Socialist PASOK leader and the coalition government’s Deputy Prime Minister Evangelos Venizelos was publicly mocked by jeers and taunts at the tense event marking the party’s 40th anniversary on September 1. Venizelos was heckled when he took the podium at the inauguration of a photo exhibition organized by the Andreas G. Papandreou Foundation at Zappeion Hall. Internal friction is expected to escalate on Wednesday, September 3, the official date for the founding of the PASOK party.

On Wednesday evening’s event, former PASOK prime minister George Papandreou will be in London and unable to attend. Venizelos is set to take the podium and openly respond to criticism by hard-line Papandreou supporters that are critical of his participation in the conservative-led coalition government headed by Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.
Officials of the event on Monday were angered by the event’s organizers failure to subdue the hecklers who called Venizelos a “traitor”. PASOK’s official Facebook account on Tuesday briefly featured a strong-worded statement that was later quickly removed:

The supporters (indignant citizens – hit squads) of the man whose party won the 2009 elections with 44 percent of the vote and then succeeded (!) after two years as PM in forging a coalition with the Right of [Antonis] Samaras and [Giorgos] Karatzaferis yesterday urged [Papandreou] to return and do away with the Right!… Send in the duty psychiatrist please.
Some MPs, such as Dimitris Karydis, urged Papandreou to take a stand on the issue and condemn reactions, but no such criticism was forthcoming.

During Monday’s address, Papandreou said that PASOK was “eager for a new beginning”, with speculation soaring regarding the deeper meaning of this statement.