Greece - 3 Arrests in Desecration of Jewish Cemetery

Thessaloniki, Greece - The Jewish cemetery of Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, was desecrated Thursday night by a group of anti-Semites who used rags and gasoline to set fire to a tomb, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) announced. 

Swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti reading “Fire to the Jews” and “Juden raus”  appeared on a number of tombstones, the alleys and the surrounding wall of the cemetery.

 

Following a phone call to the police, made by a resident in the area, three young men were arrested as suspects.

 

The Central Board expressed the Greek Jewry’s outrage on the "hideous attack" in letters to the Greek Minister of protection of the citizen and the Minster of Justice.

 

David Saltiel, President of KIS and of the Jewish community in hessaloniki, linked this attack to the acquittal of Kostas Plevris, “a neo-Nazi writer who incites to acts of violence against the Greek Jews.”

 

“This attack is one more consequence directly related to the court decision to acquit a him as well as to the recent Supreme Court decision to dismiss the cassation in favor of the law filed by the Prosecutor against the acquittal verdict.”.

 

“Our Board was not heard when it had warned of the deriving dangers,” Saltiel said.

EJP