Posted on 02/21/2006 5:51:02 AM PST by NYer
Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches on Saturday, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest confrontation yet in the whirlwind of Muslim anger over the drawings.
It was the first major protest to erupt over the issue in Africa's most populous nation. An Associated Press reporter saw mobs of Muslim protesters swarm through the city center with machetes, sticks and iron rods. One group threw a tire around a man, poured gas on him and set him ablaze.
In Libya, the parliament suspended the interior minister after at least 11 people died when his security forces attacked rioters who torched the Italian consulate in Benghazi.
Right-wing Italian Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli resigned under pressure, accused of fueling the fury in Benghazi by wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with one of the offending cartoons, first published in September in a Danish newspaper.
Danish church officials met with a top Muslim cleric in Cairo, meanwhile, but made no significant headway in defusing the conflict.
And in what has become a daily event, tens of thousands of Muslims protested — this time in Britain, Pakistan and Austria — to denounce the perceived insult. On Sunday, some 400 protesters pelted the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia with rocks, tomatoes and eggs. They burned U.S. flags and smashed the windows of a guard post before dispersing.
But it was in Nigeria, where mutual suspicions between Christians and Muslims have led to thousands of deaths in recent years, that tensions boiled over into sectarian violence.
Thousands of rioters burned 15 churches in Maiduguri in a three-hour rampage before troops and police reinforcements restored order, Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi said. Iwendi said security forces arrested dozens of people in the city about 1,000 miles northeast of the capital, Lagos.
Chima Ezeoke, a Christian Maiduguri resident, said protesters attacked and looted shops owned by minority Christians, most of them with origins in the country's south.
"Most of the dead were Christians beaten to death on the streets by the rioters," Ezeoke said. Witnesses said three children and a priest were among those killed.
The Danish cartoons, including one showing Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with an ignited fuse, have set off sometimes violent protests around the world.
After the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed the caricatures in September, other Western newspapers, mostly in Europe, followed suit, asserting their news value and the right to freedom of expression.
But Nigeria has been spared much of the violence seen elsewhere in the world, though lawmakers in the heavily Muslim state of Kano burned Danish and Norwegian flags and barred Danish companies from bidding on a major construction project. Kano lawmakers also called on the state's 5 million people to boycott Danish goods.
Nigeria, with a population of more than 130 million, is roughly divided between a predominantly Muslim north and a mainly Christian south.
With Saturday's deaths, at least 45 people have been killed in protests across the Muslim world, according to a count by The Associated Press.
In the violence in Libya, Seif el-Islam Gadhafi, the son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, said four of the 11 dead were believed to have been Egyptians or Palestinians.
"Setting the consulate on fire was a mistake, but using excessive force was the most tragic response," the younger Gadhafi said, explaining the suspension of Interior Minister Nasr al-Mabrouk.
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi blamed the riots in Libya, Italy's former colony, on "thoughtless action by our minister," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted him as saying.
Calderoli said he wore the shirt to show "solidarity to all those who were hit by the blind violence of religious fanaticism." He said he did not intend "to offend the Muslim religion nor to be the pretext for yesterday's violence."
At the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, U.S. Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes said U.S. newspapers generally did not reprint the caricatures "because they recognize they are deeply offensive, even blasphemous to the precious convictions of our Muslim friends and neighbors."
In Cairo, Bishop Karsten Nissen, of Denmark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, met with Grand Imam Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi of al-Azhar University, the world's highest Sunni Muslim seat of learning.
Tantawi said the Danish prime minister must apologize for the drawings and further demanded that the world's religious leaders meet to write a law that "condemns insulting any religion, including the Holy Scriptures and the prophets." He said the United Nations should impose the law on all countries.
In response, Nissen did not address the issue of a global law but said it was impossible for Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to apologize.
"I have brought to his excellency (Tantawi) the apology of the newspaper, but our prime minister did not draw these cartoons. Our prime minister is not the editor of this newspaper. He cannot apologize for something he did not do," Nissen said.
In Pakistan on Sunday, police raided offices and homes of dozens of radical Islamic leaders, putting several under house arrest and detaining hundreds of their associates to foil a rally in the capital, officials said.
