By Niki Kitsantonis

ATHENS — A wave of violent attacks against immigrants by suspected right-wing extremists has put Muslims and the police on alert in rundown parts of Athens with burgeoning migrant populations.

Immigrants have been beaten and stabbed near central squares, and several makeshift mosques have been burned and vandalized. In the most grievous attack, at the end of October, the assailants locked the door of a basement prayer site and hurled firebombs through the windows, seriously wounding four worshipers.

“The attacks are constant — I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Naim Elghandour, who moved to Athens from Egypt in the 1970s and now heads the Muslim Association of Greece. “I used to be treated like an equal. Now I’m getting death threats.”

Tensions in neglected, crime-ridden parts of Athens with growing immigrant communities have been mounting over the past two years. Highlighting expanding public discontent, the extreme right-wing group Chrysi Avgi, or “Golden Dawn,” won its first ever seat on the Athens City Council in local elections three weeks ago. The group mustered strong support in working-class neighborhoods in the capital and elsewhere in Greece by describing migrants as a drain on the economy, which is reeling from a debt crisis, and calling for immediate deportations.

The Greek news media linked the group to the violence after a spray-painted cross merged with a circle — a symbol used by extreme rightists worldwide — was found on the wall of a firebombed prayer site. But the police have not confirmed a connection, saying no arrests have been made. The group did not respond to requests for comment.

Thanassis Kokkalakis, a police spokesman, said the problem was complex. He said that while “extremist elements” were believed to be behind certain attacks, there was also violence between migrants of different ethnic origins, muggings of Greeks by poverty-stricken foreigners and clashes between extreme rightists and left-wing protesters.

“All this chaos stems from a constantly growing population of immigrants in these areas,” said Mr. Kokkalakis, noting that about 150 migrants arrived in Athens daily despite the mobilization of European Union guards in early November at Greece’s land border with Turkey. “The upheaval has fueled aggravation among residents, which is being exploited by extremist groups.”

The residents of the problem areas are divided: Some want dialogue and better policing, while others are taking matters into their own hands. Elderly and middle-aged residents often sit in local squares during the daytime, shouting abusive statements at migrants when they go by. Small gangs of teenagers stalk the neighborhoods by night, but it remains unclear if they are locals or visiting extremists.

The police have stepped up patrols following reports of attacks by vigilantes who, locals say, are as young as 14. “I saw three kids bashing an Afghan man with wooden poles until blood ran down his face,” said Muhammad, the Syrian manager of a convenience store in Aghios Panteleimonas, once a lively neighborhood, now a no-go zone. Like other migrants living in the area, he would not give his surname for fear of reprisals.

The exact number of attacks remains unclear. “The victims are usually too scared to go to police,” said Thanassis Kourkoulas, a spokesman for Deport Racism, a group that offers targeted migrants advice and support.

Others say this reflects a general trend in Europe. “Hate crimes against Muslims are underreported and underrecorded,” said Taskin Soykan, who advises the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on combating racial intolerance.

The attacks in Greece mirror similar incidents in other European countries, including Switzerland, where a referendum last November led to a ban on the construction of minarets on mosques, and in France and Italy, where the authorities have deported Roma residents and immigrants.

“The difference in Italy is that most of the attacks were in the provinces, while in Greece they are in the heart of the capital, which is potentially far more explosive,” Liz Fekete of the Institute of Race Relations in London said. “The common factor is the formation of vigilante groups, egged on by the far right.”

Angry protesters, including some thought to be right-wing extremists, had to be restrained by the police last month when thousands of Muslims congregated in several Athens squares for a religious festival. At one site, officers fired tear gas to disperse a small group of demonstrators, who continued their protest from the balconies of apartment complexes, pelting worshipers with eggs and playing loud music to disturb the prayers.

The day after the protests, government officials said a stalled project to build an official mosque was back on track. Athens is the only capital of the original 15 E.U. member states to lack a state-approved mosque.

