Government officials appealed for calm Friday after three days of attacks by ultranationalist mobs on dark-skinned foreigners in Athens, sparked by the brutal murder of a Greek man in the capital's crime-infested centre.
Greece is in the throes of a major financial crisis. It is also the main gateway to the European Union for tens of thousands of illegal migrants from Asia and Africa that have transformed the capital's ethnic makeup by moving into depressed central neighborhoods. The influx has helped fuel a nationalist backlash that reached a climax this week.
Greece's Pakistani community apparently says more than 100 Asian and African immigrants were chased over the past few days by rampaging youths protesting the brutal murder, in a march organized by residents of the centre.