So far the West and Islamic nations remain at loggerheads over fundamental, but conflicting cultural imperatives — the Western democratic assertion of a right to free speech and press freedom, versus the Islamic dictum against any representation of the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims say such depictions could encourage idolatry.
Dying for a cartoon. Amazing.
It means "peace" ya know
So the religion of peace is out martyring Christians? Who'd a thunk.
The muslim world is getting ready to blow out into a full Jihad.
We should probably be glad they are doing it now, and not later when 35% of the US population is muslim.
The part that bothers me though, is how we are putting both hands behind our backs in this war between Islam and the world. They burn, riot, destroy and we apologize. Hmmm.... just seems like the wrong way to respond.
This is not about religion right? Thats what my gooberment keeps saying.
"Most of the dead were Christians beaten to death on the streets by the rioters," Ezeoke said. Witnesses said three children and a priest were among those killed."
Can anyone even imagine the uproar that would ensue if that situation were reversed?
Why do we let these animals go on breathing?
I've never seen anything like it. Its like an SNL skit. Some rinkydink paper publishes a cartoon and months later the Jihadists go nuts. Its a cartoon for god's sake! At least this helps to wake up some of the people who thought muslims were reasonable and were members of 21st century society.
Get. Over. It.
The Religion of Pieces strikes again.
"Confrontation?"
Confrontation with who?
Other muslims, right?
These "people" (yeah, those are 'sarcasm quotes') are not merely insane, they're stupid and insane.
No freakin' wonder their country is perpetually in the toilet: the inmates can't quite manage to run the asylum very well.
There WAS a chance to take care of the problem way back in October when the ambassadors (not mere diplomats or liasons, but full ambassadors) of 11 Arab countries in Denmark tried to meet with Denmark's prime minister. I guess the ambassadors KNEW the problems that would arise if it weren't taken care of.
Any time that ELEVEN ambassadors from ANY country can actually come together and agree on something HAS to be monumental. With ELEVEN Arab ambassadors actually getting together....then, actually agreeing on something... that has to be of cosmic importance.
But, the Danes refused. They cited "free speech" as an issue.
Mind you, the Danes DON'T have "free speech," as their Internet Nannies block all pro-nazi sites on the Internet.
Also, it's a crime, punishable by fines and prison to deny the holocaust.
David Irving (historian and author, Jewish, btw) is on trial RIGHT NOW in Austria for the "crime," that is, "saying" -- denying the holocaust.
So, now the Danes, government, newspaper, etc., HAVE apologized, perhaps right AFTER the first deaths and AFTER it was publically let out to the world that THEY have no "free speech" either.
The cartoon DID hit Islam's tender spot. Shame they didn't take care of that wound sooner. No one wins with this.
It's silly, sad and pathetic that a mere cartoon started all this. Political cartoons are especially sharp, hard and cruel. That's their purpose. The jab at Islam was deliberate, thought out and well done by the Danish cartoonist.
Too bad saner heads didn't prevail at the point about publishing it in a country with so many Muslims.
Too bad the Danish government didn't bother to even listen to the eleven Arab ambassadors (not mere diplomats or liasons, but full ambassadors) when it had the chance. Many deaths and much destruction and a ton of anger might have been prevented. HINDSIIGHT, always 20-20.
I am putting on my flame resistant suit now, NYer. :o)
OOOkay, I get it:
They're killing Christians.
Time for some un-Christian behavior on the part of those who wish to go on breathing.
I know: all Muslims should commit one huge group harakiri in protest over those outrageous cartoons.
My Danish friends tell me Denmark is <2% non-Dane, and <1% Muslim.
Only in Islam do religious leaders 'write laws' Mister Imam or Mullah or whatever, and any such law would have to condemn the parts of the Koran which refer to Jews and infidels in general as 'pigs and monkeys'.
Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel.
..................
These appear to be two separate incidents.
10 Killed in Religious Clashes in Northern Nigeria [teacher allegedly confiscates Koran]
Some reports have more than 15 dying. One source reported they counted 50 bodies.
well,
you seem to have missed some bits....
