Angry scenes as refugee puppet arrives in Larissa
Police were required to intervene in Larissa on Tuesday after a small group of protesters reacted angrily to the procession of a giant puppet depicting a nine-year-old refugee girl through the Thessalian capital.
Little Amal is traveling 8,000 kilometers from the Turkey-Syria border through Greece to Western Europe in an epic public art project aimed at sensitizing people to the plight of refugees.
The protesters shouted “shame, shame” at the hundreds of well-wishers who had turned out to welcome Amal to Larissa.
Last week, Meteora municipality voted to ban Amal from walking through a local village after several councillors argued that a puppet depicting a Muslim refugee should not be permitted to perform in a space of such importance to Greek Orthodox believers, a stance supported by the local Orthodox bishop.
