IntroductionIn September, a state used legal force to silence the country's third most popular political party. Five democratically elected officials were arrested, including the party leader. The following week, fifteen more party officials were arrested along with thirty-five party members, making it the largest persecution of a political party since 1964. As the officials were handcuffed, they implored journalists to take into account the political motivations behind their arrest and encouraged the public to support their “moral and just struggle against the corrupt system”. The party later released a statement on its website: "ideas cannot be pursued" and the government does not have the power to silence a political party (Reuters). Traditionally, this narrative reads as a blatant violation of free speech and an injustice. crush the opposition; However, the party in question is the Greek Golden Dawn party, a popular neo-Nazi gang often described as a cross between Hezbollah and the Tea Party (Kakissis). In their manifesto, they claim that all immigrants, especially those who are not Caucasian, are illegal and that "Greece should belong to the Greeks." The party strives for a Greece that recognizes "the spiritual, ethnic and racial inequality of humans" and often resorts to violent tactics to achieve these goals. Since the Greek constitution does not allow the government to silence political parties, the only way for the government to gain control in the party is through criminal prosecution. Unfortunately, Golden Dawn (GD) reflects a broader trend of European extremist populist parties (EPPs) that have slowly gained influence in Europe since the 1990s. A significant literature covers these parties, and evidence has been gathered on how to 'be...... middle of paper ......gaining more support and not naturally withering away. Political scientists have proven that excluding these extremist parties from the political sphere not only reduces violence and significantly reduces their political power, but also forces parties to adopt a less ideologically extreme stance. There is a clear problem, a clear structure of the problem, and clear evidence that the problem does not resolve itself. Excluding extreme parties from the political sphere not only limits their influence, but forces them to adopt less extreme positions. Given these facts, the recent arrest of Golden Dawn leaders is not a tale of a state exercising unnecessary force, but rather long-overdue action by a government to quell violence, promote democracy and exert the necessary force to ensure that every Greek citizen feels safe and secure. safe within the country's borders.