RALLY AGAINST ELECTRONIC ID CARDS IN GREECE GATHERS THOUSANDS OF PARTICIPANTS (+PHOTOS)

February 2016 – www.pravoslavie.ru

A rally against the new electronic “card of citizen” gathered thousands of people in the center of Athens, reports a spokesman of AgionOros.ru from the Greek capital.

Representatives of clergy, cultural figures and scientists protested against the plans of the government “to enslave the freedom of the human personality by introducing the universal electronic control system over Greek residents”.

Monks from Holy Mount Athos and a number of Greek monasteries, clergy and laypeople were present at the rally.

The meeting was followed by a procession to the Greek Parliament.

Earlier Holy Mount Athos raised its voice against introduction of “the card of citizen”.

On March 16, 2015, the Holy Kinot of Mt. Athos sent an open letter to Georgios Katrougalos, then Minister of the Administrative Reform.

In the view of the Holy Kinot, the new electronic passport, “which is being introduced under the pretext of the struggle with bureaucracy and the economic crisis”, will pose a threat to the inviolability of personal data and will lead to “violation of personal rights and freedoms”.

“We ask you to take into consideration that the electronic “card of citizen” is an outrage upon the human dignity of citizens, reducing them to mere “numbers” in the system of the state administration. Thus the God-given freedom of human personality will be violated,” the appeal of representatives of all Athonite monasteries to the minister reads.

The Athonites called upon the government not to introduce the new identification cards.

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