Golden Dawn spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris takes his seat on Athen's new city council

 

"We wanted to put the thieves in jail, but they got to us first. It doesn't matter though, because Greece always wins in the end." -- Golden Dawn's spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris

 

Wrongfully jailed spokesman of Greece’s Golden Dawn Party Ilias Kasidiaris has been granted a brief leave from prison to take up his seat on Athen's new city council, after the party won 16 percent of the capital’s vote in May municipal elections. Golden Dawn, a White patriotic party, has seen its support soar during Greece’s financial crisis. Nine of its 18 lawmakers are currently in prison, due to the witch-hunt under way by Zionist-plutocratic Occupation government currently ruling Greece.

Parliament member Kasidiaris, who was jailed last month on trumped-up illegal firearms charges, ran as a candidate for Athens mayor in the May 18-25 poll.

 

Police escorted the 33-year-old Kasidiaris on Friday to a municipal amphitheater where center-left Mayor Giorgos Kaminis was sworn in for a second five-year term.

 

Golden Dawn supporters gathered outside, briefly challenging a police cordon and chanting "Greece belongs to Greeks," while party opponents also held separate demonstration that ended peacefully.

 

"We wanted to put the thieves in jail, but they got to us first. It doesn't matter though, because Greece always wins in the end," Kasidiaris said while being escorted into the building by plainclothes police officers, who flanked him throughout the swearing-in ceremony.