Ilias Kasidiaris, the Golden Dawn party spokesman who attacked two Greek women MPs in a live broadcast from a television studio, is allegedly hiding from police in the headquarters of the far-right party in Athens, according to unconfirmed reports.

Witnesses said they saw him entering the building, cheered on by approximately 50 members of the party, according to Occupied London blog.

Greek police have been ordered to arrest Kasidiaris after he threw water at Rena Dourou of Syriza (the Coalition of the Radical Left) and then slapped the Communist Party (KKE) member Liana Kanelli three times.

Kasidiaris, whose party gained 7 percent of the vote at the recent parliamentary elections, was locked in a room at the studio but broke down a door to escape, according to reports.

Golden Dawn chief Nikos Michaloliakos claimed Kanelli attacked Kasidiaris first and that the incident had been blown out of proportion.

The party placed an embargo on its representatives speaking to the press.

The TV debate plunged into chaos when Kasidiaris threw his water at Dourou and called her a "joke".

In response, Kanelli threw a newspaper at Kasidiaris. He called her a "commie", stood up, pushed her and hit her hard in the face three times.

"I was worried he might throw the glass and hurt somebody," Kanelli told reporters later. She showed a dark bruise on her cheek, saying: "It's my badge of honour."

A spokesman for the New Democracy party said: "The people must send them [Golden Dawn] to the dustbin of history."

Kasidiaris reportedly also threatened journalists and technicians offscreen.

At the 6 May elections, one in two members of the police force voted for Golden Dawn, according to polls.

Michaloliakos has rejected claims of affiliation with Nazism, even though the party's emblem, a squared spiral, and its colours recall closely the swastika. Michaloliakos made a Hitler-style salute when he was elected in 2010 to Athens city council.

Golden Dawn has appealed to growing nationalist sentiment after harsh austerity measures demanded by the European Union and the IMF helped plunge Greece into economic turmoil.
The party's main policy is to get rid of all illegal immigrants. "No one should fear me if they are a good Greek citizen. If they are traitors - I don't know," Michaloliakos said.

Golden Dawn's anti-immigration campaign was based on the slogan "So we can rid this land of filth".

A video published on YouTube showed muscular supporters of Golden Dawn urging journalists to rise from their seats as a sign of respect for Michaloliakos when he took the stage. Those who refused were expelled from the room.

The European Jewish Congress has called on European governments to ban the extremist party, expressing concerns about Michaloliakos's remarks on Nazi concentration camps.

The party leader claimed that the camps did not use gas chambers and ovens to exterminate Jews.

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