As I found out later, the men who stripped down were two. A 56-year-old American, who claimed to have been suffering from psychological problems, and somebody else. Rumours say he is British. The real question, however, is not the nature of their nationality, it is the reason that brought them to parade naked in front of the Greek Parliament.

Some people say those men were crazy, others that they were paid to shift the attention away from the protesters who flooded the streets during that day. In fact, much of Athens went into security lock-down during the week, and more than 6,000 police officers were needed to create safety zones for the German chancellor. In spite of them, the visit didn’t go down well.

Isolated, on Wednesday the German delegation might have noticed the lines of shops shuttered along the roads, and above them the locked flats. The economic crisis has altered the face of Athens. The divide between who has and who has not is visible in the way people carry themselves on the streets: they are either speeding away in a feast of fearful anticipation, or meandering helplessly.

On the whole, Mrs Merkel has become the embodiment of an imposed economic crisis for the majority of the Greeks, but another kind of demon is lurking around in the shadows. I am not sure those naked men aimed to challenge the German delegation; they might have been there to testify to Athens’ helpless battle against a much more sinister guest in town, the uncharted violence we are all victims of.

As criminality raises in direct relationship to unemployment, more and more people seek help from Golden Dawn. The party has recently raised to the third position in popularity, behind New Democracy and Syriza. Described by many as a neo-Nazi group, it has been accused to promote violence against foreigners living in Greece.

A few days ago, a Tanzanian community centre was vandalised by a group of 80-100 people in central Athens. This is neither an isolated violent attack on immigrants, nor the first one the party has been linked to.

The number of clashes between Golden Dawn’s members and anti-fascists groups are also escalating. On one of such occasions, 30th September, fifteen anti-fascist protesters were actually arrested in Athens and apparently tortured by the police in the Attica General Police Directorate (GADA). Some of them stated they were burned on their arms with a cigarette lighter, and more, as the police officers threatened to give their home addresses to Golden Dawn, which holds a track record of political violence. In response to the accusations, Christos Manouras, the spokesman for the Hellenic police, stated that there was no use of force by police officers against anyone in GADA.

Where is Greece going?

Mistreatment of Greeks in police custody has been rare until this year, as well as attacks against foreigners. In a country that suffered very much from different forms of Fascism – first the Italian, then the German, and finally the Greek Colonels – the events taking place at the present time are difficult to believe.

Whatever these people try to achieve, it seems they are rapidly winning: foreigners are afraid, the population is overwhelmed by a daily routine that offers no positive aspects, the number of homeless people is alarming, and criminality has never been so high. It seems like the perfect recipe for a civil unrest that brings to mind the most dark pages of contemporary Greek history.

As I consider the eventuality of leaving the country, I recall the time I first arrive in Athens, when homes in the outskirts of the city were left unlocked. Nobody feared the man next door, and the policeman was a friend who offered you coffee now and then.