconds, the uniformed man and his plainclothes partner - the man who had first approached Jung - had him down on the ground and were kicking him, according to the Korean.

In shock, Jung was by now convinced he was being mugged by criminals and began shouting for help from passers-by.

"I was very scared," he says.

It was only when he was handcuffed and dragged 500m (500 yards) up the road to the nearest police station that he realised he was actually under arrest.

Jung says that outside the station the uniformed officer, without any kind of warning, turned on him again, hitting him in the face.

Inside the police station, Jung says he was attacked a third time in the stairwell where there were no people or cameras.

"I can understand them asking me for ID and I even understand that there may have been a case to justify them hitting me in the first instance. But why did they continue beating me after I was handcuffed?" he asks.

Jung was held with a number of migrants from Africa and Asia who had also been rounded up as part of the police's anti-immigration operation Xenios Zeus - named, strangely, after the ancient Greek god of hospitality.

Lt Col Christos Manouras of the Hellenic police force says operation Xenios Zeus, launched last August, has slowed down the flow of illegal immigrants. Anyone who looks foreign, or who has aroused suspicion, may be stopped, he says.

And some visitors to Greece have been detained despite having shown police their passports.

Last summer, a Nigerian-born American, Christian Ukwuorji, visited Greece on a family holiday with his wife and three children.

When police stopped him in central Athens he showed them his US passport, but they handcuffed him anyway and took him to the central police station.

They gave no reason for holding him, but after a few hours in custody Ukwuorji says he was so badly beaten that he passed out. He woke up in hospital.

"I went there to spend my money but they stopped me just because of my colour," he says. "They are racist."

It is impossible to determine how many people have had a similar experience - but enough Americans for the US State Department to issue a warning to its citizens travelling to the country.


It is not only tourists who have been affected.

In May last year a visiting academic from India, Dr Shailendra Kumar Rai was arrested outside the Athens University of Economics and Business, where he was working as a visiting lecturer.

He had popped out for lunch, and forgotten to take his passport with him.

"The police thought I was Pakistani and since they didn't speak English they couldn't understand me when I tried to explain that I am from India," he says.

When passing students saw their lecturer being held by police and lined up against a wall with a group of immigrants they were horrified and rushed inside to tell his colleagues.

Despite protests from university staff who insisted they could vouch for him, the police handcuffed him and marched him down to the police station.

"Some of my Greek colleagues were almost crying with embarrassment," Rai recalls.

He was eventually released but there was an outcry in the Greek media which asked why an esteemed academic invited to the country to share his knowledge should be humiliated in such a way.


When Jung was released from police custody without charge just a few hours after being detained, he says one officer shouted after him, "Hey Korean, go home!"

Instead Jung went straight to the Korean Embassy in Athens and returned with the consul to confront the men who he said hit him.

It took five further visits to the police station, an official complaint from the embassy to the chief of police and 10 days of waiting before the officers involved in Jung's case were named.

Meanwhile the backpacker had published his story on a travellers' blog read by more than 60,000 people.

The case turned into a full-scale diplomatic incident with the Korean ambassador to Greece requesting a meeting with the minister of Public Order, and the Greek Chief of Police, to insist on a fair investigation and just punishment for the officers involved.

Jung, who is now on the last leg of his travels in the US, is still waiting for the police verdict but says that whatever the outcome he will never go back to Greece.

"I travelled through Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Armenia but I never felt in as much danger as in Athens," he says.

"Whenever people ask me if they should visit Greece I tell them to go to Turkey instead."

Christian Ukwuorji, who also lodged an official complaint against the police with the help of the American Embassy, has now been waiting for more than six months for an outcome.

He would like to see the men who hit him prosecuted, but says he holds out little hope of any justice.

"The police there are very corrupt and nothing will be done about it," he says. "I have learned that this is how Greece is."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20958353

[ChildOfTheJin]

I bet you €$£100 Onur will make another thread in Greek sub forum in less than a week

[Pontios]

I bet you €$£100 Onur will make another thread in Greek sub forum in less than a week

He makes more threads in the Greek section than all the Greeks on here make combined... I don't know if he even knows there's a Turkish section for his people... :lol:

[Absinthe]

He makes more threads in the Greek section than all the Greeks on here make combined... I don't know if he even knows there's a Turkish section for his people... :lol:
True, 8 out of his 10 posts seem to be in the Greek section or related to the Greeks in irrelevant topics :p

[Pontios]

True, 8 out of his 10 posts seem to be in the Greek section or related to the Greeks in irrelevant topics :p

I know right! :lol: It seems like only Greece has problems and Turkey is in a "golden age" and they have nothing to discuss at all other than criticizing and spreading propaganda about Greeks.

