ATHENS – A New Democracy Member of Parliament who was Minister for Rural Development and Sports, Lefteris Avgenakis, was booted from the party’s parliamentary group after seeming to strike an airport worker while ripping the employee’s phone away.

Avgenakis was angry that he was denied boarding a flight to his home turf of Crete from Athens International Airport and a video on social media showed him seeming to strike the worker in tearing away the phone to talk to a supervisor.

He apologized and said he wouldn’t give up his parliamentary seat but after rival parties called for actions and the airport workers union ripped over, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis – who could eject him from the party – instead sent the case to the party’s ethics committee which said Avgenakis would be removed from the parliamentary group.

Defiant, he said he would not give up his seat to be filled by someone else from New Democracy and would stay on. “I provided an explanation regarding the incident and issued a public apology. I was and remain an MP for the prefecture of Iraklio, and I will continue to serve the citizens of Crete with the same passion,” he said in a statement.

His removal leaves the ruling New Democracy with 157 seats in the 300-member Parliament, still a comfortable majority over the major opposition SYRIZA and the third-place PASOK Socialists and the other parties in the Parliament combined.

An Athens prosecutor also began an investigation to determine where there were offenses including assault, disruption of public services, unlawful violence and damage to public property. Further legal action will require lifting Avgenakis’ parliamentary immunity.

It was difficult to tell from a video that circulated on social media whether Avgenakis, hit the worker in the face while taking the phone from him and there wasn’t any audio accompanying it to reveal what the confrontation involved.

Boarding was said to have finished but Avgenakis said he could still people getting on and was apparently enraged he wasn’t allowed to do so, which would have violated boarding procedures and airport security.

On social media, he said that he was “sincerely sorry and apologize for the tension and disturbance caused recently at the airport with an airline employee in my attempt to board my flight to Iraklio.”

But he said it was only a “verbal incident,” despite the video showing him seeming to hit the worker’s face while ripping the phone out of his hands. “He did not allow me to board, claiming that boarding had been completed, while I could see with my own eyes that passengers were still in the boarding bridge,” he said.

IMMUNITY, NOT IMPUNITY

“The employee repeatedly refused to allow me the opportunity to communicate with his supervisor or another responsible person from the airline as a last effort to manage to travel on time, which led me to try to take the phone from his hands to speak myself. However, the incident remained only at the level of disagreement and verbal tension.”

He said that he was surprised “at the exaggerations and inaccuracies circulating in recent media reports about an incident of ‘savage beating,’ ‘fainting,’ and ‘physical assault’ on my part,” as the story spread.

Speaking later on SKAI TV he said the incident was “a bad moment” and stated that since he had issued a “public apology” to the employee, there was “no consideration” of resigning despite the public flap and embarrassment for New Democracy.

The OSEYPE (Federation of Associations of Airport Services Workers) complained of an incident of violence against the worker and said that Avgenakis “appears to have confused the gate, resulting in the flight being closed.”

It wasn’t said if the worker knew Avgenakis was a Member of Parliament or how the lawmaker could have gotten the wrong gate as domestic flights generally have the same gates for departures.

The union said three boarding announcements were made to alert travelers to be at the gate but that he didn’t show up, no word where he was and then began shouting at the worker when he did appear. It was said police came but there was no report whether Avgenakis was detained or questioned.

There was no immediate reaction from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis who is dealing with several dozen party members disgruntled over the party’s disappointing performance in European Parliament elections.

SYRIZA spokesperson Voula Kehagia said before Avgenakis’ removal that, “The actions are unacceptable, and we unequivocally condemn them. After viewing the relevant video, it is evident that there was violent behavior. I am unsure whether Mr Avgenakis’ actions constitute assault. Regardless, the Prime Minister must dismiss and expel Mr. Avgenakis today, as he has exhibited behaviors that exceed acceptable conduct.”

She added that, “He cannot remain in the New Democracy parliamentary group after such behavior. If the allegations from the workers’ federation, claiming that Mr. Avgenakis invoked his immunity, are true, the situation is even more serious,” she added.

PASOK also issued a statement condemning the incident and calling for Avgenakis’ immediate removal before he was, saying he displayed “shameful and violent behavior,” and that, “such behaviors are unacceptable; they reflect arrogance, and it is our duty to isolate them because they undermine the integrity of politics.”