1, denmark does not have many muslims. out of a population (from memory) of 5 million they have around 120,000
2, the reason for the cartoon was not a jab but was raised about why so many people do not exercise free speech but exercise self censorship about islam. So the cartoons was in response to that issue...
3, loads of european countries after ww2 introduced laws forbidding nazism. with good reason, there were danish SS batallions in the german army for example, dutch ones, belgian ones, nordic ones,even some french batallions. so when you pick one example of a law and say they do not have free speech is a little, how shall we put it, 'selective'
4. david irvine is a nazi. anyone who presents at nazi rallies (check the videos of him speaking) stating that the holocaust did not happen (because he selects the texts) gives up the right to be called a 'historian'. when he calls hitler mein furher in court in the UK, well you give up the right saying that you should be considered 'objective'. i have no problem with him showing what 'facts' he found, but when he is selective with them, he is not a historian. i would check out his trial in england a few years ago if you would like to know what a complete nut job this guy is. also he got 3 years yesterday so he is no longer on trial. i dont really care if he is jewish or martian, how does that have any significance? no race on this planet is devoid of the moron gene.
5, i recall reading here that egyptian papers already printed these cartoons last year, none or virtually no effect..WHY?
6. the iman from Denmark (who in my opinion should not have been let back into the Denmark!) delivered 15 cartoons, ones he added that he found himself THAT DID not appear in the newspaper. these were the ones of mohammed as a pedophine and various other sexual ones. WHy??
7, a newspaper in denmark is not a voice of the government. so what if 900 ambassadors appeared...what has it got to do with the Danish government? they have no right to dictate to the newpaper once it is not breaking the laws. by your arguement, no coutry on earth has free speech, suppose you threaten the US president...say that and see how long before the secret service come knocking...does the US have free speech??..of course it does...name me one middle eastern society outside isreael that has anythign like our freedoms...and i will buy you dinner!!! ( and spare me jordan...no it DOESNT)
i am sorry but your post is full of moral relativism...and personally (and this is just me) i find that incredibly offenve to anyone...as if somehow they are so stupid they dont know right from wrong.
this whole debacle is about exercising power and control. personally i think the reason both iran and saudi arabia is backpedelling now is they realise, they have blown their wad too early and the effect on views in europe has been quite amazing..check out the stats about what people feel about muslims in europe now (it was posted yesterday) i found that quite amazing...france, germany all seem to be pointing towards restricting immigration now...
anyways, hope the flame firewall worked (hahah)..good discussion points..we need more of it here IMHO
sorry for they spelling...in a bit of a rush at the moment...
geez - you would think they hacked off someones head with a knife (several times) instead of drew a cartoon
Oh wait... that was the mooslims...
No, they MURDERED for a cartoon. Big difference.
I'm wondering if it's time to start putting muslims out of our misery. They are quite literally acting like subhuman filth.
The cartoons are a pretext for Arabs to plow the ground for major dissent in Pakistan during the scheduled March visit by Pres.Bush.
The cartoons carry the additional strategic bonus of watching left wingers like Gore and Clinton apologize (again).
Not really. The rioters just wanted an excuse.
**************
Agreed.
I actually heard that some Imams leaked the 'bad' cartoons on purpose, to create an excuse to go on a rape-and-pillage tour. Now, what do they REALLY want in Nigeria? Some yellow cake?
3 of the cartoons are said to be badly drawn, and are suspected to have been created by one of the Clerics himself to back up a wild claim he'd earlier made.
We cannot blame the Danes for this. The original cartoon came out in September. These protests are well planned and orchestrated using the Danish cartoons are little more than pretense to kill non-Moslems.
Yes, I heard this, too. This is the same to them, I suppose, as enforcing or even encouraging the spread of the jihad.
Thousands of rioters burned 15 churches in Maiduguri in a three-hour rampage before troops and police reinforcements restored order, Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi said. Iwendi said security forces arrested dozens of people in the city about 1,000 miles northeast of the capital, Lagos.
Now Muslims propose this....
Tantawi said the Danish prime minister must apologize for the drawings and further demanded that the world's religious leaders meet to write a law that "condemns insulting any religion, including the Holy Scriptures and the prophets." He said the United Nations should impose the law on all countries.
So isn't burning down 15 churches against the law they want imposed on ALL countries? Help me out here! This is hypocrisy or insane confusion!
"Jewish" according to Hitler?
Seems the Islamics kill anyone who gets in their way, even their own. They don't ask fo I.D. cards. They are crazy, disorganized. Running wild. Yes, they need tranquilizers. Maybe they're high on some of thet "poppy stufff" they grow and import illegally to the world.
2, the reason for the cartoon was not a jab but was raised about why so many people do not exercise free speech but exercise self censorship about islam. So the cartoons was in response to that issue...
YOU may call it whatever YOU want, but the MUSLIMS, the ones rioting, considered it so. I can't believe that the Danish cartoonist wasn't trying to be insulting. Lol. He was.
3, loads of european countries after ww2 introduced laws forbidding nazism. with good reason, there were danish SS batallions in the german army for example, dutch ones, belgian ones, nordic ones,even some french batallions. so when you pick one example of a law and say they do not have free speech is a little, how shall we put it, 'selective'
For whatever reasons the Danes (and loads of European countries) censor pro-nazi sites, the POINT IS ....they DO have censorship and do NOT have "free speech." A country that exercises censorship, by definition, does not have free speech. YOU might consider that "ONE" example as small, but the Europeans also make it a CRIME, punishable by fines and prison to deny the holocaust.
David Irving is on trial now in Austria for that "crime." That may be just another "one" example, but, truth be known, most countries may SAY that they have free speech, but they really don't.
So the issue from the cartoonist wasn't really "free speech." It was to insult Muslims via Muhammed.
4. david irvine is a nazi. anyone who presents at nazi rallies (check the videos of him speaking) stating that the holocaust did not happen (because he selects the texts) gives up the right to be called a 'historian'. when he calls hitler mein furher in court in the UK, well you give up the right saying that you should be considered 'objective'. i have no problem with him showing what 'facts' he found, but when he is selective with them, he is not a historian. i would check out his trial in england a few years ago if you would like to know what a complete nut job this guy is. also he got 3 years yesterday so he is no longer on trial. i dont really care if he is jewish or martian, how does that have any significance? no race on this planet is devoid of the moron gene.
I agree with you. Irving spends much time HERE in the U.S. where he has more "free speech" than he does in Europe. BUT, to be ON TRIAL for his thoughts and writings in a country and group of countries that pride themselves on "free speech"? I guess you see no irony there, no double standard.
Muslims see the double standard....selective free speech.
THEIR "tender" spot is portrayal of Mohammad; Europe's "tender" spot is holocaust denial and pro-nazi sites, even after three generations since the end of the war.
Here is the timeline:
September 30, 2005: Danish newspaper 'Jyllands Posten' publishes anti-Islamic caricatures.
October 19-20: The ambassadors of 11 Arab countries in Denmark request a meeting with the prime minister of that country, Anders Fog Rasmussen. He refuses.
December 7th: The first anti-Danish demonstration is held in Pakistan.
December 19th: Former Danish envoys in Moslem countries criticize the position of Rasmussen's government.
January 1st, 2006: The Prime Minister of Denmark apologizes to Danish Moslems during his New Year's address.
January 10th: Norwegian publication 'Magazinet' reprints the caricature.
January 26th: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador from Denmark.
January 28th: The Kuwaiti foreign ministry and other Arab countries recall their ambassadors from Denmark. Libya recalls its ambassador from Copenhagen.
January 30th: Gunmen break into the offices of the European Union in Gaza and demand apologies.
January 31st: 'Jyllands Posten' apologizes. The Prime Minister of Denmark officially rejects apologies from Moslem countries.
February 1st: A number of newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain publish the caricatures. The owner of 'France Soir' fires editor in chief Jacques LeFrana. Leader of the Chechen rebels (terrorists) Shamil Basayev criticizes the caricatures.
February 2nd: A German citizen, who was mistaken for a Frenchman or a Dane, is taken hostage on the West Bank. The editor of the Jordanian newspaper 'Al -Shihan', which reprinted a number of caricatures of the prophet, is fired.
