Greek MEP kicked out by party after allegedly hitting reporter in Strasbourg – POLITICO

The report says Pappas followed the two journalists toward the exit and twice hit Yiannopoulos from behind, knocking him to the ground.

The two journalists said they returned to the bar, and as the Greeks tried to leave they bumped into Pappas, who threatened them. An hour later Pappas sent apologies by text message and tried to reach the journalist by phone, but he did not reply.

Yiannopoulos filed a complaint with local police.

POLITICO reached out to Pappas, but he did not reply to a request for comment.

Syriza President Socrates Famellos subsequently expelled Pappas from the party’s European Parliament group and requested that Syriza’s ethics committee also expel him from the wider ranks, according to a senior Syriza official.

“This incident follows previous instances of contemptuous and aggressive behavior by the MEP in question, with many different victims, which his party chose to silence and cover up,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said. “He had to resort to physical violence so that Syriza would be forced to expel him.”

Thomas Shannon, spokesperson for The Left group in the European Parliament, to which Syriza belongs, said: “We take allegations of violence extremely seriously and we are aware that the member has been expelled from the Syriza delegation. A formal procedure … has been launched to take a final decision on the concerned MEP’s position in The Left group in the European Parliament.”