GD

The long-running trial of MPs and members of the extreme-right Golden Dawn party on Thursday shifted to the next stage of examining hundreds of documents following the completion of testimonies delivered by more than 130 witnesses for the prosecution.

After 224 sessions since the launch of the trial in April 2015, the party's leadership has yet to appear in court.

A historian who was viciously attacked by a gang of Golden Dawn members in the summer of 2008 testified on Friday at the ongoing trial on the criminal activities of the far-right party, telling judges that there were a lot of similarities between that assault and others of which the party stands accused.

One of five key witnesses at the trial into the suspected criminal activities of neo-Nazi Golden Dawn told judges on Friday that the party was run like a military style organization with a strict hierarchy that organized attacks against migrants and other perceived enemies.

A prosecution lawyer in the ongoing trial of Golden Dawn MPs and supporters who was attacked by members of the neo-Nazi party earlier this week has described the assault as an attempted show of force by GD in the wake of a series of departures from the party in recent months.

Police have launched an investigation into an alleged assault Wednesday by members of Golden Dawn on two women, including a prosecution lawyer in the ongoing trial of MPs and supporters of the neo-Nazi party.

More than 20 members of GD were detained by police on Wednesday in connection with the incident.

The criminal trial against the leadership and members of neo-Nazi Golden Dawn continued on Friday at an Athens court with the testimony of a former official of the party who provided judges with an insight into its operation and aims.

The family of slain anti-fascist rapper Pavlos Fyssas has accused members of the coalition government of attempting an "outrageous whitewashing of fascism."

Opposition parties have accused ruling SYRIZA of turning a blind eye to the excesses of Golden Dawn after former justice minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos said in an interview in Sunday's edition of the Vradyni newspaper that the extreme-right party must be supported by democratic parties if it decides to embrace the rule of democracy.

The chapter of the ongoing trial against Golden Dawn related to an alleged attack by members of the far-right party against supporters of the communist-affiliated PAME union in September 2013 caused tension both inside and outside the Athens Appeals Court on Monday.

Self-styled anarchists on Monday clashed with supporters of the neonazi Golden Dawn near the Athens Appeals Court where the trial of members of GD is underway.

Around 20 people threw stones and beams of wood at the GD supporters as they were arriving at the court house.

A riot police unit intervened and two people were arrested.