Golden Dawn in protest at Greek parliament

(ATHENS) - Hundreds of members of Golden Dawn protested on Wednesday outside the Greek parliament, which will decide whether to lift immunity for the leader of the extreme right party.

Nikolaos Michaloliakos has been in provisional detention since September for belonging "to a criminal organisation." He and 16 party deputies will be transferred at midday from a prison near Athens to parliament to defend themselves in front of their peers.

Greek prosecutors have asked parliament to lift the parliamentary immunity of Michaloliakos and two other lawmakers, Christos Pappas and Yannis Lagos, after criminal proceedings were launched against them for "carrying an illegal weapon."

Security measures were stepped up in the centre of Athens, and one of the main roads leading to parliament was closed to traffic.

"We are fighting for a better Greece. The provisional detention of the party's leader and deputies is unfair, illegal and anticonstitutional," said a 40 year-old Golden Dawn supporter, who has been unemployed for several months and gave his name only as Dimitris.

"No to prison for the nationalists," the activists chanted in front of parliament.

Formerly on the fringe of Greek politics, the openly xenophobic and anti-Semitic Golden Dawn won entry to Greece's 300-seat parliament for the first time in elections in June 2012, tapping into widespread anger over immigration and austerity reforms in the debt-ridden country.

Golden Dawn also ran third in European elections last month.

A crackdown against the party was launched last year following the killing of a Greek anti-fascist musician by a party member outside Athens.

Half of the party's 18 lawmakers are now under investigation over crimes allegedly committed by the once-fringe party during its recent rise to prominence.

Two Golden Dawn members were recently sentenced to life in jail for the murder of a Pakistani man in Athens in January.

The party says it is facing political persecution by the conservative-led coalition government of Antonis Samaras, which fears its popular appeal.