Dossier de l’événement
négatif : 06 CAR 1 - 06-02-04 Damas
Texte d’analyse :
La liberté de pensée contre la liberté
de penser (décembre 2007)
www.laboratoiredesfrondeurs.org
1. Damas et
Beyrouth
2.
Afghanistan et Pakistan
3. Benghazi
4. Nigeria
Distance
Onitsha - Enugu ≈ 120 km à vol d’oiseau
http://fr.bluewin.ch/infos/index.php/international/i/20060204:brf026/Mahomet:_les_protestations_sintensifient/
18:15
04.02.2006
Mahomet:
poursuite des protestations et ambassade incendiée à Damas
Ambassade du Danemark incendiée à Damas
[Photo : Keystone]
Les
musulmans du monde entier ont continué à se mobiliser contre la publication,
dans la presse européenne, de caricatures de Mahomet, en dépit d'appels au
calme et à la réconciliation. Le président iranien a ordonné la rupture des
liens économiques.
[ats] - A Damas, plusieurs milliers de manifestants ont lapidé,
incendié et saccagé les ambassades du Danemark et de la Norvège pour
protester contre la publication des caricatures dans un journal danois en
septembre. Les dessins avaient ensuite été repris par un journal norvégien en
janvier, suivi de plusieurs autres en Europe.
Les forces anti-émeutes syriennes ont lancé des gaz lacrymogènes
contre les manifestants. Une dizaine d'entre eux ont été hospitalisés. Peu
après l'incendie de sa représentation, le gouvernement danois a appelé ses
ressortissants à quitter immédiatement la Syrie.
Toujours au Moyen-Orient, le président ultraconservateur iranien
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a ordonné la rupture des contrats économiques de l'Iran
avec le Danemark et les autres pays où ont été publiées les caricatures.
A Nazareth, dans le nord d'Israël, plusieurs milliers de
manifestants se sont rassemblés dans la vieille ville à l'appel du Mouvement
islamiste des arabes israéliens pour scander des slogans tels que:
"S'attaquer au Prophète, c'est s'attaquer à tous les Musulmans du
monde!"
Des douzaines de jeunes palestiniens ont jeté des pierres contre
le quartier général de l'Union européenne à Gaza, blessant deux policiers
palestiniens. Une manifestation a également eu lieu à Hébron, en Cisjordanie,
devant le siège d'une ONG d'observateurs internationaux. Des drapeaux danois
ont été brûlés.
Au Danemark, quelques centaines de personnes de l'extrême droite
et de l'extrême gauche, la seconde qualifiant la première de raciste, ont
manifesté à Hilleroed, au nord-ouest de Copenhague, à quelques heures
d'intervalle. La police s'est mobilisée pour éviter des heurts entre les deux
cortèges.
Face à cette effervescence, les autorités morales, religieuses et
politiques ont multiplié les appels au calme et au dialogue, sans pour
l'instant sembler parvenir à désamorcer la situation. Le Vatican s'est ainsi
exprimé pour la première fois, estimant que la liberté d'expression
n'autorisait pas les offenses aux convictions religieuses.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/02/03/pf-1423949.html
February
3, 2006
Protesters
storm Danish Embassy in Indonesia
|
An
Indonesian Muslim protester throws rotten eggs at an office building
housing the Embassy of Denmark during a demonstration in Jakarta,
Indonesia. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara) |
JAKARTA,
Indonesia (AP) - Hardline Muslims barged into a high-rise building housing the
Danish Embassy on Friday to protest the publication of caricatures of the
Prophet Muhammad, and then tore down and burned the country's white and red
flag.
The
rowdy protest by about 70 people was one of the first in the world's most
populous Muslim country against the 12 cartoons, which first appeared in
September in a Danish newspaper. They were reprinted in several other European
newspapers this week in a gesture of press freedom.
"We
are not terrorists, we are not anarchists but we are against those people who
blaspheme Islam," one of the protesters shouted outside the building, which
also houses several other foreign missions in Jakarta.
They
pelted the building with eggs, pushed their way past security guards and milled
around in the lobby before leaving of their own accord after five minutes. They
then tore the embassy's flag down from outside the building and lit it on fire
on the pavement.
The
demonstrators also stopped outside an Indonesian newspaper which briefly ran one
of the cartoons on its website Thursday to illustrate its story on the uproar
generated by them elsewhere in the Muslim world.
