A Greek parliamentary session was the scene of a contentious debate between rival political parties on Friday, ending in the ejection of neo-Nazi Golden Dawn MP Panagiotis Iliopoulos amid shouts of "Heil Hitler."
Iliopoulos was ordered out of the session after insulting members of the leftist Syriza party, according to Greek news site Ekathimerini.
Despite repeated warnings, Iliopoulos continued his verbal abuse, calling his colleagues "goats," "scoundrels," and "wretched people," according to Euronews. Security was called to forcibly eject the controversial politician, the site reported.
Several cries of "Heil Hitler" are audible in a video of the scrum (above). It is still unclear who exactly led the offensive cheers.
State-run Athens News Agency claimed Golden Dawn parliament spokesperson Christos Pappas uttered the words, according to Agence France-Presse. Golden Dawn denied the accusation, though Pappas has praised Adolf Hitler in the past.
Ekathimerini, citing "Parliament's minutes," claimed it was actually Syriza MP Christos Pantzas who first referenced the Nazi leader. The Syriza party was quick to condemn the jeering while also blaming Golden Dawn for the incident.
"For the second time this week we hear Hitler being glorified inside parliament by Golden Dawn MPs," Syriza MP Stavros Kontonis told Euronews. "It's strange the fact that in order to distance themselves from praising Hitler in a provocative way, they claimed it was me who uttered this phrase ironically. But this is refuted by their own evidence."
In June of 2012, Golden Dawn captured 18 seats in the Greek parlaiment, stunning Europe with its successful anti-immigrant platform. Earlier this week, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights stated that Greece had the legal right to ban the party as part of a push to crack down on the country's rise in hate crimes targeting immigrants, the Associated Press reported.
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