A 9-year-old Greek girl was verbally attacked by four men in the area of Gera on the island of Lesvos for she was wearing a headscarf. Together with her mother , the girl was visiting the Church of Agios Panteleimonas in the village Perama in Gera.
At the point of the attack the girl was apparently alone in the yard of the church.
The four men rushed to the girl with the aim to have her out of the Church area.
Apparently they thought the girl was a refugee child and the racists had no problem to attack someone fragile and helpless.
While they were verbally attacking her and urging her to leave the Church area, the frightened girl was telling them with tears in her eyes that “the Church is for all.”
The girl’s mother called the police.
When the police arrived, the four men started to apologize cl saying it was a “misunderstanding.”
After the apologies the mother refrained from filing a lawsuit against the four.
But neither the police took any measures against them, although it could.
A few days ago, a group was calling its members on Facebook to fight in order to get rid of the “unclean” refugee children, reveals Levsos newspaper Empros that also published the incident.
The newspaper notes that organized far-right groups have been resigned in Gera in since the recent past, and their “raid squads” go against refugees wherever they find them.
The four men most likely belonged to these ‘squads’ and seeing the girl wearing a headscarf attacked her thinking she was a refugee.
These far-right groups spread also fake news via social media and fake profiles in order to create an atmosphere against refugees, Empros notes, adding they they also verbally attack and troll the democrats on the island.
The groups appeared in the area after the proven to be ‘fake news’ that a new hot spot for refugees would open in Gera. It was these groups that had spread the news.
Authorities undertake no action against them and the broader parts of the local society tolerate them, Empros writes among others.
PS The girl is local resident in the area and she was recently hospitalized. The two maybe visited the church as I know several Muslims who make oblations to the Christian Saints.
This is just awful. It’s not that long ago that Greek and other orthodox christian women kept their hair covered, some still do! Such intolerance is very sad.