ATHENS, Greece – A member of the Greek parliament (MP) has been filmed shouting racist and homophobic insults at the director of a play and his actors as they cowered inside a theater in Athens.
Ilias Panagiotaros, one of 18 far-right Golden Dawn MPs elected in June’s general election, was part of a recent demonstration that closed down a performance of the Terence McNally play, Corpus Christi.
As police stood by, apparently oblivious, BBC News reported Panagiotaros shouting, “Wrap it up you little faggots. Yes, just keep staring at me you little hooker. Your time is up.”
Panagiotaros continued, “You Albanian a—holes.”
YouTube footage shows the theater manager frantically calling for police help as rocks were being hurled at the audience. But no help arrived.
Laertis Vassiliou, the play’s director told BBC News, “This was the Greek Kristallnacht.”
(Kristallnacht was the name given to a series of coordinated attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria, Nov. 9–10 1938, which were carried out by paramilitary organizations and civilians.)
“People went home with broken bones. Every day they phone me now, they phone the theater, saying: your days are numbered.”
Vassiliou continued, “They phoned my mother, Golden Dawn. They said we will deliver your son’s body to you in a box of little pieces. I want to be told if we are in a democracy or a dictatorship?”
According to the BBC, Golden Dawn has been on the ascendancy since June’s election and its supporters have been linked to a significant number of attacks on migrant workers, rival political groups and LGBT Greeks.
The BBC reports it is now the third most popular party at 12 percent.
