‘Anti-Zionist’ patrols in Thessaloniki condemned as echoing city’s June 1931 pogrom

The Central Jewish Council of Greece (KISE) has condemned efforts by far-left groups to organise “anti-Zionist patrols” in Thessaloniki, describing similarities to antisemitic attacks which took place in the same city 95 years ago.

Rouvikonas (Rubicon), a Greek anarchist direct action group, organised groups of its members to march through the country’s second largest city on Saturday 27 June. The individuals, who were joined by members of ‘Permanent Struggle for Class Liberation’ and the ‘Thessaloniki Liberation Initiative’, were dressed in black t-shirts bearing a picture of the Palestinian flag on the front.

In a statement from Rouvikonas, the group said that “In recent years, we have witnessed a peculiar colonization of many megacities by capital, domestic and – mainly – imported. Under the guise of investment and economic development, Israeli (and other) funds are massively buying up beaches, neighbourhoods, and villages, turning the residents of these areas into immigrants in their own land.”

Rouvikonas went on to claim that “in this context, Israelis are rushing to ‘invest’ their money, bloodied by the genocide, in Airbnb and other accommodations or plots of land, which the Greek state is selling off at bargain prices. While the people of Palestine and Lebanon are being massacred, Zionist tourists, IDF soldiers and their families arrive by the thousands on cruise ships, turning their investment estates into sources of income or places of rest from the rapes and murders of civilians and children in Gaza.

The far left group stated that “Israeli investments are part of the Zionist state’s tactical ‘soft power’, a tool for economic leverage of the state in which they invest in order to exert influence on issues of trade cooperation and international relations. At the same time, they generate huge profits which are used to maintain Israel’s expensive, international propaganda machine (Hasbara).”

In response, KISE, the main organisation representing Jews in Greece, said:

“Ninety-five years ago, the blackshirts of the ‘assault battalions’ targeted and hunted Jews. On June 27, 2026, exactly 95 years later, blackshirts with Palestinian flags on their shirts organized new ‘assault battalions’ in Thessaloniki to ‘patrol’ the city’s main streets, threatening and intimidating Jews, Zionists, Israelis, tourists and shopkeepers.

“Then – in 1928 – when the hate campaign began, some political forces and media outlets helped shape the antisemitic climate that culminated on the night between June 29 and 30, 1931, when an attack was organized on the Jewish settlements of Thessaloniki during which the ‘Campbell’ settlement was set on fire.

In both cases – then and today – hatred against Jews prevails. And today a new climate of Jew-hatred is taking shape that threatens not only Greek Jews but also the well-being of all citizens. Because history teaches that antisemitism begins its course targeting Jews but never stops with Jews.”

The Campbell pogrom, which took place on 29-30 June, 1931, saw nationalist groups target neighbourhoods of the city with large Jewish populations, particularly the area known as ‘Campbell’, after false rumours spread of Jewish collaboration with Bulgarians and local Communists. The neighbourhoods were largely destroyed, the instigators of the pogrom were acquitted, and government funding to help the beleaguered Jews rebuild was meagre, leading to tens of thousands migrating, many to the British Mandate of Palestine.

A decade later, during the Nazi occupation of Greece, approximately 54,000 Jews were deported to extermination camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka. More than 95% of those deported were murdered there.

The statement from the Central Jewish Council of Greece continued: “ We observe with sadness the tolerance shown by state authorities and social institutions towards this new wave of fanaticism that is manifested against Jewish citizens of the State of Israel, who visit our country either because they love its nature and its people or because they want to invest and contribute to the development of economic transactions between the two peoples. These ‘assault battalions’ and their followers seek to undermine the strategically important relations between Greece and Israel in a period of instability in the eastern Mediterranean that threatens the security of both countries.

“We are confident that the ‘battalions’ of 2026 will be isolated and defeated, just as the ‘battalions’ of Golden Dawn were defeated in 2012, and that ultimately the Greek society and the Greek State of 2026 will defend the values ​​of democracy and culture and will not allow them to be undermined by the followers of hatred and fanaticism.”

The World Jewish Congress posted a picture of one of the ‘patrols’, saying: “This was Thessaloniki on June 27. A group of men in black shirts with Palestinian flags organized new ‘assault squads’ to “‘patrol’ the city’s main streets – and intimidate Jews. Exactly 95 years earlier in 1931, ‘assault squads’ roamed the streets and targeted and persecuted Jews.

“We support our Greek affiliate the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) which condemned this display of bigotry and stand in solidarity with Greece’s Jewish community amidst this campaign.”

The city’s district court prosecutor’s office has reportedly ordered a preliminary investigation into the incident. The investigation will reportedly seek to determine whether the actions of Rouvikonas and their accomplices crossed the line into public incitement of violence and hatred.