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Thursday, April 18, 2013

Greece pledges swift punishment over farm shooting





Police are seeking the three suspects who disappeared after Wednesday's shootings, which occurred during a confrontation with some 200 Bangladeshi farm workers in the country's rural south who say they have not been paid for half a year.

Political parties and trade unions expressed shock, and about 100 people took part in a protest by labor groups outside the Labor Ministry in Athens.

The economic pain, coupled with waves of illegal immigration in recent years, has fuelled a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment that swept members of an extreme far-right party into Parliament last year.

The Greek section of the Doctors of the World medical aid group said the shootings should be treated as a case of racist violence, which carries more severe penalties.

"The protracted financial crisis, combined with a constantly growing mood of xenophobia and tolerance for racist violence, is leading to incidents of barbarity and brutality that ... insult Greece," a group statement said.


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.sfgate.com