Greece: Neo-Nazi Golden Dawn MPs Who Beat Migrants to Face Prosecution

The Greek Parliament has decided to lift the immunity from prosecution of three MPs from the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party.

Golden Dawn extremists have been involved in a series number of race-related attacks on immigrants and human rights activists.

Lawmakers Panagiotis Iliopoulos and Giorgos Germenis have been accused of taking part in attacks against immigrant street vendors in Rafina last month and face charges of impersonating authorities and property damage.

The party's spokesman Ilias Kasidiaris has been implicated in an armed robbery in 2007.

A total of 220 deputies present in the Parliament voted to lift their immunity.

Earlier this year, Kasidiaris made the headlines for assaulting two woman MPs in a live TV broadcast. Since then, he was reportedly hiding from police in party HQ,

Another Golden Dawn MP, Elena Zaroulia, caused anger by calling immigrants "sub-humans" carrying "all sorts of diseases" during a parliamentary session in Athens.

Earlier this month, members of the neo-Nazi party, which has seen its popularity surge 12 per cent, stormed the opening night of the play Corpus Christi at a theatre in central Athens, as the piece by US author Terrence McNally, depicts Jesus as gay.

Meanwhile Greece top security officer denied allegations of collusion between police and the neo-Nazi party.