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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Editor of University of Illinois Student Newspaper Suspended for Printing Cartoons Depicting the Prophet Muhammad
Chicago Tribune: School editors say they were suspended for running Islamic cartoons
The editor in chief of a student-led newspaper serving the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has been suspended for printing cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad that, when published in Europe, enraged Muslims and led to violent protests in the Middle East and Asia.
Editor Acton Gorton and his opinions editor, Chuck Prochaska, were relieved of their duties at The Daily Illini on Tuesday while a task force investigates “the internal decision-making and communication” that led to the publishing of the cartoons, according to a statement by the newspaper’s publisher and general manager, Mary Cory.
Gorton said he expects to be fired at the conclusion of the investigation, which is expected to take two weeks.
“I pretty much have an idea how this is going to run, and this is a thinly veiled attempt to remove me from my position,” said Gorton, a U. of I. senior who took the newspaper’s helm Jan. 1. “I am feeling very betrayed, and I feel like the people who I thought were my friends and supporters didn’t back me up.”
Of course, they did NOT back Gorton up.
Hell, most major American newspapers refused to protect freedom of speech and “punted” on the publication of the Muhammad Caricatures.
Nearly every major U.S. newspaper, including the Chicago Tribune, has not published the cartoons. They were first published in late September by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and reprinted in other European publications in recent weeks. The cartoons portray the prophet as a terrorist, including one that depicts Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb and another showing him turning away suicide bombers from paradise because, he says, heaven ran out of virgins to be given to martyrs.
Gorton, 25, said he believes he made a sound journalistic decision in running six of the cartoons because the public has a right to judge their content. He said he consulted with top staff members and journalism instructors before making the decision to publish them in Thursday’s newspaper.
“This is not a publicity stunt, and this wasn’t an easy decision,” said Gorton, who said he spent three years in the Army as a medic and paratrooper before college. “I was stressed and couldn’t sleep at night. But I just felt it was an important issue to address in the newspaper.”
The Google cached copy of the piece running in the Daily Illini is here.Gorton’s decision, however, caused an uproar in the local Muslim community and rankled other Illini staff members after the paper was deluged with negative letters and e-mails.
Gorton himself said he received 300 e-mails. Two-thirds of the e-mails were supportive and a third were hateful, he said.
U. of I. Chancellor Richard Herman also wrote a letter to the newspaper saying he was saddened by Gorton’s decision.
Then, on Monday, the paper ran an editorial apologizing for Gorton’s decision and called the move “a blatant abuse of power” by a “renegade editor who firmly believes that his will is also the will of the paper.”
Welcome to the politically correct world of American MSM.
American blogs, including this one have had NO problem publishing these Muhammad Caricatures.
Don’t they teach freedom of the press at the University of Illinois?
Michelle Malkin has CARTOON JIHAD IN ILLINOIS
Contact the Daily Illini here.
Don’t bother contacting the ACLU. They’re busy defending suspected terrorists, notes Jay Stephenson.
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands of Protesters Rampage in 2 Pakistani Cities
Cox & Forkum on the Muhammad Caricatures: Overboard
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Pakistan Police Gas Students Protesting CaricaturesMuhammad Caricature Watch: Condolezza Rice – Muslim Outrage Could “Spin Out of Controlâ€
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Denmark Withdraws Diplomats from Iran and Indonesia
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands Protest Against Prophet Drawings
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking AngerCox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, IranMuhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut AblazeMuhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings IntensifyMuhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates
Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands of Protesters Rampage in 2 Pakistani Cities
Smoke erupts from burning U.S. fast-food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant, set on fire by angry mob, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2006 in Lahore, Pakistan. Thousands of protesters rampaged through two Pakistani cities, storming into a diplomatic district, setting fire to Western businesses and a local government building in the country’s worst wave of violence against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, officials said. At least two people were killed and 11 injured.
ASSociated Press: Protesters Rampage in 2 Pakistani Cities
Thousands of protesters rampaged through two cities Tuesday, storming into a diplomatic district and torching Western businesses and a provincial assembly in Pakistan’s worst violence against the Prophet Muhammad drawings, officials said. At least two people were killed and 11 injured.
Security forces fired into the air as they struggled to contain the unrest in the eastern city of Lahore, where protesters burned down four buildings housing a hotel, two banks, a KFC restaurant and the office of a Norwegian cell phone company, Telenor.
