Fierce recriminations have broken out between SYRIZA and New Democracy after the PM blamed, in a speech to his cabinet, the main opposition party of being indirectly responsible for the mob attack against Thessaloniki Mayor Yannis Boutaris, on 19 May.

In a statement, SYRIZA attempted to link ND to the extreme-right deep state’s murderous attack against left-wing icon and MP Grigoris Lambrakis in May, 1963.

“Mr. Mitsotakis should learn to distinguish the words of politics and of polemics from the revving up of the three-wheel automobile [that was used to run over Lambrakis],” SYRIZA’s statement declared.

“ND’s response to the prime minister’s criticism of extreme-right violence, which the main opposition hosts in its basements and in its highest echelons, is a characteristic example of bigotry, which presages thuggish attacks such as the one against Boutaris, and prods in that direction,” the statement said.

Prior to that, ND had issued a withering statement against SYRIZA after the PM linked New Democracy to the attack on Boutaris.

“It was he [Tsipras] and his party that led the charge and fueled violence in [the widespread riots of] 2008. He and his party announced that gallows [for the government] would be set up in Syntagma Square, and spoke about Nazi collaborators,” ND’s statement read.

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