A Muslim mob attacked Christians, including attempting to burn a church, after someone claimed a mentally ill man burned pages of the Koran.

Police had arrested Humayun Faisal, a mentally challenged Christian man, after some Muslim residents told police that Faisal had burned the Koran.  He was charged under a Pakistiani law that prohibits the desecration of the Koran.

“Many people gathered on the spot and some of them even tried to burn him alive, however, we saved him and handed him to the police,” one witness told the Express Tribune. “Later a charged mob reached the house of the accused and recorded their protest.”

The mob, chanting “allahu akbar”, looted the homes of 15 Christian families, forcing the Christian to flee out of fear of their lives.  The mob tried to burn St. Joseph’s Catholic basilica but police confronted the mob and dispersed them using tear gas.

“I immediately requested help from some Muslim leaders and local politicians,”  Archbishop Sebastian Shaw told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need. “Thanks to their intervention, the police succeeded in dispersing the crowd by midnight. It is the first time the government has succeeded in acting in time to save both the people and their homes.”

Muslim is Pakistan’s official state religion and 97 percent of the country identifies as Muslim.