Athens, 27 April 2023 (MIA) - Head of the Thessaloniki Prosecutor's Office, Dimitris Smyrnis, has ordered an urgent preliminary investigation to identify perpetrators who stormed in and disrupted the exhibition by Macedonian artist Sergej Andreevski in Thessaloniki, MIA's Athens correspondent reports. 

According to Greek news agency ANA-MPA, the investigation is to identify those involved and establish criminal responsibility, and the crimes being investigated include racially motivated violence, complicity and incitement to commit crimes, violence or discord. 

A group of black-clad members of the banned far-right "Golden Dawn", stormed in and disrupted an exhibition by Macedonian artist Sergej Andreevski taking place at a gallery in the Thessaloniki district of Kalamaria, MIA's Athens correspondent reported earlier on Thursday.

In a video posted on YouTube by the so-called "Golden Dawn's Youth Front", members are heard saying "Golden Dawn sealed the Skopje exhibition in Kalamaria", commenting they don't accept any compromise on the "Greek character of Macedonia", adding that it was an "obvious mockery and an insult to the national feeling of the Macedonians", and they had to "intervene" and above all send a message to the Greek authorities that "such provocations don't go unanswered".

"Golden Dawn" was part of the Greek Parliament between 2012 and 2019, and according to a 2020 court ruling, it is a criminal organization and the leadership of the party, former MPs and members, have now been serving a three-year prison sentence.

Commenting on the incident in Thessaloniki, Greek government spokesperson Akis Skertsos told a press briefing on Thursday that "there's no tolerance for the so-called paramilitary Nazi groups, no tolerance for lawlessness, no tolerance for intimidation of citizens". In addition, Syriza's Thessaloniki branch condemned the incident and called on the police to arrest the perpetrators.