Although the country’s influential Orthodox Church has given its support to the project, opinion polls show that half of Athens’s five million residents oppose the creation of a mosque to serve the capital’s Muslim community, which numbers about 500,000.

“A large mosque with minarets in the city center will be a provocation,” said Dimitrios Pipikios, the head of a residents’ group in Aghios Panteleimonas, where Chrysi Avgi drew 20 percent of the vote in recent elections.

Mr. Pipikios said the only way to ease tensions was to deport immigrants. “There is no room for us all,” he said, adding that extreme rightists were patrolling the area “because the police are not doing their job.”

Other residents said they felt intimidated. “The situation is totally out of control,” said Maria Kanellopoulou, who wants not deportations but the better social integration of immigrants.

The local authorities are determined to tackle the problem, said a spokesman for Giorgos Kaminis, the newly elected mayor of Athens.

“Chasing immigrants away from city squares is an established technique of extreme rightists, and we are seeking advice on how to deal with it,” said the spokesman, Takis Kampilis, who has approached the municipal authorities in Germany, who have averted similar campaigns by neo-Nazis. The new mayor is also planning to improve health care and housing for migrants and organize street markets where they can legitimately sell wares rather than touting illegally on street corners.

Ms. Fekete said increasing integration would help, but to stamp out extreme violence, local and central governments must condemn it in strong terms. “If the authorities do not speak out, public tolerance of the violence will grow,” she said. “This is a wake-up call.”

Translation © Muslim Association of Greece

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

Without any special reactions the religious manifestations of Muslims took place. “Greece is the only European country without a mosque” states the chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece.

Thirteen thousand people, according to the police, participated in all the manifestations of the Muslims’ public prayer in twelve different areas of Attica.

The prayer, who started at 7:40 in the morning and finished at 11, took place without the slightest problem, besides Attica square, where according to eye-witnesses, there was abuse, by a small group of habitants, who threw eggs and other objects against Muslims who were walking by the streets of the area, though there was no response and with the firm presence of the police, there weren’t any violent incidences.

As it has been stated by the Hellenic Police, the manifestations of Muslims joined 4.000 people at Aigaleo, 2.000 at the Arabic-Hellenic Educational Centre at Kiprou str. In Moschato area, 500 at Propylaia, 600 at Attica square, 600 at Koumoundourou square, 1.000 at the old Racetrack Court at Faliro, 1.000 at Karamnanlis Avenue at Menidi, 300 at the basketball court at Elefsina, 250 at Aspropirgos, 1.500 in an abandoned factory at Markopoulos avenue at Koropi, 250 at Oinofyta and 1.000 in the court of Ierotheos at Peristeri.

Backlashes for the religious manifestations

Habitants of the area of Attica square, together with members of “Chrisi Augi” gathered earlier in the area in order to prevent the Muslims to perform a religious manifestation, the Qurban Bayram or the Feast of Sacrifice.

In the area, there was a firm police presence which in order to avoid any violent incidents, drove off all the gathered group-who were demonstrating against the presence of immigrants in Athens-towards Acharnon str., making a slight use of chemicals.

The Bayram is the equivalent to the sacrifice of Abraham that lies also in Christian religion, and which up to a certain point is accepted by the Muslims as well. At this very moment at Propylaia dozens of Muslims are gathered who live in Greece, originating from Greece, Albania and from other countries of Asia and Africa.

The gathering at Propylaia took place under the initiative of the Muslim Association of Greece and it is the third time that prayer takes place in a public place.

Muslim Association of Greece: We should assemble all the prayer sites with the Mosque

The chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece Naim Elgandour participating in the show “Proti Grammi” on SKAI television made clear that the prayers at public areas do not constitute a force mechanism for the construction of a Mosque.

He stated that “It is a matter of culture. Greece is the only European country without a Mosque, it has to be done soon enough in order to assemble all these prayer sites that they are constantly sprout up.”

www.kathimerini.gr with information by ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ, skai.gr

Translator:  Myrto Zacharof

Ο Κίτρινος Τύπος με το Μάκη Τριανταφυλλόπουλο 25 Οκτωβρίου φιλοξενεί τους υποψήφιους περιφερειάρχες και καλούνται να απαντήσουν σε ερωτήματα διαφόρων κοινωνικών ομάδων.