Lets start researching about Turkey and writing everything bad we find about them and write it in the Turkish section! Who's with me?! :rockon:

[Absinthe]

Lets start researching about Turkey and writing everything bad we find about them and write it in the Turkish section! Who's with me?! :rockon:

Turkofagos has already beat you to that, in case you didn't know :p It's a waste of time and energy anyway, we got our own issues to discuss here. :)

[Pontios]

Turkofagos has already beat you to that, in case you didn't know :p It's a waste of time and energy anyway, we got our own issues to discuss here. :)

:eek:
No wonder I rarely see him in the Greek section. :lol:

And yes, of course our own issues are more important! :)

[Queen B]

Also, an Indian scholar who came to Athens for a conference in an university has been arrested by the police for confusing him as a Pakistani immigrant;
Everyone that doesn't carry a legal paper with him can be arrest :picard1:
How idiotic this mention could be!

True, 8 out of his 10 posts seem to be in the Greek section or related to the Greeks in irrelevant topics :p
That's called ''obssesion''

[Scholarios]

The Korean tourist incident was the most humiliating for Greece. No doubt about it, we can't mince words.

[Vojnik]

I am sure our people can tell apart a Pakistani or Albanian apart from an American tourist. That whole "Neo-Nazi" thing is really getting old now too. If you cannot tell apart a nationalist and a Nazi apart, I don't know what to tell you...

You cross the boundary from nationalist to neo-nazi once you adopt the nazi salute, as Golden Dawn has.

Stop trying to sweeten up the current situation in Hellass. Police officers working hand in hand with neo-nazis against immigrants is not a good thing.

[derLowe]

Wear sandals and socks together and you are safe. :rotfl:

God, you are trying to kill him.

[Linet]

God, you are trying to kill him.

Well no :p ...to save his life :chin:....only tourists wear sandals with socks and and when Greeks see that, are like :picard1:....but at least nobody will think of him as immigrant :lol:

Anyway, he doesnt look as foreigner anyway :)....everyone would think he is Greek :vikingship:....

[Pontios]

You cross the boundary from nationalist to neo-nazi once you adopt the nazi salute, as Golden Dawn has.

Stop trying to sweeten up the current situation in Hellass. Police officers working hand in hand with neo-nazis against immigrants is not a good thing.

Go read what Golden Dawn believes in, but find the truth not propaganda. We do not have the nazi salute. None of the official Golden Dawn members believe in the nazi salute as being part of Golden Dawn and if you really wanna go deep into the origins of the "nazi salute", it has existed before nazism and was used by Greeks for thousands of years as a greeting and it was even used in America, the "the police of democracy", way before nazi Germany used it.

[Archduke]

That's the job of Onur - searching provokative news for either Greece or Bulgaria & post them in our sections. :)

[Vojnik]

Go read what Golden Dawn believes in, but find the truth not propaganda. We do not have the nazi salute. None of the official Golden Dawn members believe in the nazi salute as being part of Golden Dawn and if you really wanna go deep into the origins of the "nazi salute", it has existed before nazism and was used by Greeks for thousands of years as a greeting and it was even used in America, the "the police of democracy", way before nazi Germany used it.

Golden Dawn officials use the nazi salute in parliament and in public gatherings. The Golden Dawn Secretary-General, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, uses the nazi salute, and there are photos to prove it. Trying to justify this as some kind of 1000 year old 'Greek' tradition is just stupid.

Golden Dawn is a ultra-nationalist, far-right, neo-nazi party that use the nazi salute, that have a banner which is similar to that of the swastika, and who attack, bash and in some cases kill innocent people. They have met all the criteria to be considered a neo-nazi party.

Stop trying to deny this fact. It makes you look like a budalas.

Heil, mein Führer! :D

http://i45.tinypic.com/qzkyly.jpg

[Mortimer]

I dont want to generalise the Greek People as attackers but I have Feeling it might be true that there is increase of such incidents by a few Groups. Or this warning wouldnt be issued.

[Petersburg]

Heil, mein Führer! :D
http://i45.tinypic.com/qzkyly.jpg

Heil! :D
http://i45.tinypic.com/nb7vch.jpg
http://i46.tinypic.com/314uset.jpg

[Mortimer]

I think dark skinned People should take such a Warning seriously and not blow it in the wind.

[Scholarios]

I've personally met Golden Dawn members. The truth is that they are kind of diverse in their beliefs,but there are many Nazis,especially in the leadership.

