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CHRISTMAS 2015

IMMIGRATION

Madrid church recreates nativity scene with drowned refugee child

A Madrid Church has chosen to highlight the plight of Syrian refugees this Christmas by recreating the nativity scene using the image of drowned three-year-old Aylan Kurdi.

Published: 15 December 2015 16:13 CET
Madrid church recreates nativity scene with drowned refugee child
Photo: Mensajeros de la Paz

In early September the young boy washed up on a Turkish beach as his family fled Syria and attempted to reach Europe.

The photograph of the child lying facedown in the sand was published worldwide and served to symbolize the desperate plight of refugees flooding into Europe.

The image was seen by an estimated 20 million people across the world within just 12 hours, and galvanized European governments, including Spain, into taking action.

Now the image has been incorporated within a polemic adaptation of the traditional 'Belén' in an attempt  to raise awareness of the plight of refugees this Christmas.

The figure of Aylan takes the place of the baby Jesus while his griefstricken parents take the role of Mary and Joseph. Instead of a stable, the trio are sheltered by a refugee tent  with reproductions of drawings by refugee children of their journeys.

The San Anton Church in Madrid’s downtown Chueca district has already earned a reputation as a forward thinking parish where pets are welcome and the faithful can confess via iPad.

The nativity scene, which was designed by Spanish artist Ikella Alonso for the Messengers of Peace Foundation, an NGO working with refugees, can be viewed at anytime until January 6th as the the church on Calle Hortaleza is open 24 hours.

It is not the first nativity scene to draw attention to the refugee crisis. Earlier this month Pope Francis lit the Christmas tree at the Basilica of St Francis in Assisi unveiling a Nativity scene set up within a boat used by refugees.

CRIME

Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Germany said Tuesday it was considering allowing deportations to Afghanistan, after an asylum seeker from the country injured five and killed a police officer in a knife attack.

Published: 4 June 2024 14:50 CEST
Germany mulls expulsions to Afghanistan after knife attack

Officials had been carrying out an “intensive review for several months… to allow the deportation of serious criminals and dangerous individuals to Afghanistan”, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told journalists.

“It is clear to me that people who pose a potential threat to Germany’s security must be deported quickly,” Faeser said.

“That is why we are doing everything possible to find ways to deport criminals and dangerous people to both Syria and Afghanistan,” she said.

Deportations to Afghanistan from Germany have been completely stopped since the Taliban retook power in 2021.

But a debate over resuming expulsions has resurged after a 25-year-old Afghan was accused of attacking people with a knife at an anti-Islam rally in the western city of Mannheim on Friday.

A police officer, 29, died on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed as he tried to intervene in the attack.

Five people taking part in a rally organised by Pax Europa, a campaign group against radical Islam, were also wounded.

Friday’s brutal attack has inflamed a public debate over immigration in the run up to European elections and prompted calls to expand efforts to expel criminals.

READ ALSO: Tensions high in Mannheim after knife attack claims life of policeman

The suspect, named in the media as Sulaiman Ataee, came to Germany as a refugee in March 2013, according to reports.

Ataee, who arrived in the country with his brother at the age of only 14, was initially refused asylum but was not deported because of his age, according to German daily Bild.

Ataee subsequently went to school in Germany, and married a German woman of Turkish origin in 2019, with whom he has two children, according to the Spiegel weekly.

Per the reports, Ataee was not seen by authorities as a risk and did not appear to neighbours at his home in Heppenheim as an extremist.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors on Monday took over the investigation into the incident, as they looked to establish a motive.

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