Editors
of Rakyat Merdeka met some of the protesters, but it was not known what they
told them.
Islamic
tradition bars any depiction of the prophet, favourable or otherwise, to prevent
idolatry. The drawings have prompted boycotts of Danish goods, bomb threats and
demonstrations against Danish facilities in Muslim countries.
Indonesia's
government reiterated earlier criticism of the paper's decision to publish.
"This
is about insensitivity and a trend toward Islamaphobia," said foreign
ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin. "As a democratic country we are very aware
of press freedom, but we also believe it should not be used to slander, or
defame sacred religious symbols."
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/02/04/pf-1425903.html
February
4, 2006
Palestinians
storm EU buildings in protest
|
Palestinian
high school students chant anti Danish slogans during a demonstration in
the West Bank town of Ramallah Saturday Feb. 4, 2006. (AP Photo/Muhammed
Muheisen) |
GAZA
CITY (AP) - Hundreds of Palestinians marched through the streets of Gaza City on
Saturday, storming European buildings and burning German and Danish flags to
protest cartoons deemed insulting to the Prophet Muhammad.
The
cartoons have caused a furor across the Muslim world, in part because Islamic
law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of Islam's holiest figure.
Aggravating the affront was one caricature of Muhammad wearing a turban shaped
as a bomb with a burning fuse.
The
cartoons were first published in Denmark, and then in newspapers elsewhere in
Europe in a show of solidarity with press freedoms.
About
two dozen protesters stormed the German cultural centre Saturday morning,
smashing windows, breaking doors and burning the German flag. Down the street,
about 30 Palestinians threw stones at the European Commission building, and
replaced the EU flag with a Palestinian flag, before police brought them under
control.
About
50 schoolchildren and teenagers gathered at one corner of the street shortly
after to try to resume the attacks on the two buildings, but Palestinian riot
police, armed with batons, pushed them back. The youths threw stones at the
police, then fled.
Later
in the day, about 400 protesters marched to the European Commission building,
accompanied by a loudspeaker car that blared, "Insulting the prophet means
insulting every Muslim," and urged merchants to boycott Danish products:
"With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet." Protesters also
set fire to a Danish flag.
Police
set up a cordon at the building to prevent stone-throwing, but protesters heeded
organizers' appeals and didn't attack the building. Most of the demonstrators
were merchants who called for a boycott of European goods, and many carried
small books of the Quran, the Islamic holy book.
In
Brussels on Saturday, the European Union called on the Palestinian Authority to
protect EU buildings from attack.
"The
Commission expects the Palestinian authorities to ensure that European premises
are properly protected," the EU said. "The Commission deeply regrets
that Europeans who are working to bring a better life to Palestinians should be
the subject of such attacks."
http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/MSN/world/national/2006/02/04/cartoon-controversy060204.html?print
CBC News
Protests over editorial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad turned violent
in the Syrian capital on Saturday as demonstrators set fire to the Danish and
Norwegian embassies.
Some of the thousands of people who had rallied outside the buildings
stormed inside, angry over the satirical depictions of the Prophet that appeared
in a Danish newspaper.
|
Firefighters
try to put out flames after demonstrators stormed the Danish Embassy in
Damascus and set fire to it. (AP
photo) |
Later, protesters also tried to storm the French Embassy in Damascus, but
riot police held them back by spraying them with water.
Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators at the
other sites, but they managed to break through the barriers.
It's not clear if anyone inside the embassies was hurt.
Islamic law, based on clerics' interpretation of the Qur'an, forbids any
depictions of Islam's holiest figure to prevent idolatry.
The cartoons were originally published in Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten in
September, but publications in Norway, France and Germany have since reprinted
some of them to show solidarity over freedom of speech issues.
The Danish newspaper published an apology for the cartoons on Jan. 30.
The drawings "were not intended to be offensive, nor were they at variance
with Danish law, but they have indisputably offended many Muslims for which we
apologize," the daily said.
Three of the 12 drawings were reprinted in a Jordanian newspaper on
Thursday, alongside an editorial questioning whether the angry reaction to them
in the Muslim world was justified.
The editor who wrote the editorial, Jihad Momani, was fired on Friday and,
despite a letter of apology, arrested Saturday on charges of blasphemy,
according to Jordan's state prosecutor.
