From AOL News and Alliance Defense Fund:
Muslims Harassed During Prayer Festival in GreeceUpdated: 1 day 6 hours ago
Anthee Carassava
Contributor
AOL News ATHENS, Greece (Nov. 16) -- Ultra-right activists waved Greek flags and pelted Muslims with raw eggs as they gathered today in central Athens to pray during the Eid al-Adha festival.
Seven other public prayers, including a gathering before the sprawling courtyard of the country's main university, took place without incident. But at Attiki Square, wedged within the sprawl of concrete apartment units in the heart of Athens, violent incidents marked the latest streak of anti-Islam sentiment in the country.
Demonstrators circled the square and hostile locals blared music from nearby apartments, taunting unwanted immigrants -- mainly from strife-torn Muslim countries -- as they gathered to pray early today. Leaflets depicting Muslims as pigs were scattered across the concrete grounds.
Aris Messinis, AFP / Getty Images
Muslims pray in the center of Athens early Tuesday during the Eid al-Adha.
When members of the ultra-right Chryssi Avghi group appeared, riot police lined up to shield the worshippers. But by then, the protesters had lobbed dozens of eggs and verbal insults against them. No injuries were reported.
No mosque has operated in the Greek capital since the country gained independence from the Ottomans in 1832. And while the intolerance was supposed to have been addressed years ago, Athens -- like no other European Union capital -- has only a collection of tiny, squalid prayer rooms to accommodate Muslim faithful.
"There is an (unofficial) mosque near here, but we are afraid to go there," said a 30-year-old migrant who gave his name as Shamasul. "Sometimes Greeks in the neighborhood threaten to kill us."
Muslim groups opted to downplay today's attack, saying it was a minor incident.
"All we want is to peacefully coexist with everyone else," Naim Elghandour said. "That we do not have a mosque yet, well, that's an issue of civilization," he told the private Skai television network.
With the number of illegal refugees increasing, though, there is evidence that xenophobia -- a term coined by the ancient Greeks -- is taking hold in this debt-choked country.
Up until about 20 years ago, Greece was a fairly homogenous society bound by a common language, faith and history. But in recent years, the makeup of the country has changed drastically. Immigrants, both legal and illegal, account for as much as 15 percent of Greece's population of 11 million.
"Why should the center of Athens look like Islamabad?" demanded a celebrity TV host during today's coverage of the Attica square attack.
Sponsored LinksIn the first half of the year alone, border guards patrolling Greece's northeast frontiers with Turkey captured as many as 45,000 illegal immigrants -- about 90 percent of the illegal immigrants taken into custody in all of Western Europe. At least 300 illegal immigrants a day were being arrest in the northeast Evros Valley, Greek police and United Nations refugee officials say.
From there, captured immigrants are taken to detention centers for processing. But because of overcrowding, most are given papers allowing them to roam the country for two months before facing orders to return to their native land. But with most of the refugees seeking political asylum because of the dangers they face back home, many end up staying on and finding haven in places like Attica square.
"This is not a life," resident Maria Vassilatou told Reuters. "We are afraid of them. Many of them are criminals, they carry knifes and deal drugs."
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