U.S. and British embassy staffers were confined to their compounds until police dispersed the protesters, some of whom chanted, “Death to America!”
And tell me why the Pakistanis are chanting DEATH TO AMERICA when it was a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, that first published the Muhammad Carictures and very few American newspapers have published them?
Witnesses said rioters also damaged more than 200 cars, dozens of shops and a large portrait of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Vandals broke the windows of a Holiday Inn, Pizza Hut and McDonald’s.
Two movie theaters were torched, and clouds of tear gas and black smoke from burning vehicles drifted through streets in the city center.
A security guard shot and killed two protesters trying to force their way into a bank, Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said, adding that paramilitary forces were deployed to restore order.
Mohammed Tariq, a doctor at the state-run Mayo Hospital, said three people were being treated for serious bullet wounds, and eight more suffered injuries during clashes with police.
The protest was organized by a little-known religious group supported by local trade associations and one of the main Islamic schools in the city. Intelligence officials, however, suspected that members of outlawed Islamic radical groups may have incited the violence.
You think?
Of course, radical, fanatical islamofascists are instigating senseless violence over inane caricatures.
And who suffers?
Pakistani students run away from teargas fired by police to disperse the crowd who gathered to protest against the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic prophet Muhammad, Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2006 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Police fired tear gas as they chased away protesters who entered the heavily guarded diplomatic enclave in Pakistan’s capital to demonstrate against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.
Next, comes the threat…….
Hard-line cleric Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, senior leader of an opposition coalition of six religious parties, said, “We have come to the doors of the embassies to take our voice to the ambassadors. There is anger in the Islamic world. If they do not listen, their problems will increase.
And why the outrage?
Islam widely holds that representations of Muhammad are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.
And so people will die and businesses burned because of the “FEAR of IDOLATRY” or is it the fear of the islamofascist theocrats that control their societies and government.
How do you spell INTOLERANCE?
There have been a series of mostly peaceful protests across Pakistan against the cartoons, and last week Parliament adopted resolutions condemning the drawing. Lawmakers also called for a nationwide strike on March 3.
But Aitzaz Ahsan, a lawmaker with the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party, said he will propose that the government call off the March 3 protest strike because of the prospect of further violence.
“It’s really gotten out of hand,” Ahsan said. “The violence is spiraling out of control.”
The violence is spinning out of control and governments have the responsibility to protect its residents, businesses and particulary foreign embassies. Pakistan seems to be responsible in their police action against the protesters. It is doubtful that other countries such as Iran and Syria will be as responsible.
Stay tuned…….
Michelle Malkin has NEXT, THEY CAME FOR KFC
Previous:
Cox & Forkum on the Muhammad Caricatures: Overboard
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Pakistan Police Gas Students Protesting CaricaturesMuhammad Caricature Watch: Condolezza Rice – Muslim Outrage Could “Spin Out of Controlâ€
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Denmark Withdraws Diplomats from Iran and Indonesia
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands Protest Against Prophet Drawings
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking AngerCox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, IranMuhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut AblazeMuhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings IntensifyMuhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates
Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures
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Cox & Forkum on the Muhammad Caricatures: Overboard
Cox & Forkum: Overboard
From Robert Tracinski in today’s TIA Daily comes a must-read analysis of the Mohammed cartoon controversy: Publish or Perish: The Lessons of the Cartoon Jihad
The central issue of the “cartoon jihad” — the Muslim riots and death threats against a Danish newspaper that printed 12 cartoons depicting Mohammed — is obvious. The issue is freedom of speech: whether our freedom to think, write, and draw is to be subjugated to the “religious sensitivities” of anyone who threatens us with force.
That is why it is necessary for every newspaper and magazine to re-publish those cartoons, as I will do in the next print issue of The Intellectual Activist.
This is not merely a symbolic expression of support; it is a practical countermeasure against censorship. Censorship—especially the violent, anarchic type threatened by Muslim fanatics—is effective only when it can isolate a specific victim, making him feel as if he alone bears the brunt of the danger. What intimidates an artist or writer is not simply some Arab fanatic in the street carrying a placard that reads “Behead those who insult Islam.” What intimidates him is the feeling that, when the beheaders come after him, he will be on his own, with no allies or defenders—that everyone else will be too cowardly to stick their necks out.
