The 19-year-old died in hospital on Sunday after being repeatedly stabbed near an unofficial mosque in Anaxagora Street in central Athens by a gang of five people riding four motorcycles, police officials said.

The gang had earlier tried to assault a Romanian and a Moroccan national before the attack, but the pair managed to escape, witnesses told police.

“Such attacks are unacceptable and the authorities must do all within their power to stem their rise,” said Jezerca Tigani, Deputy Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.

Attacks by unidentified groups and individuals against foreign nationals and places of worship have also been reported in the past week in Athens, Pireus, Crete and other towns.

In one attack last Thursday in Pireus, flares were reportedly thrown into a prayer room for Muslim worshippers by some 15 members of an extreme right-wing group riding motorcycles as 10 migrants were praying inside. 

There are no official mosques in Greece. Muslim worshippers pray in rooms, flats, warehouses, and any space that can be turned into a praying room. So far, plans to build official mosques have failed.

Two Pakistani nationals were taken to hospital after being beaten by a group of unknown men who entered their house in Vonitsa in Western Greece last Sunday evening.

Two Egyptian nationals also told the organization in July that they were attacked by around 20 members of an extreme right-wing group as they slept in a house in Pireus with four fellow nationals. One of the two men, a young fisherman, had to have two operations on his face and remained in hospital for days after the incident. Five men and a woman were arrested after the attack.

“The number of attacks is worrying and it shows how much rage and hate there is in the society. It is time for the Greek society to stand up against such shameful attacks and reassert its condemnation of racial and ethnic hatred,” said Jezerca Tigani.

The attack against the Iraqi man on Sunday came days after Amnesty International called on the Greek authorities to halt a police crackdown launched last week on “irregular immigrants”, in which more than 8,000 foreign nationals were arrested in the Greek capital. Of those, 1,660 individuals were found to be without official documentation and were placed in administrative detention, according to Greek police today.

“Recent police operations against immigrants have raised serious concerns that people may be discriminated against on the basis of their perceived ethnicity, and such actions fuel xenophobic sentiment.”

Amnesty International, while recognizing the Greek authorities’ right to control immigration, has previously stated they “do not have the right to treat people in the street like criminals purely because of the colour of their skin”.

“Greek authorities must prioritize and build up the confidence of minorities and foreign nationals in the ability of the authorities to protect them from the threat of racist violence by sending a strong message to all those who carry out these attacks – they will not be tolerated and will be fully and vigorously investigated, with perpetrators brought to justice,” said Jezerca Tigani.

According to Mahmoud Abou hamed a resident of the area and responsible of the official page of the Egyptian community of Greece who took photos of the incident said 20 members of Golden Dawn including one woman attacked a house where five Egyptian fishermen lived, causing damage and injuring seriously one of them.

“They broke their cars and seconds later they entered the house and beat them using bats and other makeshift weapons catching them off guard. The four managed to escape but the one who was at that time at the roof sleeping did not have time to escape, and now he is hospitalized in serious condition. His situation is between life and death.”

The seriously injured Abu Zeid Mubarak Abu Zeid 24 years old has been transferred to Tzanio hospital but due to his serious health situation is soon expected to be transferred to Evangelismos.

According to police reports, 6 people have been arrested including a woman and are being questioned since early in the morning.

Egyptian Rabab Hassan told Alyunaniya, “This is the first time something like that happens. I’m sure the police won’t do anything to the six people they arrested. They just caught them for the eyes of the world. It seems like the situation has reached a point with no return. What else can we expect?”

Meanwhile the President of the Muslim Association of Greece Naim El Ghandour strongly condemned the racist acts and “holds all political parties accountable for giving living room to Golden Dawn to act in these racist ways and especially the Leader of New Democracy party Antonis Samaras, who should be especially sensitive to the issue since he comes from a family of Greek migrants who once lived in Egypt.”