The cartoons, including one depicting Muhammad with a turban-shaped bomb
on his head, have sparked protests across the Middle East.
In Gaza City, some 400 demonstrators hurled stones at a European
Commission building and stormed a German cultural centre, smashing windows and
doors. Riot police
were brought in to disperse the crowds.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/feb2006/cart-f04_prn.shtml
European media publish anti-Muslim cartoons: An ugly and calculated
provocation
By the Editorial Board
4 February 2006
The
World Socialist Web Site unequivocally condemns the publication by a
series of European newspapers of defamatory cartoons depicting the Prophet
Muhammad as a terrorist and killer. These crude caricatures, intended to insult
and incite Muslim sensibilities, are a political provocation. Their publication,
initially by a right-wing Danish newspaper with historical ties to German and
Italian fascism, was calculated to fuel anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant
sentiment.
The
decision of the right-wing Danish government to defend the newspaper that
initially published the cartoons, and of newspapers in Norway, France, Germany,
Spain, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Iceland and Hungary, both
conservative and liberal, to reprint them has nothing to do with freedom of the
press or the defense of secularism. Such claims make a mockery of these
democratic principles.
The
promulgation of such bigoted filth is, rather, bound up with a shift by the
European ruling elites to line up more squarely behind the neo-colonial
interventions of US imperialism in the Middle East and Central Asia. It is no
accident that it occurs in the midst of the ongoing slaughter in Iraq, new
threats against the Palestinian masses, and the preparations to launch
sanctions, and eventual military aggression, against Iran.
It
is, moreover, a continuation and escalation of a deliberate policy in Europe,
spearheaded by the political right and aided and abetted by the nominal “left”
parties, to demonize the growing Muslim population, isolate it, and use it as a
scapegoat for the growing social misery affecting broad layers of the working
class.
In
the name of the fight against terrorism, governments throughout Europe are
implementing repressive measures that target, in the first instance, Muslim and
other immigrant populations, while preparing the ground for the destruction of
the democratic rights of the working class as a whole. These police state
preparations go hand in hand with an offensive against the jobs, wages and
living standards of working people and an ever-greater concentration of wealth
in the coffers of a wealthy and privileged minority at the top.
One
does not have to uphold Islam, or any other religion, to sympathize with the
indignation of Muslims around the world who have expressed their outrage at the
racist drawings flung in their face by media outlets that claim to be defending
Western secularist values against the dark hordes from the East.
On
Friday, protests against the publication of the cartoons spread across the
Middle East, northern Africa and Asia, with thousands demonstrating in Iraq,
tens of thousands in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and some 50,000 filling a
square in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. Muslims also protested in Britain and
Turkey.
The
events that have led up to the present confrontation make it clear that the
publication of the cartoons was a political provocation. The Danish daily Jyllands-Posten,
which first published twelve caricatures of Mohammad on September 30, supports
the right-wing government headed by Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen—a
government that includes in its coalition a rabidly anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim
party.
In
the 1920s and 1930s, Jyllands-Posten was infamous for its affinity for
Italian fascism and the German Nazi dictatorship. In 1933, it argued for the
introduction of a dictatorship in Denmark.
Last
September, the newspaper asked forty cartoonists to draw images of the Prophet
Muhammad, something that is proscribed by Islamic law as blasphemous. Spelling
out the provocative and inflammatory aim of this exercise, the chief editor said
its purpose was “to examine whether people would succumb to self-censorship,
as we have seen in other cases when it comes to Muslim issues.”
The
newspaper proceeded to publish twelve drawings. These included a cartoon showing
the Prophet Muhammad wearing a turban in the shape of a smoking bomb, another
with Muhammad on a cloud in heaven telling an approaching line of suicide
bombers that he had run out of virgins with which to reward them, and a third
depicting the prophet grinning wildly, with a knife in his hand and flanked by
heavily-veiled women.
In
October, Prime Minister Rasmussen refused to meet with the ambassadors of eleven
predominantly Muslim countries who had requested a meeting to discuss their
objections to the cartoons. Setting the tone for the ensuing developments,
Rasmussen declared that the cartoons were a legitimate exercise in press freedom,
and implied that there was nothing to discuss.
