Racist attacks spark protest march

About 150 members of Greece's Pakistani community had gathered outside Athens City Hall earlier to pray and pay their respects to Shehzad Luaqman, a Pakistani killed in a suspected race attack on Thursday.

Mourners unfurled a banner by his coffin that read in Greek and English: "Punishment to the fascist murderers of Shehzad Luqman."

The community's leader Javied Aslam said: "We want to be peaceful. We are simple workers, and we will not do what the fascists do.

"In the last three years they have attacked 700 to 800 people.

It's the job of the police to arrest these people and send them to jail."

Anti-immigrant feeling has surged in Greece since the start of its economic crisis.

The ultra-right wing Golden Dawn party won seats in Parliament for the first time last June, taking about 7 per cent of the vote and capitalising on local resentment of rising unemployment and crime.

Two Greek men in their 20s have been charged with Mr Luqman's murder.

They have admitted killing him but claim it followed a heated argument.

But police sources said the men had taken off their motorbike's licence plate and Golden Dawn pamphlets and several knives were found when their homes were searched.