Greece News: Athens Erupts in Protests After Extremists Hand Out Free Food to Greeks Only

Athens' mayor was attacked during a riot that erupted when Greek extremist party Golden Dawn set up a soup kitchen for "Greeks only" opposite the parliament building. Georgio Germenis, a lawmaker elected from the hateful party, drew a gun at Mayor Giorgos Kaminis and lunged at him in an attempt to punch him, instead hitting a 12-year-old girl, according to Greek media.

"Golden Dawn will stand beside Greeks, it will stand by the suffering Greeks whatever decisions the immigrant loving Mr. Kaminis takes. Greeks, keep your heads high, Happy Holidays! We will take our country back," Golden Dawn's Parliamentary Group Head Christos Pappas told media following the riot.

via The Telegraph

Golden Dawn Party members arrived at the parliament on Thursday and started to distribute bags of food after reviewing identity cards of the citizens. This prompted Mayor Kaminis to enact a ban disallowing any "soup kitchen of hate" to take place in the city's central square. Authorities tried to stop supplies from being unloaded and distributed when violence broke out as Golden Dawn Party members retaliated.

Despite being forced to stop distributions in the square after police used pepper spray and and wooden sticks on the members, Golden Dawn continued distribution of food supplies through their party offices in an Athens neighborhood.

Golden Dawn's violence and racism has propelled it from being a marginalized neo-Nazi group to becoming the third-most popular party in Greece with party members elected to 18 out of 300 Parliament seats after last year's elections.

The party has used Greek suffering amidst record poverty, austerity, and a spiraling economy as a platform against the large immigrant population in Greece. It has often staged violent attacks on immigrants as political rallying points.

The little girl who was punched reportedly has a bruised forehead, but is not badly hurt.