The answer, for publishers, is to tell the Muslim fanatics that they can’t single out any one author, or artist, or publication. The answer is to show that we’re all united in defying the fanatics.
That’s what it means to show “solidarity” by re-publishing the cartoons. The message we need to send is: if you want to kill anyone who publishes those cartoons, or anyone who makes cartoons of Mohammed, then you’re going to have to kill us all. If you make war on one independent mind, you’re making war on all of us. And we’ll fight back.
Also, the following excellent editorials from the Ayn Rand Institute were added in updates to previous cartoons, but I’m reposting them here: The Twilight of Freedom of Speech by Onkar Ghate; and “Muslim Opinion” Be Damned by Alex Epstein.
(The Danish cartoons and caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed can be seen at MohammedCartoons.com. Our other related cartoons are: Image Problem, A Right to Blasphemy, Western Dhimmitude, and Must-See TV.)
Technorati Tags: MuhammadCaricatures, FreedomofSpeech, Cox&Forkum, Islam, Muhammad,
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Pakistan Police Gas Students Protesting Caricatures
Pakistani students try to escape teargas fired by police to disperse the crowd who gathered to protest against the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic prophet Muhammad, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, Feb 13, 2006.
ASSociated Press: Police Gas Students Protesting Cartoons
Police fired tear gas and wielded batons Monday to stop about 7,000 students protesting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad from marching on the governor’s residence in northwestern Pakistan.
The students had marched to several universities in Peshawar and hurled stones at a Christian school, breaking windows and causing other damage. They also threw stones at shops in the main business district, chanting “Down with America” and “Down with Denmark.”
So, who set up these demonstrations? Al Qaeda?
There were no immediate reports of casualties, but an Associated Press reporter saw students carrying away a classmate with an injured leg.
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf told journalists in the capital, Islamabad, on Monday that newspapers that have printed the caricatures were “being totally oblivious to the consequences for the world, for world peace and harmony.”
“The most moderate Muslim will go to the street and talk against it because this hurts the sentiments of every Muslim,” he said. “Whether an extremist or a moderate or an ultramoderate, we will condemn it.”President Musharraf has it wrong about freedom of speech and expression.
However, he has it right to maintain law and order over foolish demonstrations – really about nothing.
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condolezza Rice – Muslim Outrage Could “Spin Out of Controlâ€
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Denmark Withdraws Diplomats from Iran and Indonesia
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands Protest Against Prophet Drawings
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking AngerCox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, IranMuhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut AblazeMuhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings IntensifyMuhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates
Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condolezza Rice – Muslim Outrage Could “Spin Out of Control”
n this photo provided by CBS, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appears on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ in Washington Sunday, Feb. 12, 2006.
AFP: Mohammed cartoon controvery could “spin out of control:” Rice
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed concern that Muslim outrage over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed could “spin out of control,” particularly if fueled by countries like Iran and Syria.
Speaking on ABC television, Rice stood by her assertion last week that Tehran and Damascus were using the furor over publication of the caricatures to inflame anti-West sentiment and incite violence for their own purposes.
“Certainly, if governments do not act responsibly, we could face a sense of outrage that spins out of control, and particularly if people continue to incite it, it could spin out of control,” she said.
The chief US diplomat brushed aside comments by UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan that he had no proof of Iranian or Syrian involvement in the protests, which spread through the Muslim world and resulted in several deaths.“I can say that the Syrians tightly control their society and the Iranians even more tightly,” she said. “It is well known that Iran and Syria bring protesters into the streets when they wish, to make a point.”
“I would like to have heard from the Iranian government … not a threat to start publishing a Holocaust cartoon, but rather to say that people should not resort to violence. That would have been a responsible thought,” she added.
But, Syria and Iran thrive on the encouraging of discord and the Muhammad caricture FLAP will bring people into the streets. The governments of both tightly politically controlled states, without a doubt, have supported, fostered and continued the protests – really over something that was an inanity.
