[South Florida DX Association] Re: Riots at Mt Athos

[NPAlex at aol.com]

In a message dated 12/21/2006 10:29:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, NPAlex 
writes:
Here's a surprising news story about one of the rarer DXCC entities: K9MM

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0612210078dec21,1,6972037.s
tory

Associated Press
Published December 21, 2006

THESSALONIKI, Greece -- Rival groups of monks wielding crowbars and 
sledgehammers clashed Wednesday over control of a 1,000-year-old 
monastery in a community regarded as the cradle of Orthodox 
Christianity, police said.

Seven monks were injured and transported by boat to receive treatment. 
They were released after several hours, police said. No one was 
arrested, but three monks were banned from re-entering the Orthodox 
sanctuary of Mt. Athos, on a self-governing peninsula in northern Greece.

The Esphigmenou monastery is the scene of a long-running dispute between 
Orthodox authorities and rebel monks who occupy the facility. Both 
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of the Orthodox Church, and 
Greece's highest administrative court have ordered their eviction, but 
the monks have refused to budge.

The rebel monks oppose efforts to improve ties between the Orthodox and 
the Vatican.

The fighting Wednesday broke out when a group of legally recognized 
monks attempted to force their way into the monastery's offices.

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Regards,
Norm W4QN