AP
 
Athens, May 23: Authorities fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of Muslims in central Athens today as they protested a Greek policeman's alleged defacement of a Quran owned by an Iraqi immigrant.

The clashes occurred outside Parliament as the demonstrators threw rocks and plastic bottles at police, and smashed windows of a luxury hotel in central Syntagma Square. A police helicopter hovered overhead.

Chanting "God is great!" and waving leather-bound copies of Islam's holy book, about 1,500 Muslim immigrants — mostly young men — had begun the demonstration with a march to Parliament to express their anger. The clashes occurred after the protest had dwindled to about 300.

"We want the officer or officers involved to be prosecuted, and the government to issue an apology," protester Manala Mohammed, a Syrian national, said. "We want people to show us respect".

Rioters overturned a car, damaged several parked vehicles and set fire to trash bins. Protest organisers, appealing for restraint, also scuffled with the rioters and tidied up the streets after the violence ended.

Police reported 15 arrests. In a less violent demonstration on Thursday, police fired tear gas to dispel a few stone-throwing protesters. Later, police arrested an Afghan man on suspicion of trying to firebomb an Athens police station in an attack that left him severely burned.