Combative Defence Minister Panos Kammenos, the leader of the rightist junior party in the current moribund Greek government coalition, was met by angry local residents on the eastern Aegean island of Kos, with several hurling … eggs, bottles and verbal abusse his way!

Hours later, however, with statement on his personal Twitter account, Kammenos blamed top police official “with a long tenure in the (Greek) secret service along with neo-Nazis” as behind his thoroughly rude welcome on the island.

“The defence minister of the country is accusing EYP (the service) which it controls/manages for the provocation,” was the subsequent response, also on Twitter, by opposition MP and former minister Adonis Georgiadis, himself in the category of “most outspoken Greek lawmakers”, which also includes Kammenos.

The incident occurred on Friday as the often tough-talking Kammenos arrived on the island amid the unprecedented wave of refugees and illegal migrants disembarking from the opposite Turkish coast for whatever Greek territory they can reach. The leader of the small, formerly anti-bailout party known as the Independent Greeks (AN.EL) had arrived to “survey the situation” on the island — one of the primary targets of migrant smugglers ferrying third country nationals into Greece.

Kammenos, a former member of conservative New Democracy party since his teens with repeated tenures in parliament and various ministerial positions, attracted the brunt of criticism during his visit, given that under his watch as defence minister Greece’s sea borders in the eastern Aegean have essentially been abolished.
No real “survey” of the situation was possible, as Kammenos retreated into a government building with his entourage and security detail amid the missiles being tossed in his direction. He later addressed cameras and reporters without his usual suit jacket, given that it was pocked with egg stains.

Kammenos, after establishing his new party and re-entering Parliament and the current government, once called on local residents to “lynch” a mayor of a northern Greece municipality that was in favor of the Skouries gold mine in eastern Halkidiki prefecture.