Post by Kaifu1 on Feb 7, 2006 15:23:58 GMT -5
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10705393/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy
KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO peacekeepers and Afghan police exchanged fire with protesters who attacked a NATO base Tuesday in the second straight day of violent demonstrations in Afghanistan over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Four protesters were killed and dozens wounded a day after four other Afghans died in a similar protest.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the protests “a growing global crisis” and appealed for calm. The Danish paper Jyllands-Posten was the first to publish the drawings, in September.
“It now is something else than the drawings in Jyllands-Posten,” he said. “Now it has become an international political matter.”
President Bush called Fogh Rasmussen to express “solidarity and support” in the wake of the violence, the White House said Tuesday. Spokesman Scott McClellan said the leaders agreed that all sides must move forward “through dialogue and tolerance, not violence.”
In Iran, protesters attacked the Norwegian Embassy with stones and Molotov cocktails. The Austrian Embassy was similiarly attacked on Monday.
And a prominent newspaper said it was going to hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust in reaction to European newspapers publishing the prophet drawings.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the West’s publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons was an Israeli conspiracy motivated by anger over the victory of the militant Hamas group in the Palestinian elections last month. “The West condemns any denial of the Jewish holocaust, but it permits the insult of Islamic sanctities,” Khamenei said.
Afghans, NATO soldiers hurt
In Afghanistan, NATO troops, most of them Norwegian, and police fired on hundreds of protesters outside the base in Maymana after demonstrators shot at them and threw grenades. The protesters also burned an armored vehicle, a U.N. car and guard posts, prompting NATO peacekeepers to rush British reinforcements to the city.
“Police had to open fire. Some people are aiming to disrupt and disturb security,” said Azim Hakimi, spokesman for the provincial security department.
“Some people used guns,” he said. As well as the four dead, 18 people were wounded, he said.
Others were hurt by tear gas the peacekeepers used to disperse the demonstrators.
One Norwegian soldier was injured by a splinter from a grenade, while another was hurt by a flying rock. Two Finnish soldiers were also hurt, Sverre Diesen, the Norwegian military commander, told reporters in Oslo.
Diesen said two American A-10 attack aircraft were on their way to the city and that a German C-130 transport plane was on standby in case some troops needed to evacuated.
U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards said the world body’s nonessential staff in Maymana were being driven from the city to an undisclosed location for security reasons.
The cartoons were first published by a Danish newspaper in September, then reprinted by a Norwegian newspaper last month, setting off violent protests against the two countries across the Muslim world. The cartoons have subsequently been reprinted in other media, mostly in Europe.
The drawings — including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb — have touched a raw nerve in part because Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.
Other Afghan protests
In the Afghan capital of Kabul, police used batons to beat stone-throwing protesters outside the Danish diplomatic mission office and near the offices of the World Bank on Tuesday. An Associated Press reporter saw police arrest several people, many of whom were injured.
Security had already been tightened in Kabul, home to some 3,000 foreign diplomats, aid workers and others. Police have set up barricades and peacekeepers have been on constant patrol.
More than 3,000 protesters threw stones at government buildings and an Italian peacekeeping base in the western city of Herat, but no one was injured, said a witness, Faridoon Pooyaa. Provincial administrator Asiluddin Jami said police fired warning shots to prevent the demonstrators from entering the buildings and the base.
About 5,000 people clashed with police in Pulikhumri town, north of Kabul, said Sayed Afandi, a police commander. There were no reports of injuries.
Police in about half a dozen other towns and cities across Afghanistan reported thousands of people protesting.
Demonstrations have been held across Afghanistan since last week, with the size of the crowds progressively swelling. On Monday, four people were killed and at least 19 hurt during clashes, including one outside Bagram, the main U.S. military base.
Incidents elsewhere
Pakistan: Protests in Peshawar and North Waziristan each drew some 5,000 people. There were no reports of violence. In Peshawar, Chief Minister Akram Durrani, the province’s top elected official who led the rally, demanded the cartoonists “be punished like a terrorist.”
