Warnings follow Koran incident in Greece

Muslim leaders in Greece are warning authorities of violent protests in the mainly Christian Orthodox nation after an incident in which a policeman reportedly defaced a Koran.

“How can you control enraged 20-year-old Afghans who will hit the streets seeking to die in the name of Allah?” asked Naim al-Ghandour, president of the Muslim Union of Greece.

Mr. al-Ghandour’s warning followed demonstrations by Muslims to protest the Koran incident and the attempted arson by suspected far-right activists of a Muslim prayer room.

Muslim immigrants are planning additional demonstrations this week following a largely peaceful protest in central Athens on Friday, in which they were joined by immigrant groups and human rights organizations.

RELATED ARTICLE: Muslims aggrieved in Greece

A week earlier, a similar demonstration degenerated into clashes with police, leaving 14 people injured, dozens of cars smashed and 46 people arrested, according to the Associated Press.

Muslim leaders in Greece have distanced themselves from the violence, but are seeking a formal apology from police while warning that they are on the verge of losing control over their communities.

Riot police forces, who typically battle anarchists on the left and right, have instead been placed on full alert in neighborhoods populated by Greece’s estimated 1 million immigrants.

“This is creating hate in a country that did not have the reputation in the Arab and Muslim world of being an enemy,” Mr. al-Ghandour said.

Mohammad Ateeq, the Iraqi immigrant at the center of the controversy, lodged a suit on charges of damage to property and religious disrespect.

He claims that the unidentified policeman insulted him, tore his copy of the Koran and proceeded to step on it.

“Greece is not Denmark,” said Ahmed Muawiya, a member of the Greek Immigrant Forum, seeking to dispel fears of another conflagration like one that followed the 2006 global riots over Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad.

“But offending Islam is not a game, and this must not be viewed as just an immigrant issue,” Mr. Muawiya said.

Greece has been struggling for more than a decade with the illegal entry of mostly Muslim immigrants from the Arab world, North Africa and Central Asia.

An estimated 400,000 Muslims - including both legal and illegal immigrants - in the greater Athens area alone pray in 130 makeshift shrines in the absence of an official mosque in the Greek capital.

Story Continues →