The
affront was stepped up when a Norwegian magazine published the drawings in
January. Denmark continued to ignore protests by Danish Muslim groups and other
Muslim organizations until the end of January, when Saudi Arabia and Syria
recalled their ambassadors from Denmark and the Saudi regime initiated a
consumer boycott of Danish goods.
Only
when the boycott spread and the Danish company Arla Foods, the second largest
dairy producer in Europe, announced that its Middle Eastern sales had completely
dried up, did the Danish government and Jyllands-Posten issue statements
of regret, while defending the decision to publish the cartoons.
This
week the simmering controversy exploded when the French newspaper France Soir
republished the cartoons. Defending its printing of the drawings in an
editorial on Thursday, the newspaper’s editor wrote: “Enough lessons from
these reactionary bigots.”
Other
newspapers in France, including the liberal Libération, followed suit,
printing some or all of the ugly cartoons. Le Monde, for its part, ran a
sketch of a man, presumably Mohammad, made up of sentences reading, “I must
not draw Muhammad.”
The
German newspapers Die Welt, Die Tageszeitung, Tagesspiegel and
Berliner Zeitung, the Dutch papers Volksrant, NRC Handelsblad and
Elsevier, Italy’s La Stampa and Corriere della Sera, Spain’s
El Periodico and two Dutch-language newspapers in Belgium were among
those that published some or all of the cartoons over the past several days.
In
Britain, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 all showed some of the cartoons on
television news broadcasts.
An
indication of the political forces and motives behind the deluge of racist
caricatures was the decision of Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch parliament
who has proposed a law that would ban women from wearing burqas, to post the
cartoons on his web site “as a token of support to the Danish cartoonists and
to stand up for free speech.”
Among
those European politicians and government officials who have sprung to the
defense of the Danish government and the media outlets that published the images
is French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. With quintessential cynicism, the
man who helped incite last year’s anti-police riots in the largely Muslim
immigrant suburbs of France by referring to their inhabitants as “scum” and
“gangrene” has now adopted the mantle of press freedom to support yet
another attack on Muslims.
The
absurd attempt to give this anti-democratic assault a democratic veneer is
exemplified by Sarkozy, who authored the current state of emergency that has
gutted civil liberties in France. The French government of Sarkozy and President
Jacques Chirac set the precedent for such anti-Muslim attacks by imposing—with
the support of the Socialist and Communist parties and the “far left” Lutte
Ouvrière (Workers Struggle)—a ban on Muslim girls wearing head scarves in the
public schools. This overt attack on religious freedom in general and the rights
of Muslims in particular was likewise passed off as a defense of secularism and
the “enlightened” values of the French Republic.
The
real content of the supposed crusade for secularism and press freedom was shown
in the first wave of mass deportations of French Muslims under a law championed
by Sarkozy in the aftermath of last year’s riots. The law provides for the
summary deportation of all foreigners who are indicted—not convicted—of
crimes. Hundreds of youth were arrested by Sarkozy’s riot police during the
disturbances, and these are now threatened with being shipped out of the
country.
The
new Grand Coalition government headed by Angela Merkel has likewise called for
stronger measures to evict foreigners from German soil.
The
foreign policy interests behind the anti-Muslim attack were indicated by the
Netherlands’ announcement of plans to send additional troops to help police
Afghanistan for US imperialism.
On
Friday, the US State Department issued a statement opposing the publication of
the cartoons. “These cartoons are indeed offensive to the belief of Muslims,”
said a department spokesman, adding, “We fully recognize and respect freedom
of the press and expression, but it must be coupled with press responsibility.
Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable.”
This
intervention is entirely hypocritical, coming from a government that has sought
repeatedly to muzzle the American press and has waged a brutal attack on Muslims
within the US. The Bush administration has, in the aftermath of the 9/11
terrorist attacks, spearheaded the assault on Muslims around the world, using
the so-called “war on terrorism” as the pretext.
Washington’s
“respect” for the beliefs of Muslims was exposed before the eyes of the
world in the pictures of sadistic abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in
Iraq, where military and intelligence officials employed tactics designed to
exploit Muslim beliefs and sensibilities.
The
official US response to the publication of the cartoons is largely motivated by
immediate concerns over the impact the provocation could have on Washington’s
imperialist operations in Iraq, Iran and elsewhere.
