Far-Right Greeks Arrested for Assaulting Egyptians

Six far-right militants were arrested Tuesday after four Egyptians were assaulted in an industrial suburb of Athens, police said, amid an increase in attacks on immigrants in the crisis-hit nation.

A local Muslim leader accused Greek politicians, particularly those on the right, of stoking racist violence ahead of a general election on Sunday that could determine whether the country will stay in the eurozone.

One of the victims is in hospital in a "critical yet stable" condition after the early morning attack on the house where the Egyptians were staying, according to the Egyptian embassy.

Police said five men and a woman had been arrested on charges of grievous bodily harm and property damage after a 28-year-old man was hit on the head while windows, cars and a tricycle were smashed in the raid.

Several other racist attacks in Greece have been linked to neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, which won almost seven percent of the vote and 21 seats in parliament in last month's inconclusive election.

The head of the Muslim Association of Greece, Naim El Ghandhour, said some politicians had "paved the way for the rise of Golden Dawn and the increase in racist violence by seeking to win the votes of the extreme right".

In particular, he lashed out at the conservative New Democracy party chief Antonis Samaras, who had called for Greeks during the campaign for the May vote to "take back our cities," in a reference to illegal immigration.

The U.N. Committee against Torture (CAT) issued a report recently calling on Greece to act against rising levels of racism and related violence.

Earlier this month, two Golden Dawn MPs were briefly taken into custody over an attack on a Pakistani immigrant but were released for lack of evidence.

Another party candidate has been accused of beating up, along with two other Greeks, three Afghan immigrants in Athens a year ago.

A police source told Agence France Presse the alleged attackers in Tuesday's assault belong to the extreme right, but they have not been identified as Golden Dawn members.