On this day, September 18th, Pavlos Fyssas was murdered
As todayHe was murdered 10 years ago on September 18th Paul Fyssas from the Nazi Golden Dawn attack battalions.
Ten years later, the wounds remain open. Not only because the demand for an active anti-fascist movement necessarily still exists, but also because the judicial investigation into the actions of the leading core of the Golden Dawn criminal organization is still ongoing.
The murder of Pavlos Fyssas, along with the other murderous Golden Dawn attacks mentioned in the files, is in the second phase of trials. The fact that ten years later no final decision has been made and continues to cast a shadow over the climax of the democratic process, the elections, while the state and society debate for months over how to deal with Ilias Kasidiaris’ effort, has been condemned in first instance for the criminal organization Golden Dawn to break into the electoral field.
Ten years after the murder of Pavlos Fyssas, which sparked an anti-fascist uprising and led to the judicial investigation of the criminal organization’s activities, there are likely to be no pogroms – at least not in public – but the “ordinary voters” of The Golden Dawn will continue asked by the same people, even from prisons, who she should support so that there continues to be adequate “representation” in Parliament.
The murder of Pavlos Fyssas
The 34-year-old anti-fascist musician Pavlos Fyssas or Killah P. was murdered in the early hours of the 18thher September 2013 by 45-year-old gold prospector Giorgos Roupakias after a coordinated attack by a Golden Dawn strike squad, which was ordered and approved by the criminal organization’s hierarchy.
Pavlos Fyssas was accompanied by his partner in the Corali cafeteria, where he and other people were watching a football match. Also in the same cafeteria was a small group of Chrysaugitians who called the local Nicaea organization and asked for reinforcements.
The approximately 50-strong reinforcements arrived at the scene with batons and iron fists and acted undisturbed, even though the police were on site. Roupakias stabbed Pavlos Fyssa in the thigh and chest. The stab wounds were fatal as they pierced the lungs and heart.
Before the 34-year-old musician lost consciousness, he identified Roupakias as the perpetrator of the attack. His death was confirmed at Nice State General Hospital, where he was transferred. At the same time, Roupakias had been arrested and was communicating with Nicaea Group leader Giorgos Patelis, who informed Greek Orthodox Church member Yiannis Lagos. The head of the FSA, Nikos Michaloliakos, was also found in the telephone chain.
Symbol of the anti-fascist movement
The social reaction to the murder of Pavlos Fyssas by the neo-Nazis was crucial to the judicial investigation of the Golden Dawn crimes. It was a crucial moment in which the “veil” of the embellishment of the fascists’ actions by a part of the mass media was torn, and with it the cynical or indifferent attitude of a part of politicians and citizens. Pavlos Fyssas became a symbol of the anti-fascist movement.
The case of Fyssa’s murder was heard along with other cases in the Golden Dawn trial. On October 7, 2020, Roupakias, who was charged with premeditated murder as a natural perpetrator, was found guilty along with 15 other leaders and other members of the Golden Dawn, which the court unanimously classified as a criminal organization. The case continues in the Court of Appeal.
The events of Antifascist September in Athens culminate today, Monday September 18th, with the established antifascist march in Keratsini in the afternoon in memory of Pavlos Fyssas.
Memorial events for Pavlos Fyssas ©Aris Oikonomou / SOOC
Like facts today
96 – Nerva is proclaimed Roman Emperor after the murder of Domitian.
324 – Constantine I defeats Licinius at the Battle of Chrysoupolis, establishing Constantine’s sole control of the Roman Empire.
1180 – Philip II becomes King of France.
1454 – During the Thirteen Years’ War, the Teutonic Order defeats the Poles at the Battle of Hoynice.
1502 – Christopher Columbus arrives in Honduras on his fourth and final voyage.
1635 – Ferdinand II of the Holy Roman Empire declares war on France.
1714 – George I of Great Britain arrives in Britain for the first time since his accession to the throne on August 1st.
1739 – The Treaty of Belgrade is signed, ceding Belgrade to the Ottoman Empire.
1759 – Seven Years’ War: The British occupy Quebec City.
1793 – George Washington lays the first cornerstone of the United States Capitol.
1810 – First junta government in Chile. Although it is intended to only rule in the king’s absence, it is actually the first step towards independence from Spain.
1812 – The Moscow Fire is extinguished after destroying more than three-quarters of the city. Napoleon I returns to the Moscow Kremlin after escaping the fire.
1834 – Athens is declared the capital of Greece by King Otto.
1837 – Tiffany & Co. is founded in New York. (originally as Tiffany & Young).
1851 – The first page of The New-York Daily Times, later renamed The New York Times, is published.
1872 – Oscar II becomes King of Sweden and Norway.
1898 – Fashonda Incident: Herbert Kitchener’s ships reach Fashonda, Sudan.
1906 – Alexandros Zaimis becomes High Commissioner of Crete.
