Greek Police Ban Rallies in Thessaloniki Over ‘Blasphemous’ Movie Poster

A controversial poster advertising the screening of a movie in Thessaloniki has forced police to issue a ban on public gatherings on Tuesday.

Police are concerned about a rally that was being planned to protest the screening at the northern port city’s annual documentary festival.

According to reports, a rally was being planned at 7 p.m. outside the festival’s flagship Olympion cinema in downtown Aristotelous Square to protest a screening of “Stray Bodies,” a movie by Greece’s Elina Psykou that explores body autonomy and women’s rights.

Thessaloniki movie poster branded “blasphemous”

The film’s poster, portraying a pregnant woman dressed in a scarf and loin cloth and nailed to a cross, has sparked a furor among ultra-conservative groups, who say it is “blasphemous.”

Σημερα στις 8:00μμ θα προβληθει στο Ολυμπιον, στα πλαισια του Φεστιβαλ Ντοκιμαντερ Θεσσαλονικης, η ταινια της Ελινας Ψυκου "Αδεσποτα Κορμια". Χριστιανοφασίστες έχουν καλεσει σε συγκεντρωση έξω από το θέατρο. pic.twitter.com/NAAYa0to4h

— Nikos Sarantakos (@nikosarantakos) March 12, 2024

Metropolitan Philotheos of Thessaloniki also condemned the poster stating that “such posters, under the guise of a dubious artistic and graphic approach, touch – and sometimes even exceed – the limits of malicious provocation.”

According to the creator, the documentary is an intimate and thought-provoking road movie about how Europeans bypass their country’s laws, to satisfy their basic needs related to life and death.

“Their journeys, at the start or the end of the line, provide the backdrop of a timely story shedding light on the competing forces which define our rights for bodily autonomy,” Elina Psykou says.

Government defends artistic freedom

The government defended the right to free artistic expression. “Cinematic art is free and protected by the constitution” emphasized the Deputy Minister of Culture responsible for Contemporary Culture issues, Christos Dimas.

Replying to a parliamentary question tabled by a right-wing MP, Dimas said:

“You are coming to the Greek parliament today practically asking for the state to censor and to deprive us of freedom of expression, which, as you know, humanity has waged throughout the ages very great, bloody struggles , to be able to achieve it within the framework of the operation of a democratic state. That is why cinema, theatre, literature and music enjoy the special status of freedom provided by our constitution.”

“The specific poster to which you refer, I think it suffers aesthetically, but you know very well that the Greek society has a mature judgment, knowledge and, perceptive and therefore the orthodox Christian faith is in no danger from it,” he added.

The police ban on Tuesday comes after a mob of dozens of youths attacked two transgender individuals on Thessaloniki’s Aristotelous Square on Saturday night.

With a post on Facebook, the mayor of Thessaloniki, Stelios Angeloudis, condemned the attack. ”Tolerance is a sign of civility and democracy. In the colorful, inclusive Thessaloniki of respect for diversity, there is no place for racist attitudes,” the mayor noted.