It all started after the filing of the Greek flag on Saphos Square in Mytilene, April 22, 2018, time 20.15. “We are going to take back our island, you polluted it”, “you are garbage”, “you will die”, “burn them alive”, “you are boring”, shouted the crowd. about 150 people. They targeted a group of asylum-seekers who were staging a sit-in in the square for the fifth consecutive day against living conditions in Moria. They were followed by waves of attacks with stones, marble and bricks until 4 am. Four years have passed since that night until last month, by the will of Council of Outlaws of Mytilenea decision was made to prosecute seven people as those responsible for the incidents.

They’ve been charged with aggravated assault racist motive. From the case file known to K, there are interesting details about what happened that night, which the injured police officers later claimed, as well as how seven people from the attacking mob are brought to trial.

The Misdemeanor Council did not consider that there was malicious intent on the part of the defendants to intentionally inflict grievous bodily harm, since, based on this reasoning, the attacks took place at night, with insufficient lighting, at a distance from the victims and “blindly”, without affecting certain parts of the body. Victims’ advocates argue that the indictment should not have been downgraded from the original charge and will seek to overturn the ruling.

According to the case file, the crowd reacting to the immigrant protest quickly doubled to 300 people. MAT forces they tried to create a barrier to prevent incidents, but the attackers even managed to throw metal wrenches at the crowd. Two victims lost consciousness, others were injured. In the subsequent period, Mytilini security personnel collected videos from commercial and banking stores and reviewed others posted on websites to identify the perpetrators.

At the same time, after receiving an anonymous complaint about far-right extremists instigating Facebook online invite episodes, they also identified members of the group “Patriotic Movement of Mytilene”. The corresponding call to rally in the square also contained an instruction to be “prepared for anything”. However, the Misdemeanors Board ruled that there was no online incitement to racist attacks.

Of the seven people eventually brought to trial, they all said in their apologies that they had nothing to do with the incidents. One claimed that he just approached the police in the square to find out what was going on, another that he was drinking coffee next to the square with his wife and children, the third even claimed that he himself was attacked while passing by this place, something that is not visible from the available data. All of them, according to the case file, are captured on video and photos throwing objects at immigrants. One, judging by the materials of the case, is holding a wrench in his hand, the other is removing a marble slab from the steps of the square.

The policemen who were injured in the night incidents testified at the preliminary investigation that they did not know who hit them and said that they received items from both sides. However, the will states that the throwing of objects by foreigners does not follow logic and that none of the natives should be physically harmed.