Demolished church photographed on 26 August 2015. Photo: Facebook

Albanian police have demolished a contested church dedicated to St Athanas in the southern village of Dhermi, angering the Orthodox Church and neighbouring Greece, which supports the Church’s mission.

The Orthodox Church called it a vandalistic act of desecration and a violation of church property. Greece said the Albanians were behaving like Islamist extremists.

Police used heavy machinery to reduce to rubble the roof built in 1994 to cover the foundations of a much older church destroyed during the communist era.

The renovated church was declared an “illegal construction” by the local authorities in Himara municipality two weeks ago, pitting Albanian nationalists against the Greek-supported Orthodox Church.

Since news about the demolition order broke out last Friday, government officials, including the Prime Minister Edi Rama, described the church as an important part of the national heritage of Albania and pledged to restore it properly.

Albanians believe that in the 17th century, a well-known Catholic cleric served there and opened Albanian-language schools.

Speaking about the church, Prime Minister Rama said on Monday that “the old church in Dhermi will be regenerated in the name of national heritage [over] the ‘parking lot’ that is illegal, which they call a church.”

Albanian nationalist historians and politicians have dismissed the Orthodox Church complaints as Greek nationalistic propaganda.

The southern Himara area has experienced several conflicts between Albanian and Greek nationalists during recent years. Home to a significant Greek minority, some Greek nationalists still dream of uniting the area to the Greek state.

The Greek government urged the Albanian authorities to stop the demolition and reacted angrily after the demolition went ahead, comparing it to the acts of Islamic extremists.

“The destruction of holy sites and objects of worship took place at least until recently in the wider region of the Middle East and North Africa at the hands of jihadists. Today we also saw such an act carried out in our neighbouring country, Albania,” a Greek Foreign Ministry spokesperson Konstantinos Koutras said on Wednesday.

“You will be informed directly of Greece’s moves in this instance towards Albania and the international community,” he added.