Thessaloniki Mayor Yiannis Boutaris had to be pulled away from suspected far-right protesters, who beat him at a flag-lowering ceremony to honor those killed in the Pontic Genocide, a World War I-era attack on ethnic Greeks living in Anatolia. The 75-year-old Thessaloniki mayor is one of Greece's most outspoken advocates for multiculturalism and international understanding. At a far-right rally earlier this year, leaflets calling Boutaris "a slave of the Jews" were scattered around the city. On Saturday, Boutaris was attacked by about a dozen far-right protesters, who kicked him in the head and legs and beat him with bottles. In January, a far-right group called Crypteia left death threats at several civil society groups, including the Muslim Association of Athens.

Source: Washington Post May 20, 2018 20:50 UTC