Two senior officers of the Hellenic Police (ELAS) submitted their resignations on Sept. 23 amidst an investigation into whether there was any dereliction of duty over why the force did not arrest members of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party found to have weapons in the aftermath of the killing of anti-fascist Pavlos Fyssas by one of the party members.

The Greek Minister for Public Order and Citizen Protection, Nikos Dendias, ordered the Police Chief to investigate the ranks of the body, in response to recent complaints. In particular, the Internal Affairs Division was ordered to investigate any police interconnection with Golden Dawn’s activity.

In an announcement by the Public Order Ministry, it was reported that the General Police Inspector for southern Greece, Lieutenant General Yiannis Dikopoulos, and the General Police Director in central Greece, Major General Apostolos Kaskanis, submitted their resignations for personal reasons, which have been accepted.

With the decision of the Hellenic Police Chief, an investigation was launched at the local offices of Golden Dawn in Halkida, Evia. The reason is that, on Sept. 20 some individuals outside Golden Dawn’s offices were carrying objects considered weapons and the police ignored them. It was reported that they have often done so and that the ranks of the police may have been infiltrated by Golden Dawn sympathizers.

In the same investigation, the issue of any responsibilities concerning omittance recorded during the police investigation for the collection of evidence and individual’s identification with objects that were found at the local Golden Dawn’s offices will be examined.

According to the Hellenic Police, nearly a dozen other senior officers switched posts, including the heads of the anti-terrorist squad, the organized crime squad and the guns and explosives squad.

The Internal Affairs service has ordered that the following officers be replaced until the end of the investigation:
The Head of Security of the Hellenic Police’s Headquarters,
The Police Director, Commander, Deputy Director and Deputy Commander of the Counterterrorism Unit (EKAM)
Te Police Director, Chief of Sub directorate for Organized Crime and Human Trafficking of the Police Directorate of Attica
The Sub director, Chief of Weapons and Explosives Sub directorate of National Security of the Police Directorate of Attica
The head of a YAT riot police squat in Keratsini which according to pictures and videos appeared side-by-side with a group of people throwing rocks at protesters and did not intervene or make any arrests

After the murder of the anti-fascist hip-hop artist, Pavlos Fyssas, by the member of Golden Dawn, Giorgos Roupakias, authorities began cracking down on Golden Dawn. Alleged members of the neo-Nazi party have claimed in anonymous interviews that supporters and members of the group within the police often helped protect Golden Dawn from raids, according to Greek media reports

Greek Reporter

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