Athens bans Golden Dawn campaign rallies in public spaces

The Athens Municipal council on Monday voted overwhelmingly in favor of a recommendation by Athens Mayor Giorgos Kaminis that the far-right Golden Dawn party not be allowed to use public spaces to hold pre-election rallies.
"We will not give Golden Dawn any of the available public spaces for pre-election promotion because it functions as a criminal organization," he said.
"Hate speech that introduces discrimination on grounds of race, ethnicity, religious and sexual orientation moves outside the limits of the law," he insisted, adding that hate speech has become a prosecutable offense in almost all European Union states.
Senior Golden Dawn official Ilias Kasidiaris, a city council member, threatened the members that voted in favor of the ban with lawsuits.