Greek drivers received an unexpected “gift” on Friday when members of the far-right, many say, downright neo-Nazi, Golden Dawn party, occupied [sic] many toll booths around the Mediterranean country’s road network allowing motorists to get a free ride for their Orthodox Easter weekend travel.
Of course, in reality, there’s no such thing as a free ride as the citizens of debt-struck Greece will end up paying the losses in income from the tolls in another form, sooner rather than later…
In any case, the official reasoning behind Golden Dawn’s move was that Greeks have already paid for the roads via taxes and with the help of the EU through grants, and that they shouldn’t be required to pay for tolls, especially since many of these highways are now in the hands of private companies.
Here’s Golden Dawn’s Spartan release: “During a nation-wide campaign, MPs and members of the Golden Dawn party opened the tolls of Eleusis and allowed the free passage of vehicles. There was literally pandemonium of horns and applause. The move was symbolic: you can’t have a population starving continue to pay millions for roads that have been paid for tenfold.”
It’s worth mentioning that Golden Dawn isn’t the only group in Greece that has opened up toll roads in the country – there’s even a party called “I Don’t Pay Move” that has done the same many times.
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