Posted on 02/10/2006 7:42:23 AM PST by one more state
Kenyan security forces fired tear gas at angry stone-throwing Muslim demonstrators attempting to march on the Danish embassy in Nairobi to protest cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, witnesses said on Friday.
Baton-wielding riot police launched tear-gas canisters to disperse about 300 protesters on a main thoroughfare in the capital after the crowd tried to break through a cordon by hurling rocks and other projectiles, they said.
At least one person was injured in the melee, witnesses said.
"I just saw something hit me and I fell down," said demonstrator Shaban Kariuki (18), who was bleeding from the hip.
An Agence France-Presse correspondent at the scene said the crowd involved had broken off from a larger demonstration and march through Nairobi that had been largely peaceful, although United States and Danish flags were set afire.
More than 2 500 people had earlier attended an organised demonstration at a sports stadium before joining up with hundreds of others to parade through the downtown business district, chanting anti-Western slogans.
"Are you ready to stand up and fight for your Prophet?" Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome, of the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims, asked the raucous crowd at the stadium, which responded with a huge "Yes."
"Are we ready to die for the sake of the Prophet Muhammad?" he asked. "Yes," the crowd replied.
"Why is there freedom of expression to insult Muslims but not other religions?" he asked. "Are we ready to respond to our oppressors with peace?"
"No," shouted back the crowd, members of which carried placards pledging to die in the fight against the cartoons that first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have since been reprinted in other European newspapers.
"We are ready for jihad", "Denmark, you will see our action", "We stand ready to defend our religion", and "We are ready to fight for our holy Prophet" read some of the banners.
Protesters then set fire to the US and Danish flags, proclaiming that "freedom of expression is Western terrorism" before taking to the streets to denounce the cartoons. At the Kenyan foreign ministry, where the marchers paused briefly, another Danish flag was set alight.
The drawings have sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world, as well as attacks on Western diplomatic missions, and several people have been killed in protests.
Kenya has a sizeable Muslim minority that is not known for extremist tendencies, and Islamic community leaders who organised the demonstration had appealed for the protest to be peaceful.
The US, warning of potential violence, ordered the closure on Friday of some US diplomatic offices near the Danish embassy in Nairobi.
No serious damage from the protests was immediately apparent.
Apart from the one injured demonstrator, several European journalists were roughed up at one point by angry marchers who accused them of being Danish, witnesses said.
Mohammed Idriss, an imam at a Nairobi mosque, said the demonstration was a sign that "we are not going to entertain any more desecration of our Prophet".
"This is the kind of content that has led the world to believe that all Muslims are terrorists," he said. "Sooner or later, we are not going to be peaceful if the West continues to use freedom of expression to say all kinds of nonsense about Islam and its Prophet."
Nigeria Meanwhile, thousands of Nigerian Muslims took to the streets of the northern Nigerian city of Kano after weekly prayers on Friday to condemn the cartoon drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.
Black-shirted followers of a hard-line Shi'ite Muslim sect brandished effigies of the Danish prime minister and placards demanding that Western leaders take action against the offending publishers.
"Freedom of speech does not mean freedom to insult Muslims," read one, while others demanded a boycott of Scandinavian imports.
Kano is often the scene of unrest and tensions in the sprawling trading centre have been further stoked by accusations from federal officials that the local state government is training a jihadist militia.
Protesters burned a Danish flag, but the march began without violence, as worshippers gathered from various city mosques after prayers.
A Kenyan policeman attends to an injured Muslim faithful during a demonstration in the capital Nairobi February 10, 2006. Kenyan police shot at hundreds of Muslims protesting against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on Friday, wounding at least one person, witnesses said. REUTERS/Antony Njuguna
A Kenyan Muslim chants slogans during a demonstration in the capital Nairobi February 10, 2006. Kenyan police shot at hundreds of Muslims protesting against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on Friday, wounding at least one person, witnesses said. REUTERS/Antony Njuguna
How dare you criticize the free expression of Islamic opinion!
Doesn't this watch Saturday Night Live?
Kenya for frickin' cryin' out loud!
Where will the murderous followers of the moon god show up next?
Uh, yes, it does.
Anyone want to go into business exporting Danish flags to the Muslim world?
There's seemingly a huge market and insatiable demand for this disposable product.
I'm not sure they have the mental capabilities to "get it."
These articles ought to be titled, ...
Police Disrupt Muslim Exercising of Religious Sacraments!
"This is the kind of content that has led the world to believe that all Muslims are terrorists," he said. "Sooner or later, we are not going to be peaceful if the West continues to use freedom of expression to say all kinds of nonsense about Islam and its Prophet."
You just can't make this stuff up! Pathetic.
"We're peaceful, dammit! And we'll lop off your head to prove it!"
Apparently, they've determined that most of the flags were made in and imported from Pakistan. The glories of international trade...the Muzzies manage to misuse even that.
Maybe that's why they had to delay the mass freaking-out. They needed enough time to produce/acquire the Danish flags, lol. Actually, I'm only half-joking.
If the mohammadans taker over kenya you can pretty much say good bye to scenes like this one.
bump
Either Kenyan police are pee-poor shots, or Tony is a lying sack of Roto-Reuters scum, when he says they were shooting at the peace-loving Mohammad worshippers.
Doesn't anyone in the press find it strange that they always frame it as "die for the sake of the Prophet Muhammad" rather than for Allah; yet, they "fear that images of "The Prophet" will lead to 'idolatry'?
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