The leader of Iraq’s largest Christian community has scrapped Christmas parties, trees, receptions and other festivities “out of respect” for the victims of violent protests which have rocked the country.
Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako of Babylon (Baghdad) said that cancelling the Christmas celebrations was a necessary act of “solidarity” with families affected by the demonstrations, which began in October and have claimed the lives of more than 430 people, with up to 20,000 wounded.
