Scrawled in spray paint on a deserted building at the entrance to Goritsa, a Greek farming village on the outskirts of Aspropyrgos, is a large black X crossing out "Anti-Fascist Zone".

Inside the village, the walls of abandoned factories are blanketed in graffiti bearing crosshairs, a symbol of the neo-fascist Golden Dawn party. "Aspropyrgos - Golden Dawn," one of the tags proclaims.

In a sprawling field on the periphery of Goritsa, Ashfak Mahmoud, a short, slender man in a billowing, navy blue raincoat and a black beanie, slides gloves onto his work-worn hands. He pulls a dull kitchen knife from his pocket and slices at the bulbous lettuce heads below.

Mahmoud is one of seven victims of anti-migrant violence and threats who spoke to Al Jazeera. Citing the low number of arrests stemming from the violence, they all accused the police of either acting too slowly or treating their cases with neglect.

"There had been many racist attacks, and they [the far right] always saw me [at protests]," he remembers.

Although many undocumented workers in Greece fear drawing the attention of authorities or the far right, Mahmoud joined the front lines of several anti-racism protests as violence soared in Aspropyrgos and the surrounding villages last year.

Read more about anti-migrant violence in Greece by Patrick Strickland at Al Jazeera