Post date: Aug 24, 2012 9:58:14 PM
The protest was organized by the Pakistani community in Greece, the Greek Migrant Workers Association and the group 'Expel Racism Movement'.
The head of the Pakistani community in Greece, Javied Aslam, said attacks against immigrants and the defilement of their makeshift mosques have increased over the last few years and he made a plea for religious tolerance and an end to violence against immigrant communities.
Immigrants and anti-racism groups protest in the Greek capital, calling on the government to take action against rising racist attacks on immigrants.
ATHENS, GREECE (AUGUST 24, 2012) (REUTERS) - Immigrant and anti-racism groups held a protest in Athens on Friday (August 24) where they called on the government to take steps to stop violent attacks against immigrants and to put an end to police sweeps targeting immigrant communities.
"Today as thousands of immigrants, locals, syndicates and parliament members, we are here to say no to racism, no to racist attacks, no to murders. Respect for the mosques, respect for Islam and respect for the Prophet," Aslam said.
He also added that attacks against immigrants have escalated both in frequency and in ferocity with 20 stab victims being taken to hospital in the last month alone and more than 500 being attacked since February.
Anti-racist groups said evidence suggested the perpetrators of these anti-immigrant attacks are linked with local vigilante groups and Golden Dawn, an extreme-right party elected to parliament this year, which garnered seven percent of the popular vote, a first since the fall of a military junta in 1974.
Tasos Anastasiou from 'Expel Racism Movement' said the police sweep operations that started in August have further fuelled the anti-immigrant sentiment and sent a message of encouragement to racist groups and Golden Dawn supporters.
"This is a first reply to the racist actions of the police, which encourages the neo-Nazis of Golden Dawn to come out in neighbourhoods and they murder and attack people," Anastasiou said.
"They are cursing us because we are Pakistanis, they hit Pakistanis that occasionally work. One Pakistani might be at fault, but we are not all to blame. They go and hit whomever they come across -- they don't care what he has done, they attack mosques, they curse," said Pakistani Hasim Ahmed.
The police sweep operation "Xenios Zeus," which was named after the chief of the Olympian gods who was the patron of hospitality in ancient Greece, is part of the government's latest measures to tackle Greece's illegal immigration problem.
Since the beginning of August Greek police have detained more than 7,000 foreigners and arrested over 1,650 migrants for not having a permit of residence.
The immigrants are normally held in temporary holding centres or repatriated to their country of origin under a government program which pays for an air or bus ticket home, but which is voluntary and strains the budget of the government at a time when spending is tight.
During Greece's recent elections, immigration emerged as a key issue, and the first purpose-built holding centre for immigrants opened in Athens in March, with more planned to open later in the year.
Greece is a major gateway for mostly Asian and African migrants who wish to enter the European Union, with about 130,000 immigrants crossing the country's porous sea and land borders every year, and who face increased hostility as the country goes through its deepest post-war recession and record unemployment levels.