by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ATHENS, Greece – A rising group known as the “Militant People’s Revolutionary Forces” has claimed responsibility for the murder of two supporters of Greece’s Golden Dawn party earlier this month.

The Militant People’s Revolutionary Forces, an anti-establishment group, released an eighteen-page letter on Saturday claiming that it conducted a drive-by shooting that left two members of the Golden Dawn party dead outside the Party’s offices.

The group stated that the murders were conducted to retaliate for Golden Dawn’s alleged involvement in the murder of activist-rapper Pavlos Fissas back in September. A Golden Dawn supporter had confessed to the murder, but the Party itself has denied any involvement in Fissas’ death.

“The brazen murder of Pavlos Fissas was the drop of blood that made the glass overflow. The armed attack-response … is the starting point of the people’s campaign to send the neo-Nazi scum of Golden Dawn where they belong, to the dustbin of history,” the Militant People’s Revolutionary Forces’ letter stated. The letter was published on the news website www.zougla.gr, though the authenticity of the letter has not been validated by police.

Amidst the murder of the two Golden Dawn supporters, Greece has seen a growing public angst against Golden Dawn, which is widely regarded as “neo-Nazi” and frequently accused of attacks against migrants and left-wing activists.

Golden Dawn’s leader, Nikolaos Mihaloliakos, and five additional Golden Dawn leaders were recently charged with “belonging to a criminal group”, as the Greek government has cracked-down on the party due to the public furor surrounding Fissas’ murder.

The party, Greece’s third most popular according to surveys, had lost nearly a third of its support after Fissas’s death this past September, even though the party denies accusations of all violence and rejects its neo-Nazi label. An opinion poll that was also released on Saturday indicated that support for Golden Dawn had subsequently increased since its two supporters were murdered in retaliation.

The poll by ALCO released in the Proto Thema newspaper, conducted from November 12 to 15, put support for Golden Dawn at 8.8 percent, up 2.2 points in a month, but still below the 10.8 percent it enjoyed in June.

For more information, please see:

The Independent – Previously Unknown Greek Group Claims Responsibility For Golden Dawn Shootings – 17 November 2013

New York Times – Guerrilla Group Says It Killed Two From a Greek Extremist Party in an Athens Suburb – 17 November 2013

Ekathimerini – New Urban Guerrilla Group Claims Murders of Golden Dawn Members – 16 November 2013

Reuters – Greek Militant Group Claims Golden Dawn Killings – 16 November 2013