Greece's Crackdown Is Risky—and Long Overdue

The government’s campaign against Golden Dawn must address the rise of racism

Members of the Golden Dawn political organization take part in a demonstration in Peraia, a suburb east of Thessaloniki, on April 26Photograph by Sakis Mitrolidis/AFP via Getty Images

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October 3, 2013 at 7:32 PM UTC

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This article is part of the October 7, 2013 issue of businessweek.

Whenever police frog-march the duly elected leaders of a political party to jail for collective prosecution, alarm bells should sound. The arrest of six neofascist Golden Dawn politicians in Greece is no exception—though in this case it may also be the least bad option for Greek authorities.

The crackdown on Golden Dawn appears political because it happened only after the stabbing death of a left-wing rapper, Pavlos Fyssas, caused public support for the party to drop to 7 percent from post-election highs of 11 percent. The violent nature of Golden Dawn, which has 18 members of Greece’s 300-seat Parliament, has been clear for at least two years.