New Greek minister resigns over social media row

A junior minister in the new Greek government has resigned less than 24 hours after being appointed over anti-Semitic and homophobic comments on social media.

Dimitris Kammenos, from the right-wing Independent Greeks party, had mocked pro-EU demonstrators in June by posting a doctored picture of the gate to Auschwitz on his Facebook page, replacing the words “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Sets You Free) over the gate with “We Stay in Europe”.

In an apologetic tweet, Kammenos said: “The comparison may have been unfortunate but there is an economic holocaust underway in my country”.

In an earlier rant, he implied that Jews were behind the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, repeating a debunked conspiracy theory that all of the 2,500 Jews working at the Twin Towers failed to show up for work on that fateful day.

Dimitris Kammenos, who is not related to his party leader Panos Kammenos, has also been accused of writing racist and homophobic tweets and Facebook posts.

In a statement on Wednesday, he claimed that somebody had hacked his accounts –which have since been deactivated 0 and called on police to investigate.

“I categorically condemns racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism,” he said.

Independent Greeks leader Panos Kammenos said that the deputy minister for infrastructure and transport would resign until the truth was established.

Alexis Tsipras’ left-wing Syriza party won 35.5% of the vote in a general election on Sunday, but required the support of the Independent Greeks as a junior coalition partner to form a majority government.