Desecration of Tessaloniki Orthodox Cathedral during Divine Liturgy

August 1, 2016. Greek police have arrested 26 protesters who raided the Greek Orthodox Cathedral in the northern city of Thessaloniki during Divine Liturgy, as reports christiantoday.com website.

The culprits were protesting against a police operation in the city on Wednesday in which squatters and refugees were evicted from three illegally occupied buildings.

One of the buildings is the property of the Greek Orthodox church and the city’s archbishop said that it is being demolished to build a hospice for the terminally ill. The archbishop said that the protesters “destroyed what they could” at the Cathedral, but did not elaborate.

The protesters threw leaflets around the Gregory Palamas Cathedral before those attending Liturgy managed to drive them out.

Police said that the group of those arrested, believed to be anarchists, consisted of 19 men and seven women. Seventeen were Greek and the others were from Germany, England, Austria, Switzerland and Morocco.