The Vandals recent show in Athens, Greece had to be cancelled last minute due to protestors, reported to number about 500, surrounding the venue. The crowd, described as "violent" in the latest Kung Fu Records newsletter, forced the Vandals to remain in the venue for about two hours until they were escorted to safety.
The label released following is a report from a Greek member of the Kung Fu street team:
As a Kung Fu Street Team member in Athens and a longtime Vandals fan i would like to Apologize and express my disgust on behalf of everyone that went to the show, only to find outside the club 30-40 people holding bats, chains and knives trying (and ultimately succeeding) to shut the place down. The people that were there to listen to good music and enjoy the show, were A LOT more than those who didn't. But people went to the show to have fun, not a confrontation with "anarchists" (that's what they call themselves) with lives so empty and meaningless they'll jump on every chance to make other people miserable. Did those "anarchists" know who the Vandals are? Probably never heard of them before. Did they even read why the Vandals played in Iraq? Most definitely not, they are too stuck up to consider another opinion and anyway, they're single digit IQ doesn't really allow them to read. They just heard of the words Vandals and Iraq, and all the processing their little brain was able to do was: Vandals + Iraq = Mass murdering capitalist who eat babies alive. You should not be angry at these people, just be sorry for them. Unfortunately on February 15th, they got it their way. Once again i would like to apologize on behalf of the many people over here that love the Vandals and really wanted to see a good show, and ask the band to consider visiting Athens sometime in the future, when the whole Iraq deal is forgotten. The actions of these people do not, and never will represent the majority, just keep in mind that the Vandals and everyone in the Kung Fu family will always be welcome in Greece.
There are unconfirmed reports in the Punk.Gr forum that the crowd later attacked two politicians from the main Greek opposition party, as well as disputed views of the crowd's size. We'll update this story as more details come to light. This follows an earlier incident in Austria in which promoters cancelled a Vandals show due to their appearance in Iraq.