Greece on Saturday arrested the leader of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party and hunted for dozens of members as part of a crackdown launched after the murder of a leftist musician, a police source said.
Nikos Michaloliakos, 56, was arrested along with Golden Dawn lawmaker and spokesman Ilias Kassidiairis and two other party members on charges of belonging to a "criminal organization," the source said on condition of anonymity.
Arrest warrants have been issued for at least five other MPs and dozens of members of the party, which has 18 lawmakers in parliament.
The arrests came a day after Golden Dawn threatened to quit parliament, a move that would prompt by-elections in the recession-hit country where the government is struggling to implement painful public sector reforms in return for international bailout funds.
Greece launched a crackdown on the party after the fatal stabbing of 34-year-old anti-fascist hip-hop artist Pavlos Fyssas on September 18 by a self-confessed neo-Nazi.
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