Greek police confirmed reports of a homemade bomb exploded at the offices far-right Golden Dawn party in Athens early Tuesday, adding that whilst significant structural damages were caused, no injuries came of the attack.
After the dynamite-packed explosive erupted at the controversial party’s local offices in the western Athens suburb of Aspropyrgos, bomb disposal experts arrived at the scene to investigate what has unofficially been described by police sources as a case of “domestic terrorism”.
The surprise beneficiaries of the countries June elections which took place amid its spiralling debt crisis and domestic protests against EU-enforced austerity measures, Golden Dawn achieved 7% of the public vote, surpassing for the first time the proportional electoral system’s required threshold of votes to enter parliament, eventually gaining 18 seats in the representative chamber.
Despite campaigning of a staunchly anti-immigrant manifesto and displaying Swastika symbols in its party headquarters, Golden Dawn has repeatedly denied claims of neo-Nazi links.
Homemade explosive devices of the type suspected of being behind Tuesday’s attacks are a common occurrence in Greece, which has seen a rise of nationalist sentiment in response to mass unemployment and encroaching recession now entering its fifth year. Such devices are often made using gas canisters or explosives packed tightly together.
Recent months have also seen repeated clashes between alleged Golden Dawn party members and supporters and far left-wing groups, characterising the country’s fractured political landscape.
Extreme-right parties have always been active to some extent in Greek politics, although the widely publicised gains made by Golden Dawn represent its first entry to parliament. In response to Golden Dawn’s initial electoral gains, the President of Greece’s Central Board of Jewish Communities Daniel Saltiel sought to instil calm amongst the country’s 5,000 Jews, reminding them that “right now, Golden Dawn is not coming out against Jews; instead, it attacks immigrants. Still, there are right-wing extremists, and we need to assess the situation and see how Greece's democracy will deal with this. There is no reason for worry”.