Click below to watch the video: 

Muslim Association of Greece at Kitrinos Typos Alter channel

Translation © Muslim Association of Greece

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

Kotzia Square was transformed into an outdoor mosque yesterday morning for about two hours, just opposite of the town hall of Athens. About 4000 Muslims without a mosque prayed the last prayer of Ramadan.

The festive prayer called Eid Al Fitr was organized by the Muslim Association of Greece after consultation with the City of Athens that gave them permission to pray in the square. Muslims living and working in Athens attended the last prayer in celebration of the end of Ramadan (the month of Ramadan).

Once again, however, the representatives of the Muslim Association of Greece and other Muslims pointed out that it is necessary to build a mosque in Athens; thousands of Muslims who live in Attiki pray in inappropriate places such as warehouses, basements, garages, apartments etc.

“If there was a mosque in Athens, the prayer would not commence in Kotzia Square. Would have been done in the courtyard of the mosque and no one would perceive. Many people asked what is happening in the square. Why are they so many people gathered together? We do not want to close the roads or to bother anyone. That’s why we try to remain strictly within the square, said the president of the Muslim Association of Greece, Mr. Naim Elghandour, in “Ta NEA” newspaper.  

As the president of the Association said, Kotzia square was chosen because of the no cost. “In previous years we held the prayer at the Olympic Stadium, either in closed or an open space, but you pay rent of about 1,700 euros. This year, things are strained by the economic crisis, so we came to an agreement with the City of Athens.”

Votanikos. The government in April decided to go with direct procedures for the construction of a mosque for 500 people in the Navy base of the Botanical Fortress. According to information from the Ministry of Education, the preparation for the relocation services of the Navy from the site has now completed.

“Unfortunately these procedures are progressing slowly, as with other things in Greece. It is though a cultural requirement to have a mosque in Athens. Therefore I appeal to the Ministries of Education and National Defence and the Municipality of Athens to find a solution quickly,” said Mr. Elghandour. Indeed, the Muslim Association of Greece is the one that in recent years has raced and is liaising with ministries in order to build a mosque in Athens.

As a reminder, the bill for the construction of the mosque is in place since 2006. Indeed, the ND government then had promised that the mosque will be ready in late 2009. However, the bureaucracy and misunderstandings between the ministries turned the case of the “mosque in Athens” to Artas Bridge…

Seraphim “delirium” for the granting

In a four-page announcement … holy crazy issued yesterday, Eparch Seraphim of Piraeus says the prayer of the Muslims should not be in public open space as in Kotzia Square. The Eparch, who for some time now is a member of the Standing Holy Synod, used harsh words to characterize the granting of the square by the municipality of Athens irresponsible. He connects even the prayer for the Muslims with the Turks in Greece, saying that such prayer is the “first in regular life again after the revolution and the shaking off of the brutal Turkish atrocities.”  Please note that they [the Muslims at the prayer] come from various countries.

Translated by: Elena Nikolova

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

Translation © Muslim Association of Greece

The huge square opposite of the town hall of Athens was turned into an outdoor mosque yesterday. The president of the Muslim Association of Greece noted that Greece sends a message of education and culture today. 

The economic crisis was the cause of the ceremony not being held in OAKA (Olympic stadium), as other times, as the Muslim community preferred to spend their lease money to cover the livelihood needs of certain members.

Prayer in a scene of reminisce that of … Mecca, was held by two imams from Egypt, invited by the Association. Like always, the men and women prayed separately, as earlier they had rolled out the carpet. Great was the participation of believers from Africa, while many were those who wore traditional costumes.

Muslims quickly “spread” across the square from 7.00 in the morning and the organizers spoke of big concentration. This colorful and multi-racial ‘tapestry’ created a very impressive scenery in central Athens and several were the passers-workers and tourists, who stopped to observe the ritual.

