A political dust-up erupted in Greece on Saturday following a provincial governor’s decision to invite the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party to an annual parade honoring resistance to fascism.
Thessaloniki’s governor, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, insists he is bound by law to invite lawmakers from all parties represented in parliament, including neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, which has 18 members of parliament, to the Monday parade.
“We cannot act outside the law,” the governor’s office said.
Thessaloniki’s mayor has threatened to walk out in protest if the neo-Nazis attend the city parade, and a moderate leftist party has already announced its own boycott of the ceremony.
“It’s an issue. Let’s see who leaves, me or them,” Mayor Yiannis Boutaris said Saturday.
Golden Dawn’s leader is currently in prison awaiting trial, and several of its MPs have been indicted on criminal charges in an ongoing investigation of the murder of an anti-fascist musician last month.
A military parade is held annually in Thessaloniki on Oct. 28 to commemorate Greece’s resistance to the Axis Powers during World War II.