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Denmark Withdraws Diplomats from Iran and Indonesia
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands Protest Against Prophet Drawings
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking AngerCox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, IranMuhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut AblazeMuhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings IntensifyMuhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates
Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Denmark Withdraws Diplomats from Iran and Indonesia
Women shout slogans to demonstrate among 1,200 other Muslims against the Mohammed cartoons next to the Danish embassy in Berlin on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006. The posters read:’ A insult is not freedom of opinion and freedom of the press.’ , right, ‘Do not confound the freedom of the press with defamation ‘ left, and ‘Against cartoons of the prophet we demand censorship’, background.
Reuters: Denmark pulls diplomats out as cartoon row simmers
Denmark said on Saturday it had withdrawn diplomats and staff from Indonesia and
Iran because of security threats, while Muslims held demonstrations in European cities over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.The diplomats’ departure follows that of Danish embassy staff in Syria who left on Friday on the grounds that the security provided by Syrian authorities was inadequate.
Denmark has been the target of protests in Islamic countries since cartoons of the Prophet, first published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September, were reprinted by other European newspapers in January.
In Turkey:
Islamic Turks step on Danish flags as they shout anti-Europe slogans close to Danish Embassy to denounce the publication of caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad in some European newspapers, in Ankara, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2006
In other parts of Europe there were additional demonstrations:
France:
French police estimated that 7,200 people took part in a march through central Paris, waving banners and chanting, but the atmosphere was peaceful and many families took part.
France’s Muslim Council had urged the country’s five million Muslims to stay calm. The council had tried in vain to block the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo from reprinting the cartoons earlier this week.
London:
In London, up to 4,000 demonstrators converged on Trafalgar Square on Saturday, joining the capital’s Mayor Ken Livingstone in a protest against the publication of the cartoons.
In marked contrast to angry demonstrations outside the Danish embassy in the British capital last week, the protest was good-natured and there was no sign of the extreme anti-Western placards brandished at the embassy protest. No British newspapers have reprinted the cartoons.
The British press like the American MSM cower at the threats of Islamic fanaticism.
Pitiful…….
The Danish government should order the Iranian, Syrians, and Indonesian ambassadors out of their country.
Stay tuned…..
Previous:
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands Protest Against Prophet Drawings
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking AngerCox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, IranMuhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut AblazeMuhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings IntensifyMuhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates
Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Thousands Protest Against Prophet Drawings
Pakistani protesters burn representations of US, right, and Danish flags to condemn the publication of cartoons depicting Islamic Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper, Friday, Feb 10, 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan.
ASSociated Press: Thousands Protest Against Prophet Drawings
Thousands of worshippers emerging from Friday prayers demonstrated against drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in the Mideast, Asia and Africa, clashing with police in some cities despite religious leaders’ attempts to keep marches peaceful.
In Kenya, police shot and wounded one person among about 200 demonstrators trying to march to the residence of Denmark’s ambassador.
About 60 protesters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, threw firebombs at the French Embassy, shattering nearly every window on its street facade, even after a cleric at a prominent Iranian mosque urged people not to attack diplomatic missions.
“Down! Down with France! Down! Down with Israel,” the crowd chanted. One firebomb exploded in the embassy and started a small blaze that was quickly extinguished.
Asia saw its biggest demonstrations yet, and most there — like across much of the world — were peaceful. But sporadic violence demonstrated the difficulty Islamic leaders face in managing what Muslims see as righteous anger over satirical drawings of their most revered figure.
A fire burns in the French embassy after protestors began throwing molotov cocktails and stones in protest over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad in several western newspapers, in Tehran, Iran February 10, 2006.
Here we go again……
And Iran will NOT protect foreign embassies.
President Bush should send the Iranian ambassador to the United States home and Jacques Chirc likewise.
But Friday prayers — a frequent launching ground for political demonstrations — brought a new wave of protests in Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Morocco. No significant marches were seen in
Syria or Lebanon, the scene of attacks on embassies in past weeks.In Jordan, organizers and clerics were able to keep order.
Around 2,000 followers of the Muslim Brotherhood marched peacefully through the capital Amman, after cleric Abdul-Rahman Ibdah told them in his sermon not to “imitate the rioters in other countries (who) harmed Islam.”
Egypt saw its most widespread protests yet, with thousands protesting in 21 of its 26 provinces, including in Cairo and the second-largest city, Alexandria.
Many were organized by the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, which has called for marches to continue — but peacefully. The group’s deputy head, Khairat el-Shater, appealed to Muslims beforehand “not to let their furor drag them into attacking properties … or to turn into a clash between civilizations.”