In a speech, the president of the Muslim Association of Greece, Naim Elghandour thanked the Mayor of Athens, Nikitas Kaklamanis, for the permission of the square and noted that, “the attitude of the Greek state today is a response to the American priest who wants to burn the Koran, but also to Angela Merkel who awarded the Danish cartoonist who ridiculed the drawings of Muhammad “.

Speaking with the “Ethnos” newspaper, Mr. Elghandour noted that the message sent today is that Greece is the capital of education and culture. For the Islamic religion, yesterday was a significant day. The strict fasting of Ramadan ends and the great mass prayer is a thanksgiving to the prophet. A day earlier, representatives of Muslims visited the Observatory of Penteli and had confirmed the position of the moon that the fasting is over. After the prayer, they gave out sweets to the children, while many homes made a festive table. The next mass prayer will be approximately in 70 days.

Responses
Seraphim against Kaklamanis

The granting of Kotzia square by the Mayor of Athens Nikitas Kaklamanis, for prayer of Muslims has prompted a strong reaction of Eparch Seraphim of Piraeus, who in a statement refers to it as “unacceptable behavior harmful to the main state religious faith.”

“With feelings of grief”, as the Eparch points out in his statement,” we have witnessed the concession of the municipality of Athens so irresponsibly to permit Kotzia Square to be used by Muslim religious persons.

Translated by: Elena Nikolova

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά/ عربي

Thousands of Muslims celebrated the end of Ramadan with “Eid al Fitr” in the heart of Athens at Kotzia square where the Mayor’s House is located. The atmosphere was really festive and the spirit very high. Balloons and candies for the kids, big smiles at the faces of each one who came to pray and wish others a happy Eid. As every year, the Muslim Association of Greece organizes this festive day where Muslims of every color and ethnicity gather together to pray and exchange wishes. This was the first time that the Eid took place in a open public area and this happened thanks to the City of Athens, the mayor and the deputy mayors who gave the permission to the Muslims of the city to pray, since there is no mosque yet.

Naim Elghandour, chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece (MAG), stated to the domestic and international media who had live TV broadcasts and reportages that, “while today on earth a pastor in America threatens to burn the Quran and German PM Merkel awards the Danish sketch artist who insulted prophet Muhammad a few years ago with his sketches, Athens today shows that it is a civilized city and Greece is a civilized country and respects the citizens of every religion and ideology. Happy Eid.”

The prayer was offered by sheikhs Muhammad Ahmed and Hassan Arafa who are honored guests from Egypt. After the end of the event people went for the festive feast at houses as the custom says.

See Photo Gallery here

Source: Protagon

By Naim Elghandour

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

Ramadan in Athens for the 37^th time. It started on August 11 with the sweltering heat and will end on September 10^th. The first days of adjustment are always harder as the rhythms of life do not change despite the fasting from sunrise to sunset.

Late evening before August 15^th, after having iftar at home, which is the dinner that breaks the fast, I took Sheikh Mohammed, a respectful imam from Al Azhar university to go and pray at Piraeus. Al Andalus is the name of the praying place but it does not remind me anything of the glory of Andalusia as it is an underground warehouse on Filonos street in the heart Trouba where we pray for the last 17 years.

As we go down and go inside, in the first five minutes the sweat is running like a river. My breath stopped and the 60 year old imam who came from upper Egypt who can [usually[ bear the heat was ready to collapse. He told me that his sweat was dripping under his face all the way down to his socks. Why???

I was in despair because I am responsible for all these people who come to pray. I prayed that the temperature falls a bit to avoid the ambulances. You cannot put ventilation in this place nor air condition because it has no window. It is a hole under the ground.

We finished our prayer as [best] we could and when we went up to the surface I realized that this cannot happen again. The temperature at 11pm was 37°C and who knows about the humidity, it was suffocating even in open air.

