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Equality and tear gas for all ruled the special forces for  riots control on Saturday when two parallel protests took place in Athens. One of them against racism and the other one against illegal immigration. On St. Panteleimon square at twelve o’clock at noon, was held a protest rally of the residents in the area who protest against the great number of crimes in their neighborhood. As the main source of the problem they identify the large groups of illegal immigrants who have found refuge in the narrow streets around the neighborhood square and according to the residents are the main cause of high crime rates in the region. Cases of theft, assaults and violence have increased progressively in the last fifteen years and today people say, "We want all foreigners out".

"At night after six o’clock you can not see a Greek in the street, it is full of criminals – I see how they sell drugs, they let their wives prostitute. You can not live like that", said a resident of St. Panteleimon. A pensioner who has lived for 40 years in the neighborhood said that two weeks ago, "two black men" as she called them, hit her to take her purse. The woman wore a supportive neck collar. When the retired participant in the protest, realized that GRReporter is a Bulgarian news agency she started shouting: "You Bulgarians sell your children, you sell drugs, you hold chains of illegal prostitution! We want all foreigners out!"

A member of the extreme right-wing Golden Dawn rushed to say: "It’s not precisely the Bulgarians who are our problem - we have the same religion as them and many of them have come to work honestly. Illegal immigrants from countries like Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries come to Greece and have no respect neither for our country nor for the people." He told us about a Pakistani who said that all Greek women were easy, because they go around dressed in tight jeans and low-cut necklines. "They look at our women as if they were a piece of meat and think that everything is permitted. There are many cases of assaults and rapes in the area for which for which are to be blamed Albanians and other immigrants, and the state does nothing", he explained.

Xenophobic attitude in the region escalated in recent years because of high crime rate, and residents complain that the police is powerless. "The fact that they are hungry is no excuse for the crimes they commit," said the member of the Golden Dawn. People say there hasn’t been political will until now to ensure peace and tranquility, and to decide the fate of illegal immigrants who break the law. To the question "Can’t the police protect you?" People responded: "What can they do – they will arrest them for one night, then they will let them on the street and everything happens all over again."

The authorities in many cases remain observers and following the rule "Along with the dry grass, burns also the fresh one" it all comes down to mob justice, the victims may even be legal immigrants who have no guilt for the crimes committed in the area. The violence and long term carelessness of the state in recent years led to severe acts of racism, which were also illustrated with the rally of Saint Panteleimon. Slogans were heard saying: "Greece for the Greeks - the foreigners out", "Greece is white" and other similar slogans. Members of the Golden Dawn had gathered from different parts of the city especifically for the rally. Almost all were dressed in black and held in their hands bike helmet and the flag of Greece on an unusually thick rod.

At two o'clock in the afternoon the same day in front of the University of Athens in the city center the left political organizations in Greece also organized a protest rally, but against racism and the right of immigrants from war zones to a political asylum. It was planned to develop into a protest march and end with a festive concert not anywhere else, but on the Saint Panteleimon Square. The choice of the particular site was more than controversial in the moment when all know about the problems that exist in this region. GRReporter tried to find out, whose idea was for the protest concert to be held right in the "battle" area of Athens. Greek journalists from the leftist media, explained that the concert should take place exactly there because it is the region with the greatest intolerance of foreigners in the country, and the music can launch a bridge between cultures.

Naivety of this explanation was apparent, even offensive, but whatever the reason was for for the choice of the place where to hold the peace concert, the problems of the immigrants in Greece is obvious to every visitor and citizen of the country. We asked real immigrants to share their views about life in Greece. Sahaap from Iran is 27 years old. He has been living in Athens for five years and is still waiting to be given a certificate of political refugee. "I came illegally here as everyone else from Iran because of the regime in my country. My goal is to settle, to work legally and pay taxes. I didn’t come with bad intentions and I observe the law of the country", said the young man. He explained that the problem lies in the lack of a unified policy for political refugees like him.