Church on Greek island attacked by illegal immigrants

Local people on the Eastern Aegean island of Lesvos continue to be shocked by the behaviour of illegal immigrants, particularly those from the infamous Moria migrant camp to the north of Mytilene.

The main entrance to the Saint Raphael church close to the Moria migrant camp was attacked.

As seen in the photos, the wooden door was broken.

There was also other material damage done to the church.

This latest incident on Lesvos comes off the back of many other shocking events in the past few days, including two gangs of Afghani immigrants battling each other, African immigrants ridiculing and coughing on police in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and thousands of olives trees being destroyed, as reported by Greek City Times.

This is not the only time a church has been attacked by illegal immigrants on Lesvos. The last known incident occurred only last month when another church was completely trashed.

About half of the 50,000 illegal immigrants on Lesvos are kept at the Moria camp that is supposed to host only 3,000 people. A rise in criminality has hit the island since the migrant crisis began in 2015 when Turkey allowed hundreds of thousands of people to leave and enter Greece illegally, whether via land or sea.

Lesvos, as an island of only 90,000 citizens, has been one of the most hardest hit areas of Greece. Also sharing the brunt of the migration crisis is the island of Chios.

In November last year, illegal immigrants on Chios attacked the Church of Agios Haralambos in Chalkios village for a third time. Villagers were left in horror as they saw the Altar burned.

As a deeply religious society, these attacks on churches are shocking to the Greek people and calls to question whether these illegal immigrants seeking a new life in Europe are willing to integrate and conform to the norms and values of their new countries.

These continued attacks has ultimately seen the people of Lesvos, who were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, become increasingly frustrated by the unresolved situation that has restricted and changed their lives as they no longer feel safe on their once near crime-free island.