Michaloliakos is definitely sketchy. They claim descent from Papadopoulos Regime and Metaxas, neither who were particuarly racist (Metaxas even had a good relationship with the Jews). Michaloliakos is a Maniot, and from my experience with with working with Maniotes in positions of power in Pireaus shipping, they have their own "thing". Putting this gangster mentality with racist Nazi ideas seems extremely dangerous- as we are currently seeing.

[Queen B]

Heil, mein Führer! :D

http://i45.tinypic.com/qzkyly.jpg
This specific salute it was because he was accused for being Nazi and make it the time he was ''defending'' himself against it .

[Scholarios]

http://vstatic.doldigital.net/vimawebstatic/790359EF10B96945C70682767297552A.jpg

Ο υπαρχηγός του Χίτλερ και φανατικός εθνικοσοσιαλιστής Ρούντολφ Ες αυτοκτόνησε μετά από 46 χρόνια κράτησης στις 17 Αυγούστου 1987, καθώς είχε καταδικαστεί στη δίκη της Νυρεμβέργης όπου είχε προσαχθεί ως εγκληματίας πολέμου σε ισόβια για συνωμοσία κατά της παγκόσμιας ειρήνης και σχεδιασμό, έναρξη και διεξαγωγή επιθετικού πολέμου.

Την επόμενη ημέρα της αυτοκτονίας του Ες, στις 18 Αυγούστου 1987, η Χρυσή Αυγή γεμίζει το κέντρο της Αθήνας με προκηρύξεις, όπως αυτή της φωτογραφίας, υμνώντας τη μνήμη του.

O Ρούντολφ Ες ήταν κουμπάρος και αναπληρωτής του Χίτλερ, μέλος του υπουργικού συμβουλίου της Γερμανίας και είχε το δικαίωμα να φορά τη στολή των SS.

Συνέβαλλε στην οργάνωση της καταδίωξης των Εβραίων και φρόντισε στην κατειλημμένη Πολωνία να πραγματοποιηθεί ο μέγιστος σε βαθμό πιθανός χωρισμός μεταξύ Γερμανών και Πολωνών υποστηρίζοντας και εφαρμόζοντας τους ρατσιστικούς νόμους.

Στις 10 Μαΐου1941 ο Ες πετά με αεροπλάνο στη Σκοτία, όπου θέλει να συναντήσει τον ηγέτη (έτσι τουλάχιστον πιστεύει) του βρετανικού ειρηνικού κινήματος, τον Δούκα του Χάμιλτον, με σκοπό να σταματήσει ο πόλεμος μεταξύ της Γερμανίας και του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου και να μπορέσει η Γερμανία να στραφεί κατά της Σοβιετικής Ένωσης, αφού αυτός είναι ο τελικός σκοπός του Εθνικοσοσιαλισμού.

Ο πόλεμος αυτός μεταξύ των δύο συγκεκριμένων χωρών σημαίνει για τον Ες την "αυτοκτονία της λευκής φυλής" . Δεν πετυχαίνει, όμως, και συλλαμβάνεται, αφού οι Άγγλοι δεν έχουν καμία διάθεση να διαπραγματευτούν με τους εθνικοσοσιαλιστές.

Αμέσως μετά την δίκη της Νυρεμβέργης οδηγείται στη Συμμαχική Φυλακή Εγκληματιών Πολέμου στο Βερολίνο- Σπαντάου, όπου 41 χρόνια αργότερα στις 17 Αυγούστου 1987 αυτοκτονεί

Στον χώρο των νεοναζιστών ο Ες αποτελεί είδωλο και μάρτυρα, επειδή σε όλη του τη ζωή, στα 46 χρόνια της κράτησης, παρέμεινε πιστός και φανατικός εθνικοσοσιαλιστής.

[Linet]

Απελπισμένοι καιροί φέρνουν και απέλπιδες λύσεις....
Όταν σκοτώνουν τις γιαγιάδες μέσα στα σπίτια τους οι αλλοδαποί για 5 ευρώ, βιάζουν κοριτσάκια και κλέβουν ό,τι βρουν, με την πολιτεία να παίρνει το μέρος τους, να μιλάει για τα ανθρώπινα δικαιώματα του ενός Πακιστανού που έπεσε θύμα ρατσιστικής βίας και να αγνοεί όλων των υπολοίπων....τότε ναι, ο κόσμος θα πάει στη Χρησή Αυγή σαν την τελευταία του ελπίδα....

[Vojnik]

This specific salute it was because he was accused for being Nazi and make it the time he was ''defending'' himself against it .

