Guardian Unlimited | Greeks fight to stop ultra-right festival

Ultra-right parties from across Europe have caused uproar in Greece after announcing plans to stage a festival in a Peloponnesian town in the autumn. The three-day event, organised by some of the continent's leading neo-Nazi groups and billed officially as a camping trip to "Hellas, land of the heroes", is intended to become a recruiting ground for young people. "This unique gathering will combine comradeship with sport activities by the sea and, most importantly, an open congress with speeches on the descent of our national identity," the extremists say on their website. "Turkey, out of Europe" is expected to be the main slogan of the September 16-18 meeting. Germany's National Democratic party (NDP), Italy's Forza Nuova, Spain's La Falange, Romania's Noua Dreapta (the New Right) and Greece's Chryssi Avgi (Golden Dawn) have all pooled resources for the youth gathering. Old-guard fascists, including Udo Voigt, who heads the NDP, and Roberto Fiore of Forza Nuova plan to address the crowd. Outraged local authorities and leftwing groups in Greece yesterday pledged to fight back. In Meligala, the site of the proposed gathering, the town council vowed "to do everything possible" to stop the extremists descending on the hamlet, 150 miles south-west of Athens.