Tourists Arrested In Malia For Dressing As "naughty Nuns" Options

[yannis_s]

A group of British tourists has been arrested on Crete for causing offence to the Roman Catholic church by dressing up as nuns.

Police in the coastal town of Malia said that 17 British nationals were arrested on Sunday for insulting the Catholic church after they paraded themselves dressed "in nun attire and naughty lingerie".
The Britons were arrested in a resort that is very popular with young travellers and has a long tradition of drunken tourist antics.
A police source said that the group would be taken to a prosecutor to be officially charged and may be fined. But he added that they are unlikely to be jailed for what is a misdemeanour offence.
It was not clear whether the Britons were male or female, or whether they were attending a stag or hen party.

Like most Mediterranean resort towns, Malia is well used to the boisterous visitors who visit each year in numbers, many of them from the UK.

[armando]

Pictures are quite funny

http://www.repubblica.it/2006/05/gallerie/...-arresti/1.html

[tim]

I think there has been some sloppy reporting going on re the details of the location. I know its only fun but am of an age when I cringe at how some will see these people as typical Brits.

[charming]

From the Ekathimerini today:

Malia alarm raised after rapes
Despite the efforts of the British Embassy in Athens and appeals by local authorities on Crete, the rowdy tourist resorts of Malia and Hersonissos have already become a hotspot for out-of-control behavior, including several rapes, this month.

Three women from Britain and Norway, aged between 20 and 24, were allegedly gang-raped last week, prompting local officials to demand authorities take more measures to prevent further incidents this summer.

“We vehemently decry these acts, regardless of who commits them,” Malia Mayor Costas Lagoudakis told Kathimerini. “This extreme behavior suggests that visitors’ safety will be in danger but they also sully our land throughout the world.”

Reacting to the rape allegations, Iraklion’s chief prosecutor Nikos Markakis held a meeting in his office yesterday with the British consul, local mayors and representatives of travel agencies.

“Alcohol and the feeling of total freedom lead many tourists to embarrass themselves and to go beyond the boundaries,” Markakis told Kathimerini, while admitting that the number of rape cases reported to the police was lower so far this year than last year.

Markakis also criticized the tendency of some tour operators to take their customers on organized bar crawls that are one of the selling points of the package vacations offered to holidaymakers.

“It is unacceptable for them to take tourists en masse to specific bars where they give them adulterated alcohol, which leads to the kind of events we are all familiar with,” he said.

Lagoudakis said that tests have been carried out by the police at the bars in Malia that figure on the organized bar crawls and so far none has been found to be selling adulterated alcohol – just cheap, second-rate drinks.

Some 600,000 tourists visit Malia and Hersonissos and the behavior of some visitors, mainly those from Britain, last year prompted the then British ambassador in Athens, Simon Gass, to hold meetings with local mayors, representatives of the tour operators and the police in a bid to ensure that there would not be a repeat of the problems this year.

Dozens of tourists were arrested in Malia last summer, mostly for alcohol or drug offenses, while a number of people were seriously injured in alcohol-related incidents.

[charming]

Police exchange

Three police officers from the Devon and Cornwall forces in southern England are visiting Zakynthos in an effort to exchange information and forge closer ties with their Greek counterparts, the British Embassy in Athens said yesterday. The visit comes as part of an initiative to improve cooperation between British and Greek authorities in a bid to reduce the amount of incidents involving UK tourists on holiday in Greece.

source: ekathimerini, today

[Antero]

I am affraid it is not a new problem ...

Last year /and even before/ -if I remimber well - there ware some serious protests by locals with blocking roads etc.,
( it could had been been seen on TV too )

Last September ; a drunk tourist ( or terrorist as some of us are caled ) attacked two waiters , later the receptionist ...in
" my Hotel" , we called police twice ; they could not come becouse usual knife fight was on in Malia .....

should we look after a safer place ?

I remimber , 15-20 years ago .... there was no crime !!!!!!

[Thalia]

This is serious problem, but when I see pictures from armando and read "It was not clear whether the Britons were male or female, or whether they were attending a stag or hen party" this is comedy and thinks some guys need to wear glasses as I canot see a women in sight, so is in fact serious problemo, hehe!