Greek women flout medieval entry ban in monastery 9 January 2008 | 11:52 | Source: Beta, AFP *THESSALONIKI -- A 1,000-year-old ban on women in the Greek monastic community of Mt. Athos crumbled, albeit briefly, yesterday.
* A mixed crowd of local villagers marched into the enclave to protest against the monks' alleged encroachment on public land, a protest leader said. Around 500 women and men from villages in the Halkidiki peninsula in northern Greece took a few steps into the territory of the self-governing community of some 20 monasteries before a police cordon stopped them, police and the organiser said. "It was a symbolic act, we have broken the 'avaton'," said protest organiser Kyriaki Malama, referring to the 1045 AD decree that forbids women access on grounds of impurity. "We demand that the Greek government and the European Union intervene to stop the monasteries from acting as if they are above the law." The demonstrators belong to a local community group locked in a court dispute with five of the monasteries over ownership of some 8,300 hectares of forest and land which they say belongs to their villages. "The monks' mission is to be a religious order, not one that does (real estate) business," Malama said. Police stated that there is a possibility of filing criminal charges against six women for breaking the laws of encroachment on monastery property. According to Greek law, women trespassing on Mt. Athos can, if found guilty, faces sentences of in between 12 months and two years in prison. Several feminist groups in Greece and other countries have tried to have the medieval law nullified. The European Parliament asked Greece to make gender rights equal in 2002 and 2003, both times with no results.
