(ANSA-AFP) - ATHENS, 08 OTT - Greece's neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn was branded a criminal organisation Wednesday, its leaders facing heavy sentences in one of the most important trials in the country's political history. The judgement came as police and anti-fascist demonstrators clashed outside the courthouse, on the sidelines of a large protest of some 15,000 people.

Reading out the verdict in a trial that took place over five years, presiding judge Maria Lepenioti said Golden Dawn founder and leader Nikos Michaloliakos and other senior members were guilty of running a criminal organisation. Among those convicted is independent Eurodeputy Yiannis Lagos, who defected from the party last year; the party's former spokesman Ilias Kassidiaris; and a dozen other senior party members elected to parliament in 2012 at the height of Golden Dawn's influence. None of the party's senior members were present in court. Michaloliakos and other senior cadres convicted on the criminal organisation charge face jail sentences of between five and 15 years. The sentences are to be announced in separate hearings. The crowd had started gathering two hours before the verdicts were handed down in response a call from the anti-fascist movement, trade unions and parties on the left. "The people want the Nazis in jail", read some placards. Hundreds of police were deployed at the courthouse, a few kilometres from the historic centre of the capital, barring the entrance with police vans. (ANSA-AFP).