Anti-racism rally planned on Lesvos
A “silent protest” is to take place on Monday on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos to mark one year since far-right extremists violently attacked a group of asylum seekers who had camped in the main square of the island’s capital, Mytilene.
“The attack that night had deadly intent. That was evident from the shouts of ‘Burn them alive’ but also from the [attackers’] actions,” the event’s organizers said.
“A year on, the moral instigators and physical perpetrators remain unpunished,” they added.
On the night of April 22, 2018, some 200 men chanting far-right slogans attacked dozens of migrants who had been squatting in the square in protest at their detention at the Moria camp and delays in asylum processing.
The perpetrators threw flares, squibs, pieces of paving stones and broken planters, as well as bottles and other projectiles at the migrants.
On Saturday, a court on Chios handed a 13-year prison sentence to a 79-year-old man from the village of Moria on Lesvos who shot a 15-year-old Syrian refugee with a hunting rifle last July, leaving him him injuries to his head and feet.
The 79-year-old shot the teenager in front of his family after they fled the Moria camp during a large-scale brawl between groups of migrants.
