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Greece conducts surveillance of Muslim community in walkup to Olympics
From Geostrategy-Direct, subscription required.Greece has significantly increased monitoring over its Muslim community as part of security preparations for the summer Olympic games. Holy racial profiling, Batman! Greek officials said the effort has focused on the Muslim community in Athens. The surveillance is being conducted by Greece as well as Western intelligence agencies from countries advising Athens on Olympic security. These nations include the United States, Australia, Britain and Israel. That is good that Israel is involved in this one. There is some hope. The increased monitoring reflects concern by Athens and its allies that Al Qaida or related groups have planted sleepers in the Muslim community in Greece to facilitate a major insurgency attack during the Olympic games in August. Athens hosts some 15,000 Muslims. That is alot of Muslims to keep tabs on. Over the last two months, Greeceâs military and security forces have conducted a series of exercises to test their readiness during the Olympics. The exercises included such scenarios as bus and airplane hijackings, sniper attacks and helicopter strikes. Officials said that so far authorities have not received any credible threats of pending insurgency attacks. They wonât, either. Big surprise show for this one. "If Al Qaida plans on striking during the Olympic games, then they are already here," Greek police chief Lt. Gen. Fotis Nasiakos said. Understatement of the day. Human rights groups said the surveillance has focused on Greek mosques, most of them operated by Pakistani nationals. They said Greek authorities have employed operatives in mosques and routinely searched worshippers, particularly Arab nationals. Athens, unlike other capitals in European Union member states, has never granted official approval for establishing mosques. But the government has already approved a Saudi-financed project for constructing a mosque and Islamic school complex. Chicken coop---meet Wahabi fox den. "There are Muslims who feel that they are being over-monitored and that their places of worship have been infringed upon," said Panayotis Dimitras, head of the Athens-based Greek Helsinki Monitor. "At the same time, we have a police force which usually finds it difficult to limit themselves to legal means." Humiliation alert! Authorities have also questioned Arab nationals who have come to Greece to give sermons in mosques. A leading mosque preacher has been identified as a Sudanese national. Greece has not acknowledged the presence of foreign intelligence agents to help monitor the Muslim community. But Muslim sources in Athens said the community has been concerned that NATO members could send intelligence agents to track and detain thousands of Muslims before and during the Olympic games. If you donât police and clean up your act, others will do it for you in a way that may not be to your liking. Tango Sierra. Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-05-27 |
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