 |
| Via Creek City Times |
Migrant attacks on Greek Orthodox churches on the island of Lesvos have become commonplace recently. Now, the Saint Catherine church in the town of Moria has been subjected to the latest atrocity.
Photos that have been released in a report by Greek City Times show the church to be thoroughly vandalised, with religious icons broken and thrown on the floor.
And last month, the Saint Raphael church, which is located near the island’s migrant camp, was also attacked, as previously reported by Voice of Europe.
Moria is home to one of the Greek islands’ main reception centres for illegal migrants. The islands are currently hosting more than 50,000 migrants, with half of them located on Lesvos alone. The residential population of Lesvos only numbers approximately 90,000.
Although the people of Lesvos were considered for the Nobel Prize in 2016 for their willingness to take in such large numbers of people, many are now reconsidering their generosity, especially as violence and vandalism have become everyday occurrences on an island which, prior to the migrant crisis, had very little crime.
Migrants on the island have ruined other sites as well, including chopping down thousands of olive trees and filling the waterways with garbage. Faced with the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown, defiant migrants turned their anger against their hosts, defying police and hurling stones at passing cars. And last month, an Afghan migrant murdered another near the Moria camp.
Attacks on churches are particularly shocking for the locals given that the people of Lesvos are deeply religious.
Source