The day after, I informed the state security that we were going to pray on the sidewalk outside of the “mosque” and that it is better to bring us a police car than to be taken by ambulances.

Sunday at 10 in the night all prayer mats were laid down on the sidewalk of Filonos street and the few people that walked by were surprised. Of course we did not bother anyone, all stores were closed. But we were alert, you never know what could happen, but the prayer was more humane in those hot days.

And I am thinking: What does a man have to go through to praise God as He deserves? My little kids were crying to take them with me earlier, but where can I take them?

Sometimes I take them to the Neos Kosmos garage that has better ventilation and they play with the other kids. There, the older kids are learning how to pray and the little ones imitate the grownups and then they start chasing each other and laugh, but we are always underground. When we finish, I buy them ice cream.

This is how Ramadan is in our great city.

———

Translated by: Anna Stamou

Source: Vima Newspaper

By Mariniki Alevizopoulou

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

“If today we are able to ask the Greek prime minister ‘when we will open the Athens mosque?’ that happens thanks to the steps we made,” stated the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan allying the nationalistic groups in his country.

At the same time the Christian pilgrims were attending the historical service at the remains of Holy Mary Soumela of Pontus, for the first time after 88 years. A few days before some other nationalistic groups had desecrated the graves of a Muslim cemetery in Komotini. Those two facts made the Turkish prime minister feel ‘one step in front of the Greeks’ causing discomfort (and) of the Muslims that live in Greece.

“If the government looked this matter of the mosque with greater seriousness, they wouldn’t have pressure via statements from abroad,” responds the almost disappointed  president of the Muslim Association of Greece Mr. Naim Elghandour and continues, “Everything was ready since 2006. Even the funds were there; 15 million euro are in the treasury of the Ministry of Education since that time. This is important to emphasize that in a so crucial financial period for Greece. Maybe part of this money comes from EU.”

The blame is not only on the backward steps of the political will and the political timing that almost four years have passed without a step. The mosque is one but the authorities that are involved in the construction are endless: foreign ministry, education ministry, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of National Defense, Ministry of Finance and the City of Athens are all basic players.  And the Greek bureaucracy is there at every step.

Meanwhile the square footage of the mosque, that he and the thousands of religious Muslims that live in our country are waiting from 2006 to be constructed, are decreasing. “In the beginning the measurements in the blueprint from the general secretary of the minister of education Mrs. Marietta Giannakou, was 56.000m². At the next meeting, it became 42, the governments change and I make a third meeting to drop at 24 and we reached today 16.000m².”

The objections came from the Church. “Since the first moment that the construction of the mosque came up, the Holy Synod had not an opposite opinion. And that because every human has the right of religious freedom where worship is included, which is a respectful right and is entrenched by the constitution,” states the representative of the Holy Synod, Bishop of Nafpaktos Ierotheos. “In fact, at the same time, in an action of good will the Church bestowed for use 30.000m² from its land in Shisto to create a Muslim cemetery.” The truth is that in the plans of the new Christian cemetery in Shisto, in order to cover the needs of the municipalities of Piraeus and Moshato, was from the beginning a plan for a Muslim cemetery in this area.

Then everything changed. “The Church objected at the establishment of an Islamic educational center,” clarified Mr. Ierotheos. “The concern of the Archbishop Christodoulos was intense for such a center because centers like that promote not only the religious teachings but also political propaganda.”

The area for the cemetery at Shisto finally was found unsuitable because of the terrain, the Islamic center was found “dangerous” and somehow the discussion (and the concern) came back to the mosque. “The law of 2006 at the first New Democracy party government was zoning the mosque at a part of Eleonas. At the second government of Karamanlis, under the authority of his office was formed a committee where we as City of Athens were participating, because this area belongs to the Ministry of National Defense and is characterized as a ‘navy fort’ but it must become a green park and come to the authority of the City of Athens,” states Mrs. Tasia Lagoudaki, topographer of the City of Athens.

