Four members of the ultra-right party Golden Dawn and two members of an anti-fascist organization were released Wednesday pending trial for their alleged participation in clashes on Tuesday night in the Cretan port of Hania.

The local offices of Golden Dawn and the Communist Party (KKE) each issued statements on Wednesday blaming the other for initiating the clashes.

In an apparently separate development, police in Hania arrested five people in connection with an attack by a large group of vandals wielding wooden clubs on a shop in the old port of Hania on Tuesday.