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In parallel with the emergence of civil society after 2010, there was a rise of uncivil society. For instance, racist and fascist groups, spearheaded by the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party, mobilised against foreign migrants as well as against Greek political elites. In the neighbourhood of Aghios Panteleimonas Acharnon, in Athens, Greek residents formed small ‘vigilante groups’. Carrying sticks and knives, they effectively prevented migrants from using public spaces, such as a square or a children’s playground. Claiming that they reacted to crimes committed by foreign migrants, vigilante groups supported by Golden Dawn harmed or even killed foreign migrants and whomever supported them. For instance, in January 2013 two Golden Dawn members stubbed to death a Pakistani migrant in Athens, and in September 2013 another [75] Golden Dawn member, called in by his fellow party members, stubbed to death Pavlos Fyssas, a Greek left-wing hip hop singer. Undoubtedly, these were the gravest examples of uncivil society mobilisation.

Democratic life was also harmed by extreme leftist groups which used to join demonstrations to pursue their own anti-system ends. In May 2010, during the first in a series of general strikes, three bank employees lost their lives in Athens, when demonstrators from an anarchist group torched a bank branch. On another occasion, on 28 July 2011 in the port of Piraeus, angry taxi drivers succeeded in preventing coach buses from carrying tourists from cruise liners to the city, by throwing oil on the streets and turning asphalt into a gliding mirror. This created a life-threatening situation for coach bus drivers and passengers wishing to leave the port.

Another frequent occurrence was the long-term occupation of various abandoned buildings by groups of squatters and the extra-parliamentary Left. The latter used to prepare and keep petrol bombs in the occupied buildings in order to attack policemen -even when no demonstration was taking place -and to wage battles against the Riot Police whenever the latter attempted to recapture such government owned buildings. The most dramatic episode was the eviction of anarchists from the former high school building known as “Villa Amalia” in the centre of Athens. The building had been occupied since 1990, the police evicted the anarchists in December 2012, the latter recaptured the building a few weeks later and were finally evicted in January 2013.

Other instances of social protest which could be classified as manifestations of uncivil society were local enclaves of violent resistance against the implementation of legislation and court decisions. An extreme example was the movement of residents of the Keratea village (south-east of Athens), who in 2010-2012 resisted the installation of a waste management plant in their area, a project that had been approved by the parliament and the courts. Yet, some villagers dag in a deep ditch at the major thoroughfare passing outside their village, and thus temporarily barred circulation between Athens and the southeastern part of the Attica region, and even erected barricades to block access to their village. A similar example was the movement of the residents of Skouries village in the Halkidiki prefecture of Northern Greece in 2012-2016. Part of the village community opposed the installation of a new gold-mining operation by a private company in their area, a project that had also passed the tests of parliamentary vote and court approval. Yet, some villagers erected barricades, blocked access to their village for extended periods of time and even supported a group which invaded the company’s property and torched trucks and machinery.

In view of the above, one cannot interpret either the harassment of migrants by right-wing militants or the collective damage of state and private property by left-wing militants as signs of the revitalisation of the civil society during the crisis in Greece.