A major police operation led by the Hellenic Police has resulted in the arrest of 25 individuals—14 of them minors—believed to be members of a violent far-right group operating under the name “Nationalist Youth of Thessaloniki.” The group is accused of carrying out a series of criminal acts including racist attacks, robberies, and bodily harm in western Thessaloniki.
“This gang involves 29 people, 15 adults and 14 minors,” said Thessaloniki’s General Police Director Georgios Tzimas during a press conference. “25 people have been arrested so far.”
The press conference, held in the presence of Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrysochoidis, focused on domestic violence and juvenile delinquency, but took a turn with the announcement of the arrests. “It is an operation carried out by the Hellenic Police with very targeted investigations that it has carried out in recent months, through a careful effort by the Thessaloniki Crime Prosecution and Investigation Directorate,” said Chrysochoidis. “And it is really very important, because it has nothing to do with purely political motives. Essentially, this is a criminal organization, which, beyond political motives and motives, engages in criminal acts.”
According to updated information, 28 suspects in total are being brought before a prosecutor, accused of membership in a criminal organization that operated under the guise of a far-right collective, committing acts of violence with racist characteristics, robberies, thefts, and a series of other illegal activities.
The offenses took place between September of last year and March of this year, following a lengthy investigation that identified the suspects as direct perpetrators, instigators, or accomplices. Among the arrestees are several minors who were allegedly “recruited” by older, adult members of the organization, also known by the alias “DEFEND SALONICA.” One additional minor has been identified but not arrested, as he is currently abroad.
Previous reporting links the same organization name with a variety of racist intimidation campaigns. As reported by Ta Nea in October 2024, vandals painted neo-Nazi slogans such as “Heil Hitler” and swastikas on a high school in Neapoli and the offices of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), signing the messages with the name—“Nationalist Youth of Thessaloniki.” At the time Mayor Simos Daniilidis told local radio “Something must be done.” The group was also linked to prior acts of vandalism at public libraries and school buildings.
Even more alarming were reports from The TOC in January 2022 documenting a campaign of terror in schools across western Thessaloniki, that it attributed to groups including the “Nationalist Youth of Thessaloniki”. An investigation reported that a core group of 10–15 individuals affiliated with nationalist movements were threatening teachers, beating students with dissenting views, and attacking refugee students.
In one especially brutal incident in Evosmos, a 15-year-old refugee student was reportedly attacked by a group of youths while waiting for the bus to return to the Diavata shelter. The violence created a climate of fear so intense that reportedly many refugee students stopped attending school altogether. “Apparently these are groups that act inside and outside the school in an organized manner and aim to scare, to terrorize the students and refugee children who have been in this area and must participate in the educational process,” said Thanasis Kokonas, president of the Federation of Parents and Guardians’ Associations of Central Macedonia.
Additionally, reports indicate that some members of the group had already come under police scrutiny in September 2021, when leftist university students were attacked during an anti-racism protest outside a school in western Thessaloniki.
Police also revealed that the group coordinated through a specific online platform and maintained multiple social media accounts, which they used not only to communicate internally but also to promote their far-right rhetoric and boast about their criminal “achievements.”
An abandoned X account bearing the same name, “Nationalist Youth of Thessaloniki”, contains images of groups of young men posing before flags with a ringed cross on a bed of fire, proudly sharing screenshots of articles describing the group’s violence towards foreigners, and flyers that claim, “In ten years we will be a minority in our own fatherland.” The account has since been deleted.
When asked in Wednesday’s press conference, Chrysochoidis dismissed the notion that the group marks a political revival of fascism in northern Greece.