1911 – Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin is shot in the Kiev Opera House.
1922 – Hungary is admitted to the League of Nations.
1927 – CBS goes on the air.
1931 – Japan invades Manchuria.
1934 – The Soviet Union is admitted to the League of Nations.
1947 – The US Air Force becomes a branch of the US Armed Forces.
1947 – The US National Security Council and the CIA are founded in the United States of America.
1960 – Fidel Castro arrives in New York as head of the Cuban delegation to the United Nations.
1961 – United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld dies in a plane crash.
1964 – King Constantine II of Greece marries Danish Princess Anna-Maria. They were the only royal weddings in Greece (Athens), coinciding with the 130th anniversary of the declaration of Athens as the capital of Greece.
1974 – More than 5,000 people die when Hurricane Fifi hits Honduras.
1978 – A magnitude 7 earthquake in Iran kills 18,000 people.
1980 – Cuban Armando Tamayo Mendes becomes the first person of color and the first Latin American to be sent into space aboard the Soviet Soyuz 38.
1981 – The death penalty is abolished in France.
1990 – Liechtenstein becomes a member of the UN.
1997 – In a referendum in Wales, residents decide to form their own parliament by a majority of 50.3% to 49.7%.
1999 – At least 30 dead in election violence in India during the third phase of elections.
1999 – The new Archbishop of America, Dimitrios, is enthroned.
2002 – Nazi Maurice Papon is released from prison in France for health reasons.
2005 – Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) continue to have a “narrow” lead over Gerhard Schröder’s Social Democrats (SPD), but fail to secure a parliamentary majority in Germany’s elections.
2005 – Historic parliamentary elections are held in Afghanistan for the first time in 36 years.
2006 – 40-year-old Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari becomes the first female space tourist aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station
2013 – 34-year-old anti-fascist singer Pavlos Fyssas is murdered in cold blood by goldsmith Giorgos Roupakias in Keratsini.
Birthdays today
53 – Trajan, Roman Emperor
1091 – Andronikos Komnenos, Byzantine prince
1495 – Ludwig I, Duke of Bavaria
1539 – Louis, Duke of Nevers
1709 – Samuel Johnson, English author
1786 – Christian VIII, King of Denmark
1819 – Jean Bernard Leon Foucault, French physicist
1848 – Michael Defner, German linguist and philologist
1885 – Uzegir Hajibeyov, Azerbaijani composer, conductor and playwright
1891 – Joe Ponti, Italian architect
1895 – Tomoji Tanabe, Japanese centenarian
1905 – Greta Garbo, Swedish actress
1907 – Edwin M. McMillan, American physicist
1922 – Giannis Gionakis, Greek actor
1937 – Ivy Macepe-Kasaberi, South African politician
1940 – Abbas El Fassi, Moroccan politician
1942 – Wolfgang Schäuble, German politician
1944 – Nikos Christidis, Greek footballer
1947 – Giancarlo Minardi. Italian businessman
1948 – Mary Razi, Greek actress
1949 – Mo Mowlam, English politician
1950 – Eftichis Damianakis, Greek politician
1951 – Giannakis Omirou, Cypriot politician
1951 – Marc Schurer, Swiss veteran racing driver
1952 – Rick Pitino, Italian-American basketball coach
1956 – Giorgos Kimoulis, Greek actor and director
1958 – Rashid Taha, Algerian singer
1960 – Karim Rashid, Egyptian industrial designer
1961 – James Gandolfini, American actor
1968 – Toni Kukoc, Croatian basketball player
1971 – Lance Armstrong, American cyclist
1972 – Michael Landes, American actor
1973 – James Marsden, American actor
1974 – Xzibit, American rapper and actor (Likwit Crew)
1978 – Mattheos Tsachouridis, Greek lyre player
1984 – Stathis Rokas, Greek footballer
1986 – Renaud Lavilleni, French sprinter
Like deaths today
96 – Domitian, Roman Emperor
993 – Arnulf, Count of Holland
1137 – Eric II, King of Denmark
1180 – Louis VII, King of France
1443 – Louis of Luxembourg, Archbishop of Rouen
1598 – Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japanese warlord
1647 – Pietro Carrera, Italian chess player
1675 – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine
1783 – Leonard Euler, Swiss mathematician
1872 – Charles XI, King of Sweden
1896 – Hippolytus Fizeau, French physicist
1905 – George MacDonald, Scottish author
1911 – Pyotr Stolypin, Russian politician
1939 – Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, Polish writer, painter and photographer
1961 – Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish economist and diplomat
1964 – Sean O’Casey, Irish playwright
1967 – John Douglas Cockroft, English physicist
1970 – Jimi Hendrix, American singer and guitarist
1979 – Iosif Ritchiardis, Greek composer
1993 – Mitsos Lygizos, Greek writer and actor
2013 – Pavlos Fyssas, Greek singer
2021 – Vassilis Kypreos Greek painter
