About ten black-clad individuals from a far-right group barged into a municipal gallery in Thessaloniki exhibiting the work of an artist from Macedonia.
WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, April 27, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ — The United Macedonian Diaspora (UMD), an NGO representing the Macedonian diaspora worldwide, has condemned an attack on a Macedonian citizen in Thessaloniki (Solun), Greece.
About ten black-clad individuals from a far-right group barged into a municipal gallery in Thessaloniki exhibiting the work of an artist from Macedonia. They harassed the artist and the staff and ordered them to pull down the exhibited pieces.
The municipal gallery Remezzo in the Kalamaria, Greece district was exhibiting drawings and paintings of renowned Macedonian artist Sergej Andreevski. The show opened on April 21 and was expected to last until April 29.
The intruders, members of the far-right neo-Nazi Golden Dawn’s youth wing, allegedly shouted that the artist had no right to be there and questioned his nationality. “You can either be a Slav or a Greek. There are no supposed non-Greek Macedonians,” one of the intruders is heard saying in a video the group posted on YouTube.
The Golden Dawn attackers “took down” the works of the Skopje artist. After the raid, the Golden Dawn members “sealed” the space with a red ribbon and stuck stickers with the organization’s symbol, arguing that this artist should not be in the area.
UMD’s Macedonia and Europe Director Gordan Jordanov said:
“These are no casual attacks of wanton violence. They are targeted, orchestrated acts of racial hate with a clear agenda. These actions not only reflect despicably on the thugs who carried them out but on any Greek agency, any police officer, and any politician who dismisses it as justified because the target was from Macedonia.”
“UMD calls on an immediate response from the Government of Greece and a full investigation in an emerging pattern of increasing violence. Any refusal to do so becomes state-sponsored violence against Macedonians and an international incident.”
“We demand that the Greek government and all state agencies find and punish the individuals who carried out this heinous and illegal activity. The government must provide every ethnic and visiting Macedonian with the full protection of the law they are entitled.”
“These actions must be formally condemned at the highest possible levels.”
Golden Dawn video of the attack: https://youtu.be/EaHFpR9QEXg
Gordan Jordanov
United Macedonian Diaspora
[email protected]
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Originally published at https://www.einpresswire.com/article/630407078/umd-condemns-neo-nazi-attack-on-macedonian-artist-in-greece