Iran: Dozens of people pelted the Danish Embassy with stones and climbed over walls into the mission's compound and lit a tree on fire in a second successive day of violent protests. It was not clear whether they had entered the embassy building itself. In a related move, the newspaper Hamshahri invited foreign cartoonists to enter its Holocaust cartoon competition, which it said would be launched on Feb. 13. The newspaper is owned by the Tehran Municipality, which is dominated by allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is well known for his opposition to Israel. Last year, Ahmadinejad provoked outcries when he said on separate occasions that Israel should be “wiped off the map” and the Holocaust was a “myth.”
China: The government criticized newspapers for publishing the cartoons and appealed for calm among outraged Muslims. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said publishing the cartoons “runs counter to the principle that different religions and civilizations should respect each other and live together in peace and harmony.”
Indonesia: Danish citizens were advised to leave Indonesia, where rowdy protests were held in at least four cities Tuesday. Danish missions, which have been repeatedly targeted by protesters, have been shut because of security concerns, said Niels Erik Anderson, the country’s ambassador to Indonesia.
Palestinian areas: Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government had temporarily closed diplomatic missions in Palestinian territories — where it shares a building with the Danish mission. He warned his citizens to be wary if traveling to the Middle East. Media in both Australia and New Zealand have also published the images.
Diplomatic impacts
Apart from fueling protests, the controversy has also had an impact on foreign relations.
On Monday, Iran announced it cut all trade ties with Denmark because of the cartoons. Iran imports some $280 million worth of goods a year from Denmark.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said he disapproves of the caricatures, but insisted he cannot apologize on behalf of his country's independent press.
The United States condemned the protests Monday, as administration officials continued to walk a fine line between supporting free speech and calling the cartoons offensive.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that “what we can do is to speak out very clearly in support of freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and urge understanding and tolerance — not violence.”
“We certainly at this time urge governments to take any steps that they might to lower tensions concerning this issue,” McCormack said.
He specifically said Saudi Arabia might be one. “Certainly the leaders of the Saudi government might be individuals who might fulfill that role,” he said. “There are others in the region who also might fulfill that role as well.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_Muhammad_cartoons_controversy
KABUL, Afghanistan - NATO peacekeepers and Afghan police exchanged fire with protesters who attacked a NATO base Tuesday in the second straight day of violent demonstrations in Afghanistan over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. Four protesters were killed and dozens wounded a day after four other Afghans died in a similar protest.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the protests “a growing global crisis” and appealed for calm. The Danish paper Jyllands-Posten was the first to publish the drawings, in September.
“It now is something else than the drawings in Jyllands-Posten,” he said. “Now it has become an international political matter.”
President Bush called Fogh Rasmussen to express “solidarity and support” in the wake of the violence, the White House said Tuesday. Spokesman Scott McClellan said the leaders agreed that all sides must move forward “through dialogue and tolerance, not violence.”
In Iran, protesters attacked the Norwegian Embassy with stones and Molotov cocktails. The Austrian Embassy was similiarly attacked on Monday.
And a prominent newspaper said it was going to hold a competition for cartoons on the Holocaust in reaction to European newspapers publishing the prophet drawings.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the West’s publication of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons was an Israeli conspiracy motivated by anger over the victory of the militant Hamas group in the Palestinian elections last month. “The West condemns any denial of the Jewish holocaust, but it permits the insult of Islamic sanctities,” Khamenei said.
Afghans, NATO soldiers hurt
In Afghanistan, NATO troops, most of them Norwegian, and police fired on hundreds of protesters outside the base in Maymana after demonstrators shot at them and threw grenades. The protesters also burned an armored vehicle, a U.N. car and guard posts, prompting NATO peacekeepers to rush British reinforcements to the city.
“Police had to open fire. Some people are aiming to disrupt and disturb security,” said Azim Hakimi, spokesman for the provincial security department.
“Some people used guns,” he said. As well as the four dead, 18 people were wounded, he said.
Others were hurt by tear gas the peacekeepers used to disperse the demonstrators.
One Norwegian soldier was injured by a splinter from a grenade, while another was hurt by a flying rock. Two Finnish soldiers were also hurt, Sverre Diesen, the Norwegian military commander, told reporters in Oslo.