But violence erupted when police tried to stop demonstrations.
In the northern Delta city of Mahalla el-Kubra, where some 15,000 people marched, security forces fired tear gas and water cannon when demonstrators refused to disperse. Protesters pelted them with rocks and attacked shops and cars. At least 20 people were arrested.
About 1,000 people protested outside Cairo’s Al-Azhar Mosque, some chanting, ”
Osama bin Laden, explode Copenhagen,” and burning a Danish flag. Some threw shoes at police trying to bar their way, and security forces beat protesters with sticks.Afterward, Brotherhood official Mohammed Bishr said the violence and flag burnings were caused by “intruders who infiltrated the peaceful demonstrations.”
Please…..these demonstrations are dragging on and on and MUST be state organized.
An Iranian demonstrator throws stones at the Danish embassy in Tehran. A leading Iranian cleric praised Muslim “holy rage” over the publication of the Prophet Mohammed cartoons but his calls for people to stop attacking foreign embassies fell on deaf ears.
About 2,000 protesters briefly clashed with police in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar. The crowd attacked shops before they were charged by police.
Thousands also demonstrated in Malaysia, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, while smaller rallies were held in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Stay tuned for the London demonstration which should start in a few hours……
Previous:
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking AngerCox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, IranMuhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut AblazeMuhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings IntensifyMuhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates
Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Internet T-Shirt Vendor, MetroSpy, Profits from Muhammad Caricature Conflict
PR Web: Internet T-shirt Vendor Profits from Mohammed Cartoon Conflict
Further fanning the flames of International controversy is conservative t shirt maker, MetroSpy.To see the latest creation from conservative t-shirt maker MetroSpy some would think the Muslim world had every right to be upset. MetroSpy’s new t-shirts depict an unflattering caricature of the prophet Mohammed with a bomb on his head.
The controversial cartoon, which first ran in European newspapers, has outraged Muslims around the world because Islamic tradition forbids a graphic depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
Many in the U.S however, are angered by the violence being displayed by extreme Islamic protesters — torching buildings, desecrating flags and in some cases even killing people. Annoyed by the violent images broadcast from the Middle East, MetroSpy decided to sell t shirts with the controversial caricature emblazoned across the front.
“We can’t let the terrorists win. We can not encourage this uncivilized behavior by caving in to their wishes,†said Nate Thomas, product manager for MetroSpy
On their website (http://www.shopmetrospy.com/), MetroSpy denounces the tactics of Islamic extremists and encourages its customers to stand up against terrorism. “Failing to print these images mean the terrorists have won”, the site says.
“We wanted a simple way to exercise our freedom of speech and to stand up to the terrorists. This design was perfect,†said Thomas.
So far, the Mohammed t-shirt has become their best selling item of the year — more than 120 orders the first day it became available.
Critics of the Mohammed t-shirts say this is a perfect example of why Americans are hated around the world. Finding humor in the desecration of another’s religious symbol, even if you disagree, is just plain wrong.
Despite the critics, MetroSpy intends to keep selling the Mohammed cartoon t-shirts.
Ohhhhhh, the American capitalist system – where there is a dollar to be made…….
Flap bets they sell many……….
Previous:
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking AngerCox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, IranMuhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut AblazeMuhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings IntensifyMuhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates
Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm
Members of the South Africa Muslim Community take part in a protest march in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2006 in solidarity with Muslims around the world over published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The march took place with no incidents reported.
ASSociated Press: Muslim Leaders Urge Calm Over Cartoons
Many Arab governments, Muslim religious leaders and newspapers have been calling for calm in the protests over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons, fearing the violence of the past weeks has only reinforced Islam’s negative image in the West.
No major demonstrations took place in Mideast and North African cities Thursday, suggesting the fervor was easing. But it wasn’t clear whether the calm would last. A test may come after weekly Muslim prayers on Friday, when at least one large protest is planned, in Morocco.
There will also be a major weekend protest, Saturday, in London.
But many in the Middle East watched the stone-throwing, flag burnings and embassy attacks with sorrow. Some — including governments, religious leaders and newspaper writers — are trying to put on the brakes on the outrage, even if they feel Muslims are right to be angry.
“They committed a crime when they violated our prophet’s sanctity,” Mohammed Abdel-Qaddous, a prominent Egyptian writer on Islamic issues, said Wednesday at a forum organized by the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo.
