Persecution of Non-Muslims (Greece)

Note that the persecution of apostates and the persecution of homosexuals are covered in separate pages

14 people hospitalized as 1,500 Muslim immigrants riot in central Athens, attacking police and damaging shops and cars, in response to an alleged Qur'an desecration

Dozens of cars were smashed and 14 people were hospitalized with injuries after protests by Muslim immigrants angered at the alleged defacement of a Quran by a Greek policeman ended in a riot.

Police fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of protesters outside parliament and elsewhere in the Athens city center. The government said 46 protesters were arrested and 75 cars were damaged.

Chanting God is great! and waving leather-bound copies of Islam's holy book, about 1,500 Muslim immigrants -- mostly young men -- marched to Parliament in the center of Athens to express their anger. The clashes occurred after the protest had dwindled to about 300. Rioters hurled rocks at police and attacked police cordons with sticks and their belts, ignoring pleas for calm in Arabic and Greek from protest organizers. The violence spread as young men overturned cars, set fire to trash bins and attacked several banks.

Seven policemen and seven immigrants were being treated in hospital for injuries, police said. Onlookers, including tourists in Athens' central square, watched, with some holding up their cell phones to photograph the protesters.

Police said they will investigate the allegation that a police officer tore up the Iraqi immigrant's copy of the Quran while checking his identity papers in Athens on Wednesday. Anyone found responsible will be strictly held to account. But this isolated incident cannot justify these acts of violence, said Christos Markoyiannakis, a minister in charge of police.

Police released photographs of the torn Quran but gave no further details. We want the officer or officers involved to be prosecuted, and the government to issue an apology, protester Manala Mohammed, a Syrian national who helped organize the rally, told The Associated Press.We want people to show us respect.

Most Greece's native born population of 10.7 million are baptized into the Christian Orthodox Church. Waves of illegal immigration over the past few years have led to an influx of Muslims, mostly from Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many live in squalid, overcrowded apartments in run-down parts of central Athens.

Tense calm in Greece after angry Muslim migrants riot in capital
TodaysZaman, May 25, 2009

1,000 Muslim immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Syria, and Somalia, chant "Allah is greater" and clash with riot police in a rally against "racism and islamophobia" initiated by immigrant and leftist groups

About 1 000 Muslim immigrants protested in the Greek capital Athens Friday against "racism and islamophobia" in a rally which led to clashes with riot police.

The rally has been initiated by the "Destroy Racism" organization and other immigrant and leftist groups. The protesters gathered on the Omonia Square over the way that four Syrian immigrants had been detained during an ID inspection by the police at a Syrian-owned coffee shop.

Reported, one of the Greek policeman took a customer's Koran, tore it up, and stomped it. The police have started an internal investigation.

Friday rally gathered about 1 000 persons mostly between 20 and 30 years of age, from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Syria, and Somalia, who chanted "Allah is great".

After some of the protesters started to throw various objects at the riot police, the policemen used tear gas to disperse them.

Muslim Immigrant Protesters Clash with Police in Downtown Athens
Sofia News, May 22, 2009

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