The World - News from April 2, 1987

Priests, monks and nuns led a demonstration of 100,000 people in Athens protesting a bill that would turn over 350,000 acres of Orthodox Church property to the government. The rally outside Parliament was the bitterest protest yet by Christians against Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou’s Socialist government. The dispute with the church erupted last month when Papandreou announced a bill calling for the takeover of property belonging to 150 monasteries that is estimated to be worth about $1 billion. The government, however, backed away from a provision that would empower local prefects, rather than bishops, to appoint church councils.