Diesen said two American A-10 attack aircraft were on their way to the city and that a German C-130 transport plane was on standby in case some troops needed to evacuated.
U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards said the world body’s nonessential staff in Maymana were being driven from the city to an undisclosed location for security reasons.
The cartoons were first published by a Danish newspaper in September, then reprinted by a Norwegian newspaper last month, setting off violent protests against the two countries across the Muslim world. The cartoons have subsequently been reprinted in other media, mostly in Europe.
The drawings — including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb — have touched a raw nerve in part because Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.
Other Afghan protests
In the Afghan capital of Kabul, police used batons to beat stone-throwing protesters outside the Danish diplomatic mission office and near the offices of the World Bank on Tuesday. An Associated Press reporter saw police arrest several people, many of whom were injured.
Security had already been tightened in Kabul, home to some 3,000 foreign diplomats, aid workers and others. Police have set up barricades and peacekeepers have been on constant patrol.
More than 3,000 protesters threw stones at government buildings and an Italian peacekeeping base in the western city of Herat, but no one was injured, said a witness, Faridoon Pooyaa. Provincial administrator Asiluddin Jami said police fired warning shots to prevent the demonstrators from entering the buildings and the base.
About 5,000 people clashed with police in Pulikhumri town, north of Kabul, said Sayed Afandi, a police commander. There were no reports of injuries.
Police in about half a dozen other towns and cities across Afghanistan reported thousands of people protesting.
Demonstrations have been held across Afghanistan since last week, with the size of the crowds progressively swelling. On Monday, four people were killed and at least 19 hurt during clashes, including one outside Bagram, the main U.S. military base.
Incidents elsewhere
Pakistan: Protests in Peshawar and North Waziristan each drew some 5,000 people. There were no reports of violence. In Peshawar, Chief Minister Akram Durrani, the province’s top elected official who led the rally, demanded the cartoonists “be punished like a terrorist.”
Iran: Dozens of people pelted the Danish Embassy with stones and climbed over walls into the mission's compound and lit a tree on fire in a second successive day of violent protests. It was not clear whether they had entered the embassy building itself. In a related move, the newspaper Hamshahri invited foreign cartoonists to enter its Holocaust cartoon competition, which it said would be launched on Feb. 13. The newspaper is owned by the Tehran Municipality, which is dominated by allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is well known for his opposition to Israel. Last year, Ahmadinejad provoked outcries when he said on separate occasions that Israel should be “wiped off the map” and the Holocaust was a “myth.”
China: The government criticized newspapers for publishing the cartoons and appealed for calm among outraged Muslims. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said publishing the cartoons “runs counter to the principle that different religions and civilizations should respect each other and live together in peace and harmony.”
Indonesia: Danish citizens were advised to leave Indonesia, where rowdy protests were held in at least four cities Tuesday. Danish missions, which have been repeatedly targeted by protesters, have been shut because of security concerns, said Niels Erik Anderson, the country’s ambassador to Indonesia.
Palestinian areas: Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said his government had temporarily closed diplomatic missions in Palestinian territories — where it shares a building with the Danish mission. He warned his citizens to be wary if traveling to the Middle East. Media in both Australia and New Zealand have also published the images.
Diplomatic impacts
Apart from fueling protests, the controversy has also had an impact on foreign relations.
On Monday, Iran announced it cut all trade ties with Denmark because of the cartoons. Iran imports some $280 million worth of goods a year from Denmark.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said he disapproves of the caricatures, but insisted he cannot apologize on behalf of his country's independent press.
The United States condemned the protests Monday, as administration officials continued to walk a fine line between supporting free speech and calling the cartoons offensive.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that “what we can do is to speak out very clearly in support of freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and urge understanding and tolerance — not violence.”
“We certainly at this time urge governments to take any steps that they might to lower tensions concerning this issue,” McCormack said.
He specifically said Saudi Arabia might be one. “Certainly the leaders of the Saudi government might be individuals who might fulfill that role,” he said. “There are others in the region who also might fulfill that role as well.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