February 3rd: Anti-Danish protests break out for the first time in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta. In many Arab countries demonstrations take the form of anti-European protests. In Iran ten thousand demonstrate. In Jordan the editors of the newspapers 'Al -Shihan' and 'Al -Mehwar', who reprinted caricatures of the prophet, are arrested.
February 4th: Palestinian protestors raid and burn a German cultural center in the Gaza strip. In Denmark there are street fights between Moslems and neo-Nazis.
February 5th: The Danish embassy in Beirut is destroyed.
February 6-7th: At least eight people are killed in battles between police and protesters in Afghanistan. In Lebanon one demonstrator dies from wounds obtained in the assault on the Danish embassy. In Somalia there is fighting and a teenager is killed. Iran breaks off all commercial contacts with Denmark. Many thousands protest in Niger.
February 8th: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, EU Foreign Policy Coordinator Javier De Solana, and Islamic Conference head Ekmeletdin Ihsanoglu sign a joint declaration on the anti-Islamic caricatures with a call to solve the crisis peacefully. George Bush expresses support for Denmark in a telephone conversation with Prime Minister Rasmussen.
February 8th, 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Article on the theme
Caricature war: opinion
The global conflict, which ignited because of images of the prophet Mohammed in European newspapers, is a blasphemy for the Moslems and shows no sign of abating. Was it possible to avoid this explosion of anger and violence? Orientalists, human rights and religious activists give their opinions.
http://grani.ru/Politics/World/Europe/m.101679.html
February 7th, 2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright © 2005 grani.ru
The latest violence has been in Nigeria, against Christians.
Pooh-pooh all you like. Call it a "free speech" issue if you like, but DO call it a "selective" one, since it is. Excoriate, villify and condemn all the Muslims, but the fact is, the DANISH cartoon started it all. And here we are with all this violence.
The Danish newspaper apologized. The Danish prime minister apologized. They WOULDN'T have apologized unless they had been wrong.
i am sorry but your post is full of moral relativism...and personally (and this is just me) i find that incredibly offenve to anyone...as if somehow they are so stupid they dont know right from wrong.
It's not "moral relativism" to state the facts.
Also, I was pointing out the double standard of the Danes, about "free speech." That also IS NOT "moral relativism"; it's just calling a spade a spade.
My idea of right and wrong doesn't coincide with Islam and I didn't EVER justify their violence. Re-read my post and you will see that there is no justification of their violence, just an explanation of it.
Big difference and well you know it.
this whole debacle is about exercising power and control. personally i think the reason both iran and saudi arabia is backpedelling now is they realise, they have blown their wad too early and the effect on views in europe has been quite amazing..check out the stats about what people feel about muslims in europe now (it was posted yesterday) i found that quite amazing...france, germany all seem to be pointing towards restricting immigration now...
I guess that you haven't been reading the news. This HASN'T died down in any of the countries, though Iran now says to "stop the violence." The violence is spreading to African Muslim nations now.
By the way, this ISN'T about how Europeans "feel" about Muslims. It's gone WAY beyond that. Horse is outta the barn.
Finally, it's ABOUT TIME that Europe starts restricting immigration. It MIGHT be too late. I dunno. I hope not.
How many Muslims are in Ireland? Just curious.
See the timeline in post #39. It's a little more complex than that.
See post #39 for the time line. It's a bit more complex than that.
The Danish newspaper and prime minister apologized...last month. They wouldn't have apologized unless they had believed that they really had done something wrong.
Just facts here. Don't shoot the messenger.
Well, I DO have on my flame resistant suit so fire away if you like. :o)
See post #39 for a more complete timeline.
It's more complex than Arabs, Pakistan and Bush.
The timeline only goes to February 8th....much more has happened since then, and little of it any good.
By the way, Arabs get very little done in Pakistan. Pakistanis don't think much of Arabs. And, this is only my opinion here, there are MORE THAN enough zealots and fanatics in Pakistan without the inclusion of a single Arab.
Re: Arabs in Pakistan..
It seems that Islamist Arabs (like Bin Laden) and their money are deeply enmeshed in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
bin Laden will be protected as long as his money holds out. With his last dime goes all deep enmeshment.
Reminds me of Idi Amin. He used his ill-gotten cash to buy protection in Uganda ... until it ran out.
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