Don't be silly. Dandelion, him and his fellow thugs are neo-nazi's. There is no hiding it.

http://i49.tinypic.com/9r86ee.jpg

[Scholarios]

As much as I hate these Chrysi Avgi guys, Turks and Fyromians have no place to talk. Greece is a virtual Luxembourg compared to their countries where political violence and authoritarianism have been the rule for decades. Remember the innocent Pakistanis killed by police in the fraudulent attempt to appear tough on the "War on Terror".? (Which got them recognized as Macedonia by G.W. Bush)

And Turkey as a bastion of tolerance and liberalism is a complete joke.

So please, spare us the sermons.

[Absinthe]

This specific salute it was because he was accused for being Nazi and make it the time he was ''defending'' himself against it .
Let this one go, dandelion, he has been doing the salute many times over, also in my physical presence a few times in the past in some gatherings. Don't buy this misleading statement.

[Pontios]

Don't be silly. Dandelion, him and his fellow thugs are neo-nazi's. There is no hiding it.

http://i49.tinypic.com/9r86ee.jpg

So if the followers do nazi salutes, Golden Dawn is to blame for it? When Golden Dawn followers beat someone up, Golden Dawn is to blame for it? Did Golden Dawn tell them to do that? Is it part of their belief? Of course not...

[Pontios]

Let this one go, dandelion, he has been doing the salute many times over, also in my physical presence a few times in the past in some gatherings. Don't buy this misleading statement.

Proof perhaps? :confused:

[EagleAtHeart]

This is encouraging news.

Greece is for Greeks, don't like it, don't go there!

We're living in depressing times when you can't go anywhere in Europe and not face "diversity. In fact, you can't even log into a Euro Nationalist site without having to deal with "diversity"

[Pontios]

Golden Dawn officials use the nazi salute in parliament and in public gatherings. The Golden Dawn Secretary-General, Nikolaos Michaloliakos, uses the nazi salute, and there are photos to prove it. Trying to justify this as some kind of 1000 year old 'Greek' tradition is just stupid.
Proof???? :confused: I am tired of hearing all of these lies and propaganda without any proof. Even Soviet Union with all of its propaganda had videos and pictures for proof.


Golden Dawn is a ultra-nationalist, far-right, neo-nazi party that use the nazi salute, that have a banner which is similar to that of the swastika, and who attack, bash and in some cases kill innocent people. They have met all the criteria to be considered a neo-nazi party.
Swastika? If you think that is a swastika, then there is a swastika on millions of these and government buildings.
Here is a picture for idiots who don't understand the difference.
https://d22r54gnmuhwmk.cloudfront.net/photos/7/vi/ml/ojviMllaHGpYRDE-556x313-noPad.jpg


Kill innocent people? Don't cross our borders. Did we invite them? Did we let them in? Do our police have to protect them from our people, or our people from them? Thousands of Greek people are robbed and killed every month by illegal immigrants, and when 1 illegal immigrant is attacked by our people, we become nazis.

[Absinthe]

Proof perhaps? :confused:
Proof? :picard1: My word is the proof! You think I would go to a GD and start snapping photos with a camera like a curious Japanese tourist? And they would take that very lightly? :no000000:

Unlike you who only knows GD from Youtube, I've had personal contact with GD for several years. Have been good friends with several members. Have attended several meetings, open as well as private.


So if the followers do nazi salutes, Golden Dawn is to blame for it? When Golden Dawn followers beat someone up, Golden Dawn is to blame for it? Did Golden Dawn tell them to do that? Is it part of their belief? Of course not...

Are you serious? No, are you really serious?
Golden Dawn is an organization based on hierarchy and military discipline, you think anyone would be able to do as they like if what they did was against their beliefs and the word of the leader? Now are you REALLY SERIOUS? In this photo alone quoted in your post, Michaloliakos is standing less than 2 meters away from the guys doing the nazi salute; do you think that if he didn't want them to, he wouldn't give them a piece of his mind? :picard1:

I have several of their old magazines dated back to 1989 complete with swastikas and articles of adoration for Hitler and all that. Everyone who's ever had real contact with the Greek nationalist movements knows what they were about. Now they claim to have been "turned" or deny it ever happened overall. But there's not a single soul that doesn't know about it, except naive people like you who knows them from the internet and only for the last 1 year.

[Queen B]

Let this one go, dandelion, he has been doing the salute many times over, also in my physical presence a few times in the past in some gatherings. Don't buy this misleading statement.
Ι know , that's why I only talked about THIS specific case.:D