The Greek neo-Nazi movement, however, is a dark and dangerous beast despite its various charity fronts. It uses violence to advance its aims and actively promotes racism, anti-Semitism, anti-Islamic sentiment, homophobia and social division, particularly by assaulting and demonising immigrants as scapegoats for the nation's woes.

Today's Greek neo-Nazis found their political voice in the form of Golden Dawn as youth unemployment hit 50 per cent, and overall joblessness about 25 per cent, once austerity measures began to bite. The stresses of the economic contraction within Greek communities are palpable; even the rates of stillbirths have increased because many women can no longer afford neo-natal screening or care.

Against this backdrop of declining living standards and acute uncertainty about the future, Greece is also facing relentless waves of immigrant arrivals by sea. In the first four months of this year alone over 21,000 people arrived by boat, mainly fleeing Syria, compared to about 33,000 people for all of 2014. Unfortunately, this confluence of factors adds up to a textbook scenario for the rise of political extremism.

Golden Dawn took to the national political stage in 2012, winning 21 seats to enter the Hellenic Parliament for the first time. In national elections earlier this year it won more than 6 per cent of the primary vote, even though its leadership had been jailed under anti-gang laws.

More ominous than the popular vote, perhaps, is its considerable support within the Greek security forces. About half the Greek police voted for Golden Dawn in 2012. The chief of the Hellenic Police, Nikos Papagiannopoulos, has since been reported as telling his officers to make the lives of immigrants "unbearable" and members of the Greek coastguard unit have been accused of beating migrants and dumping them at sea in Turkish territorial waters and of carrying out "mock" waterboardings.