Things already became complex without calculating the reef of National Defense ministry, that owns the “navy fort” based on a royal order. “In fact it is a garage with five buses,” Mr. Elghandour supports and continues. “The defense ministry is compromised with 5 million euro and 10 month time to relocate the navy. While the minister was Mr. Meimarakis (and after a formal question of PM Pericles Korovesis in the parliament) he asked initially 68 million (!). We proposed to go out with coupons – not from abroad, we do not want foreign money to build the Athens mosque, we want the Greek state to control it, to gather money from the immigrants and from the Greek Muslims.”  This proposition was not accepted and the last elections came.

When will we come out of the underground garages?

“After the first 100 days of the new government and particularly the 110^th day I sent a letter to the Defense ministry because the problem is with them. As a Greek who has served the Hellenic army I have the courage to complain,” notes Mr. Naim Elghandour who lives 38 years in our country. As a result they invited me and went with all data in hands. For the time being the only movements you can observe are statements before the visit of the prime minister to a country that is in danger to be asked for the mosque, and endless calls from foreign and domestic press to my phone for the development of the mosque. I do not want to harm the image of Greece abroad. At “Focus” I did not respond to them after the front cover with Aphrodite with the finger. Does anyone appreciate that? Will our children ever come out of the underground garages, and now that we have Ramadan with 40°C we are risking to be carried by the ambulances?” he wonders.

The adventure started at 1996

The adventures of the mosque in Greece, as states at “Vima” the vice president of the government Mr. Theodore Pangalos, have their roots way back. “This story started at 1996 by my initiative and based in two thoughts. Firstly that we are the only European country that has not a mosque and secondly that in Athens that time were gathered about 50.000-60.000 without an official and established place to perform their religious duties, when in all Muslim countries there are Orthodox Churches even in Teheran.”

That time as a foreign minister he prepared a draft law describing the establishment of a Muslim religious and cultural institution in the Hellenic capital. “The Greek state would have the control, the majority of the funds would be ours but we would accept contributions from countries that were willing to do so. At that time Arab countries as Saudi Arabia and Egypt showed interest. The Institution would include a library, a place of worship and a place of gathering as in weddings, for example, men and women celebrate separately.”  The plan proceeded for Peania.

“The Archbishop of that time had stated his approval, the mayor of Peania the same, the Arabs as well.”  But on 1999 Mr. Pangalos left the foreign ministry with Otsalan case and somewhere there “the plan was abandoned and the reactions started.”

Gaza is bleeding and so are the people who support and love Gaza, but this time literally.

The Muslim Association of Greece highly condemns the hijacking of the unarmed freedom flotilla by the Israeli Navy in international waters. Thanks to the indifference of the world opinion, we were led to this bloody attack resulting in tragic deaths of passengers and dozens of other injured activists who were armed with nothing else but the sense of hope, justice, and the determination of a free Mediterranean.

We have actively participated since the beginning of the movement with plenty of tireless volunteers. The president, Naim Elghandour was on board of the cargo ship, Free Mediterranean, representing all of us.

People from every corner of the world, every age, ideology and status and religion have united for a just cause and now others are dead, others are wounded and some are prisoners. In the holds of the ship are dozens of electric wheelchairs for the disabled, prefabricated homes, desalination systems, building materials, and medical supplies which will never reach the receipts in Gaza who are in dire need.

Amongst the six ships of the “Freedom Flotilla” two Greek vessels and crews, the Free Mediterranean and Sfendoni were severely attacked in international waters as they also witnessed the bringing down of the Greek flag and its humiliation which is something that frightens us.

At least 4o Greek poeple are missing with Israel being the only one able to give us answers. Indeed, these are the very same poeple that killed so many civilians. How reliable can their data be and what is the fate of the hundreds activists?

The international community must act now because today civilians were killed while fighting in the name of liberty.

We express our sincerest condolences to the families of the victims, dead, wounded and prisoners and we dearly wish that one day Gaza will stop bleeding and the Mediterranean will be free.

 ——

Photo taken from aljazeera.net.