THESSALONIKI, Greece: Four men have been charged after the mayor of Greece’s second city Thessaloniki was beaten up by suspected far-right supporters, a judicial source said on Monday.
Two men aged 20, one 17 and another 36, are charged with causing "dangerous bodily wounds", "material damage" and a "social disturbance", the source said. Yiannis Boutaris, 75, had to be escorted from a rally on Saturday commemorating the massacre of Black Sea Greeks in Turkey during and after World War I when members of the crowd turned violent. He was then hospitalised.
"They were hitting me everywhere. Kicks, punches, the lot," Boutaris, who was discharged from hospital on Sunday, told state agency ANA. "It was a despicable attack but I am well." The office of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the attackers were "far-right thugs".
The incident was praised however by Ourania Michaloliakou, the daughter of Greece’s neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, who accused Boutaris of being "anti-Greek". "Bravo to each and every person who did their duty in Thessaloniki today. Respect and a thousand bravos," Michaloliakou tweeted on Saturday. Protests are planned later on Monday in Athens to condemn the attack.