Some
who defend the publication of the cartoons claim they are examples of satire—as
though crude appeals to the basest and most bigoted impulses can be equated with
genuine social or cultural criticism. In fact, the images plastered on the pages
of European newspapers and broadcast on television news programs have far more
in common with the type of anti-Semitic caricatures made infamous by the Nazis
than they do with satire.
That
such outpourings can have anything to do with a struggle for secularism in
opposition to religious belief is absurd. A genuine critique of religion can be
conducted only on the highest intellectual level, appealing to science and
reason—not ignorance and fear.
The
current episode reveals the enormous dangers facing the working class from the
visible decomposition of democracy in all of the capitalist countries. The
promotion of anti-Muslim chauvinism, and all forms of communalist and
nationalist poison, is the expression of a social system that is mired in
insoluble crisis and incapable of meeting the most basic needs of the broad
masses of the people.
The
only antidote to such backward and reactionary politics is the development of a
united movement of workers of all countries, religions and nationalities in
opposition to war and in defense of democratic rights against the capitalist
ruling elites and the system they uphold. The program upon which such a struggle
must be based is socialist internationalism.
http://www1.laliberte.ch/breve.asp?id=20060205234424645172194810300
Caricatures
de Mahomet/Liban: démission du ministre de l'intérieur
Rédigé le 05/02/2006
à 23:44
BEYROUTH
- Le ministre libanais de l'intérieur Hassan Sabeh a présenté sa démission
à la suite des émeutes qui se sont déroulées à Beyrouth contre les
caricatures de Mahomet. Le consulat danois a été incendié au cours de ces
incidents, qui ont coûté la vie à une personne.
"A
la suite des critiques et au vu de la situation, j'ai présenté ma démission
du gouvernement", a déclaré M. Sabeh à la presse après avoir quitté le
Conseil des ministres en réunion extraordinaire. Il a précisé avoir refusé
de donner l'ordre d'ouvrir le feu sur les manifestants "car il refuse
d'être responsable d'un carnage".
"Malgré
l'intervention de plus d'un millier de membres des forces de l'ordre, nous
n'avons pas pu imposer l'ordre en raison de la détermination des manifestants
qui étaient plusieurs milliers", a-t-il indiqué.
Des
membres de la coalition gouvernementale, notamment le parti chrétien des Forces
Libanaises (FL), avait appelé à la démission de M. Sabeh. L'opposition
parlementaire, notamment le courant du chef chrétien Michel Aoun, avait
également appelé à la démission du ministre de l'intérieur.
Une
manifestation organisée pour protester contre la publication en Europe de
caricatures du prophète Mahomet a tourné à l'émeute dimanche à Beyrouth,
où le consulat de Danemark a été incendié. Un manifestant, prisonnier des
flammes, s'est tué en se jetant du troisième étage du consulat.
Des
affrontements entre la police et des manifestants ont en outre fait une
trentaine de blessés. La majorité parlementaire antisyrienne au Liban a
montré du doigt la Syrie et le premier ministre libanais Fouad Siniora a
indiqué qu'une centaine de ressortissants syriens et palestiniens avaient été
arrêtés à la suite des émeutes
http://archquo.nouvelobs.com/cgi/articles?ad=etranger/20060206.REU13755.html&host=http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/
Caricatures
de Mahomet: la colère gagne Beyrouth
Nouvel Observateur - 5 fév 2006
par Leïla Bassam
BEYROUTH (Reuters) - Le monde
arabo-musulman a manifesté ce week-end, de manière parfois violente, son
indignation dans l'affaire des caricatures de Mahomet publiées dans la presse
danoise, puis reprises par solidarité dans plusieurs journaux occidentaux,
essentiellement européens.
Dimanche, une foule en colère a incendié le consulat du Danemark à Beyrouth.
Les ambassades danoise et norvégienne avaient subi le même sort la veille à
Damas.
Le ministre libanais de l'Intérieur, Hassan al Sabaa, a présenté sa
démission à l'occasion d'un Conseil des ministres extraordinaire, convoqué
après les incidents de la journée.
En Syrie, les autorités ont renforcé la sécurité dimanche autour des
chancelleries occidentales, les manifestants de la veille ayant également
endommagé l'ambassade de Suède et tenté de prendre d'assaut la mission
diplomatique française, défendue par un cordon de policiers anti-émeutes.
