Macedonian artist's exhibition disrupted by neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn in Greece

Masked nationalists claiming membership in the Greek neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn said on Thursday they disrupted an art exhibition near Thessaloniki in northern Greece by a painter from North Macedonia. In a video posted on the networks, the "Golden Dawn Youth Front" explains that it "banned" the exhibition of artist Sergej Andreevski which was held in Kalamaria, a locality near Thessaloniki. The video apparently shot on Wednesday shows several masked and hooded men going to the Municipal Gallery to confront Sergej Andreevski, whom they accuse of publishing irredentist materials and "casting doubt on the Greek identity of our homeland." »

"You have no right to be here," exclaims one of the activists in the video. We have parents and grandfathers who sacrificed their lives to make Macedonia Greek. The mayor of Kalamaria, Ioannis Dardamanelis, questioned by the press on Thursday, indicated that a group of ten people had disrupted the exhibition “on the last day. He called the protesters "irredentist hotheads" seeking publicity ahead of the general election scheduled for May 21.

As part of a bilateral agreement concluded in 2018 between Athens and Skopje, the neighboring country took the name of the Republic of North Macedonia, ending a long diplomatic dispute over the name of this Balkan country. Concluded by then left-leaning Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev, the deal was hotly contested by conservatives and nationalists in both countries.

Sergej Andreevski, a "renowned" Macedonian artist, had already been invited to exhibit his works in Greece in 2002 and 2004, the mayor of Kalamaria said, adding that the Greek Foreign Ministry had also approved the exhibition. A local police source told AFP that officers were called to the scene, but protesters had already left the gallery when they arrived and no arrests had been made.

Golden Dawn is a xenophobic and neo-Nazi formation that gained popularity during the economic crisis in Greece (2009-2018). This party was discredited after the assassination of a Greek rapper in 2013 by one of its members also accused of violence against migrants and leftist sympathizers. In 2020, Golden Dawn leaders were sentenced to heavy prison terms for “constituting a criminal organization”.