“But if we set their embassy on fire, as happened in Syria or Lebanon, we will then be responding to their crime with another crime,” he said.
There is NO excuse for violence against foreign embassies in this FLAP. But, will cool heads prevail this weekend?
Stay tuned……..
Previous:
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking AngerCox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, IranMuhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut AblazeMuhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings IntensifyMuhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates
Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures
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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Are Extemists Fanning Caricature Outrage?
An Indonesian Muslim woman holds up a banner protesting against Denmark during a demonstration in front of the palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday, Feb. 9, 2005. They protested against the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper.
ASSociated Press: Are Extremist Fanning Cartoon Outrage?
An Iranian state TV announcer depicts cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as a direct insult to Islam by the Danish government, not a private newspaper. Crowds in Syria — where state control is absolute — set fire to Danish and Norwegian embassies. The U.S. military sees the hand of extremist groups in riots in Afghanistan.
As rage over the caricatures continues across the Muslim world, there are growing questions whether governments like Syria and Iran’s hard-line clerical regime and extremist groups like the Taliban are fanning the outrage.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that Iran and Syria “have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes. And the world ought to call them on it.” Iranian Vice President Isfandiar Rahim Mashaee, speaking to reporters during a trip to Indonesia, rejected the allegation Thursday as “100 percent a lie.”
Since the drawings were first published in a Danish paper in September — and reprinted in other European papers in the past weeks — protests and impromptu boycotts of Danish products have erupted in numerous Arab and Islamic countries.
Most have been non-violent. In Egypt, demonstrators — including ones from the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood — have gone out of their way to insist they are peaceful and aren’t angry at the Danish people, only the newspaper and the government for not taking a strong enough stance against the insult.
But in Iran, Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon the protests have been more violent.
This August 14, 2005, file photo shows a costumed competitor in a French pig-squealing contest at an agricultural fair. It was circulated this week in a pamphlet purporting to show images offensive to Islam. The photo has no connection with Islam or the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper in September. The Associated Press has protested this misleading usage and is demanding that distributors stop circulating it.
Why, of course these violent protests are organized.
Is the MSM finally noticing?
Iran’s government has been the most overt in characterizing the drawings as an organized effort to attack Islam.
The country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a nationally televised speech that the cartoons were part of a “Zionist plot.” Mohsen Rezai, an official on the Expediency Council — a powerful body of hard-line clerics — said the drawings were a “test” by the West to see what Muslims’ reaction would be.
Iranian state media depict the drawings as an act of the Danish government, not a private newspaper. “After insulting Islam with the drawings, the government has not apologized yet,” one newsreader said in a television broadcast recently.
“It’s clear these reactions were supported by some political elements. Even state media alluded to the fact that European governments intentionally ordered the production of cartoons,” said Iranian political sociologist Hamid Reza Jalaipour.
He thinks the violent protests were payback for the U.N. nuclear watchdog referring Iran to the
U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program earlier this month.You think?
In Syria, crowds set fire to Danish and Norwegian missions in Damascus. In a country where the government has absolute control, few believe the protesters could have pulled off such a brazen act without tacit government consent.
The next day, state-run media said the violence would not have happened “if Denmark had apologized” for the drawings.
State sponsored terrorism and state sponsored violent protests – what a coincidence.
Stay tuned as more of the story develops……
Previous:
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Egypt and the Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking Anger – The Response
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Condoleezza Rice – Iran and Syria Stoking AngerCox & Forkum: Western Dhimmitude
Muhammad Caricature Watch: French Weekly Charlie Hebdo Reprints Muhammad Caricatures
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Demonstrators Attack Norwegian Embassy in Tehran, IranMuhammad Caricature Watch: 4 Killed In Afghanistan in Caricature Bloodshed
Muhammad Caricature Watch: A Right to Blasphemy
Muhammad Caricature Watch: New Protests Erupt Around the World
Muhammad Caricature Watch: The False Cartoons and Danish Imams
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Angry Demonstrators Set Danish Consulate in Beirut AblazeMuhammad Caricature Watch: Syrian Protesters Set Danish Embassy Ablaze Over Cartoon
Muhammad Caricature Watch: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings IntensifyMuhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates
Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN
Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures
Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper
Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures