Pakistani Christians attacked by mob for alleged Koran desecration

A large police presence had cordoned off the settlement, he said. The crowd had been pushed back and five injured Christians had been taken to hospital.

At least one house and a small shoe factory were set on fire by protesters who had gathered after neighbors claimed that the Muslim holy book, the Koran, had been desecrated by a member of a minority community, according to a police spokesman and Christian leader Akmal Bhatti.

“They burned down a house and lynched several Christians,” Bhatti said.

Videos posted on social media show protesters looting items from burning buildings, while others can be seen throwing the items into a pile on the fire on a street.

Bhatti said the videos were images from the crime scene.

Pakistan’s independent human rights commission said the Christian community was “in grave danger of death from the attacking mobs.”

Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, with its conservative Muslim majority. A mere accusation can lead to a lynching on the street.

Although blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, no one has ever been executed for it. However, numerous defendants have been lynched by angry mobs.

Last year, a Muslim mob attacked a Christian community in East Pakistan, vandalising several churches and setting fire to numerous houses after accusing two of its members of desecrating the Koran.