Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 13-05-17

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Golden Dawn dep. walks out of parliament; confusion arises over nazi slogan attribution

[01] Golden Dawn dep. walks out of parliament; confusion arises over nazi slogan attribution

The argument began when Parliament's vice president Ioannis Dragasakis initiated disciplinary action against Golden Dawn deputy Panagiotis Iliopoulos for inappropriate behaviour during the parliamentary session. Iliopoulos had used his floor time to launch a personal invective against Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras, of the main opposition party, in reponse to a discussion tabled urgently by the latter on the draft law on racism.

Iliopoulos then began an altercation with the vice president, who requested that he step down from the podium. The latter also hurled insults to other deputies, calling them "goats" and saying "sit down, you will never defeat nationalism," among other things, before walking out.

Ultra-right Golden Dawn (Chryssi Avghi) party deputies followed Iliopoulos and left from parliament. During their exit the phrase "Heil Hitler" was heard and was initially attributed to a Golden Dawn's deputy by the media.

Later, in a press release, the party said that "the provocative phrase 'Heil Hitler' was uttered by Zakynthos deputy of SYRIZA Stavros Kontonis. We demand that the parrotheads of the system that linked Golden Dawn with the phrase to recall it immediately, otherwise they will face legal repercussions for spreading false information and for slandering."

There is confusion as to whether the shout was uttered by a Golden Dawn party or an opposition member responding to the walkout. Parliament has not clarified the issue yet.

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