Greece: Golden Dawn’s popularity from ‘economic crisis and lack of immigration policy’

As the Greek government continues its crackdown on politicians of the far-right Golden Dawn, the party remains the third most popular in the country.
Tzina Dimopoulou is a Greek housewife who stood as a candidate for Golden Dawn in Athens in the last elections. She believes the government are scared by their popularity.
“These are clearly political prosecutions. The government is afraid of the rise in nationalism. Nobody can say we have democracy here when 5,500 people have committed suicide due to the economic crisis,” Dimopoulou said.
Golden Dawn supporters say immigrants are to blame for high crime rates. Those from other countries living in Greece counter that they are often the victims of racist violence from extremists.
Javent Aslam is the president of the Pakistani Community in Greece. He says he hopes the he Government is serious about dealing with Golden Dawn.
“I hope it’s not just a political show. Maybe then we would be convinced that justice and the government have done their job. I just hope it is not a political show. We want to believe in this, but the next few weeks or months will show the truth,” Aslam said.
Euronews correspondent in Athens, Michalis Arampatzoglou, says that Greek society is traditionally anti-fascist but that the economic crisis and the lack of immigration policy were the main reasons for Golden Dawn’s rise. He says that analysts forecast that the prosecution against the far-right party is not going to be enough to eliminate the origins of this phenomenon.