Holding Greek flags,crosses, icons and banners reading “Freedon needs virtue and courage” protesters of the new identity cards (IDs) gathered in front of Alexander the Great statue in the promenade of Thessaloniki early Sunday evening.
Among the 220-people estimated crowd were also members of the cleric. Speeches of the former Archbishop of Athens, Christodoulos, who opposed the removal of religion back in the 1990’s, were transmitted via loudspeakers, while the crowd occasionally chanted prayers and religious hymns.
“It’s about our religion and homeland,” one of the protesters told Alpha TV.
The protest call was made via social media by organizations that had also played a leading role is protests against the anti-Covid vaccines protests, local media seleo.gr reported.
The new IDs have caused a wave of reactions from a section of believers, who describ them as “electronic slavery.” They claim that the IDs will contain all their personal data on an electronic chip, while they fear that the chip will allow their “geo-location.”
As many religious organizations have raised their opjectins to the new IDs claiming “invasion of the anti-Christ,” the Church of Greece has said it will issue an opinion on the new identity cards in upcoming week, following a decision by the Holy Synod.
Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens has called for “judiciousness and prudence” on an issue that has energized conspiracy theorists among the faithful, including some bishops, and which has already led to protest rallies and plans for more.
The machine-readable new identity cards will be issued starting September 25. The current type of identity cards will no longer be valid after August 3, 2026.
So “The protest call was made via SOCIAL MEDIA”, but they do not want the new ID.
My country introduced such IDs and passports some 10 years ago and I carry them in RFID blocking sleeves.
Your progressive comment shows why the rollout of ID cards happened in your country 10 years or so ago, there is no correlation between using social media and the introduction of the new ID cards mandated by EU directive..numberwhatever. Let me guess, a northern European country, somewhere like Denmark or Sweden where some of the citizens are happy to have chips embedded in their hands, very convenient though, you can pay for coffee, open doors…
You know, “it’s just an ID document, it’s just a chip, it’s just a database, it’s just a 15 minute city, it’s just a social credit score….”
Totally agree with you Mike. Explains why these so called modern societies sleep walked into modern slavery WITHOUT even realising it and happily bleet about it. They are too stupid to know that Privacy and Freedom are two fundamental things for a happy life.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
And that’s indeed the next step: linking your payment means to this digital ID. But please remember that from that moment on, they can block your money from a distance with a simple ‘push-the-button’. For example, you cannot buy meat, because you already bought too much this month; or, your fuel expenses are limited, think of the climate; or, no you can’t book that flight, because you already succeeded your kerosine-budget. They can even put a validity date to your money: what you earned this month must be used within the next 2 years for example. But hey, most sheep will again accept this, and say there is no electronic slavery at all :-). Think of this golden tip of a conspiracy theorist: use cash as much as possible !!’