THERE HAS BEEN outrage in Greece after the far right political party Golden Dawn put up posters asking citizens to donate blood only for their fellow Greeks.

Athens News reports that the party, which won enough votes to enter parliament on the back of growing anti-immigrant sentiment and concern about security, wanted the blood bank to be set up at a state hospital.

The posters stated that volunteers should donate blood “only for Greeks who need our help” and said that any collected would be handed over to Golden Dawn members and people of their choosing.

According to Reuters health officials have said that such a blood bank would be illegal, while a doctors’ union in Athens said that the proposal was “insane, unscientific, illegal and racist”.

In May Golden Dawn’s website was suspended over allegations of threats made to a journalist. At the party’s victory speech after winning a place in parliament reporters were ordered to “rise up” as a mark of respect to the head of Golden Dawn Nikos Michaloliakos:

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This week Human Rights Watch said that the Greek authorities were “failing to tackle a rising wave of xenophobic violence that has left migrants afraid to walk the streets. HRW also identified that some alleged members of Golden Dawn had been arrested in connection with recent attacks.

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