Police arrested 35 Greek citizens and an Albanian man on the Greek island of Lesbos for raising a giant metallic cross meant to deter migrants and refugees from reaching the island.
They were arrested on charges of arbitrary occupation of public property and erecting an illegal construction.
The site on the cliffs of Apellia in Mytilene – Lesbos’ capital city – is on the grounds of the island’s famed fortress and is protected by archaeological law.
A cement cross was similarly erected in August 2018, drawing the ire of the local “Coexistence and Communication in the Aegean” group, which denounced the monument as
“offensive to the symbol of Christianity, a symbol of love and sacrifice, not of racism and intolerance.”