Ministry of Education report on incidents of violence against religious sites in 2018.
The annual report on incidents of violence against religious sites in Greece for 2018 has been released by the Ministry of Education.
The total number of incidents reaches 591, the vast majority of which – about 95% of them, that is, 564 cases – relates to sites of the Orthodox Church. This figure is slightly higher (by 6%) compared to 2017. Among them stands the terrorist attack outside the Church of St. Dionysius the Patron Saint of Athens in Kolonaki in December last year. Only one incident relates to a site of the Catholic Church in Greece and another three to sites of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
There have been 20 incidents of violence against the Jewish community, an increase of 81% compared to 2017, with Muslim incidents reaching just two.
“Religious freedom, as well as freedom in general, is not a given situation but a constant struggle against insecurity, violence, fake news and fanaticism,” Education Minister Niki Kerameus noted, regarding this report, among other things.