Hundreds of Muslims have marched through central Athens, damaging shops and cars, to protest what they said was the destruction of a Koran by a Greek policeman.

The president of the Muslim Union of Greece, Naim Elghandour, said that during police checks at a Syrian-owned coffee shop, an officer took a customer's Koran, tore it up, threw it on the floor and stomped on it.

In response, about 1,000 immigrants, many from Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, marched to central Omonia Square, smashing several shop windows and five cars, a police official said.

Police sources said an internal investigation was launched into the Koran incident. We were told by police we will be given the name of the policeman who did this so we can press charges, Elghandour said.

Update: Explosive Situation

25th May 2009. See article from dawn.com

Unknown assailants tried to burn down a makeshift mosque in Athens injuring five Bangladeshi migrants who suffered burns and respiratory problems in the attack, police said.

The incident followed clashes in Athens between Muslim immigrants and Greek police during protests sparked by allegations that a police officer tore up and stamped on a Koran during an identity check earlier in the week.

Nearly 1,000 Muslims rallied in the city's central Omonia square on Friday in a demonstration organised by leftist, immigrant and anti-racism groups. Violence broke out at the end of the demonstration as around 100 protesters threw projectiles at police, who tried to disperse the crowd with tear gas.

Over seventy cars and five shops were vandalised and the police arrested 46 people. Seven protestors and seven police were injured in the clashes.

More than 1,000 Muslims demonstrated in Athens Friday over an alleged police insult to the Koran, a week after two similar protests degenerated into clashes with anti-riot police.

The protest was called by leftist and anti-racist groups after a police officer allegedly tore up some sheets of paper with extracts from the Muslim holy book belonging to an Iraqi migrant during an identity check last week.

We want this officer put on trial, and we ask the government to protect our prayer sites in Athens, said Zuri, a Moroccan protester: But we intend to set a good example and refrain from violence, Islam is a religion of peace, he claimed unconvincingly.

Scores of police on foot and on motorbikes were mobilised to maintain order and keep the migrants who marched on parliament from coming into contact with a few dozen neo-Nazi militants staging a street gathering a few blocks away. The far-right group was commemorating the fall of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire, to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

Greece's main Muslim and migrant organisations distanced themselves from the migrant demonstration, preferring to take judicial action instead. Our problems can be solved by dialogue, not demonstrations, said Ahmet Moavia, head of the Greek Migrants' Forum.

Muslim groups have demanded an apology over the incident which the government has so far failed to give. Calls to identify the officer who allegedly tore the Koranic verses have also been ignored.