RIOTS broke out in an overcrowded German refugee camp after a resident tore pages out of a Koran and threw them in the TOILET.

At least 17 people were injured when 20 Syrian refugees chased down an Afghan man after he ruined and discarded the Muslim Holy Book.

But the situation turned nasty when the crowd turned their anger to the camp's security guards as they protected the alleged offender.

More than 50 men armed themselves with steel rods and began hurling rocks at the guards and police.

The migrants smashed car windows, ransacked buildings and demolished the walls, which divide the shelter in Suhl, Thuringia, in a rampage which lasted several hours.



It comes amid raised tensions in Germany, which expects to host 800,000 migrants this year.

The nation is already struggling to deal with refugees fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, as authorities are forced to house and school them in makeshift tents and shelters.

Officials have repeatedly raised concerns over overcrowding and the country's ability to deal with the sudden surge.

The state premier in Thuringia, in central Germany, believes different ethnic groups should be separated in refugee homes to prevent such violence happening again.

The Thuringia camp is designed to hold 1,200 refugees, but is currently housing up to 1,700, which is putting a strain on both the migrants and the people helping them.



It comes after Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere met with his French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve in Berlin on Thursday to discuss Europe's biggest migrant crisis since World War II.

The Koran is the Islamic sacred book, believed to be the world of God as dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel and written down in Arabic.