IntroductionIn September, a state used legal force to silence the nation'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 public officials were handcuffed, they implored journalists to pay attention to the political motivations behind their arrest and encouraged public opinion to support their “moral and just fight against the corrupt system”. Subsequently, the party released a statement on its website "ideas cannot be prosecuted" and the government has no power to silence a political party (Reuters). Traditionally, this narrative is read as a gross violation of free speech and an unfair overriding of the opposition; however, the party in question is Greece's Golden Dawn Party, a popular neo-Nazi gang often described as a cross between Hezbollah and the Tea Party (Kakissis). In their manifesto they argue that all immigrants, especially non-Caucasian ones, are illegal and that “Greece should be for Greeks”. The party fights for a Greece that recognizes "the spiritual, ethnic and racial inequality of human beings" 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 the government can rein in the party is through criminal prosecution. Unfortunately, Golden Dawn (GD) reflects a more widespread trend of European extremist populist parties (PEPs) that have slowly gained influence in Europe since the 1990s. Significant literature covers these parties and evidence has been gathered on how they are… middle of the paper… gaining more support and are not naturally disappearing. Political scientists have shown that excluding these extremist parties from the political sphere not only reduces violence and drastically reduces their political power, but also forces the parties to take an ideologically less extreme position. There is a clear problem, a clear pattern to the problem, and clear evidence that the problem does not go away on its own. Excluding extreme parties from the political sphere not only limits their influence, but forces them to adapt less extreme positions. In light of these facts, the recent arrest of Alba Gold officials is not a description of a state exercising unnecessary force, but rather a government's long-overdue action to quell violence, promote democracy and exercise force necessary to ensure that every Greek citizen feels safe and secure within the nation's borders.