Accusant Damas d'avoir failli à son devoir de protection de la mission
norvégienne, Oslo a annoncé dimanche son intention de porter plainte auprès
des Nations unies.
Le Danemark est dans l'oeil du cyclone depuis la publication en septembre, dans
l'un de ses quotidiens à gros tirage, de 12 dessins représentant le prophète
des musulmans. Les caricatures ont depuis été reprises dans les presses
bulgare, française, allemande, italienne, jordanienne, espagnole, suisse,
hongroise, néo-zélandaise, norvégienne et polonaise.
"Le gouvernement danois exhorte tous les dirigeants, politiques et
religieux, dans tous les pays concernés, à appeler leurs populations à
conserver leur calme et à s'abstenir de toute violence", a déclaré le
ministre danois des Affaires étrangères, Per Stig Moeller.
Ses services ont invité instamment les Danois à quitter ou à éviter le
Liban, où la police a fait usage de grenades lacrymogènes et de canons à eau
pour disperser une foule d'environ 20.000 personnes qui marchaient sur le
consulat du Danemark, dont le personnel avait été évacué la veille.
Un manifestant, prisonnier des flammes, s'est tué en se jetant du troisième
étage du consulat, a annoncé à Reuters un responsable des services de
sécurité. Trois véhicules de pompiers qui tentaient d'éteindre les flammes
ont été attaqués. Les forces de l'ordre ont procédé à 174 arrestations. Il
s'agit de 76 Syriens, 38 Libanais, 35 Palestiniens et 25 bédouins apatrides, a
précisé un agent.
Des manifestations se sont en outre déroulées sans incidents à Paris,
Bruxelles et New York.
L'OCI CONDAMNE LES VIOLENCES
"La violence, en particulier l'incendie des représentations danoises
à l'étranger, est absolument scandaleuse", a déclaré Jack Straw, chef
de la diplomatie Britannique. La France a quant à elle renforcé le niveau
d'alerte de ses ambassades en Syrie et au Liban et réitéré ses consignes de
prudence auprès de ses ressortissants.
Le Premier ministre libanais, Fouad Siniora, a lancé un appel au calme en
faisant valoir que ces violences risquaient de ternir l'image de l'islam dans le
monde.
"Cela n'a rien à voir du tout avec l'islam", a-t-il dit sur la
chaîne de télévision privée Future. "La déstabilisation de la
sécurité et le vandalisme donnent une mauvaise image de l'islam. On ne peut
pas défendre ainsi le prophète Mahomet."
En Irak où des activistes ont juré de s'attaquer au contingent danois, le
ministère des Transports a décidé de geler tous les contrats passés avec le
Danemark et la Norvège. Une patrouille danoise a été prise pour cible,
dimanche dans le pays, et l'armée estime que l'incident n'est peut-être pas
étranger à la polémique sur les caricatures.
L'Iran a décidé de revoir ses relations commerciales avec les pays dont la
presse a publié les caricatures incriminées et a rappelé son ambassadeur à
Copenhague.
Mais des organisations musulmanes modérées sont sorties de leur silence pour
souligner le risque de voir des extrémistes "prendre en otage" cette
affaire.
Au Liban, la principale autorité religieuse de l'islam sunnite, Mohamed Rachid
Kabani, a estimé qu'il fallait faire preuve de prudence en la matière.
"Cela a valeur de test pour nous. Que la manifestation de notre
condamnation soit conforme aux valeurs de l'islam", a-t-il dit.
L'Organisation de la conférence islamique, qui regroupe 57 pays musulmans, a
condamné l'action des islamistes qui brûlent les locaux diplomatiques de pays
dont la presse a reproduit des caricatures de Mahomet.
"Les réactions excessives allant au-delà des actes démocratiques
pacifiques sont dangereuses et portent atteinte aux efforts visant à défendre
la cause légitime du monde musulman", a fait savoir l'OCI, dont le siège
est à Djeddah.
L'Union européenne a estimé qu'elle n'avait pas à présenter d'excuses,
tandis que la ministre suédoise des Affaires étrangères, Laila Freivalds,
évoquait d'autres motifs que les caricatures pour expliquer les débordements.
"Tous les pays impliqués ont des problèmes domestiques. La plupart
d'entre eux sont des dictatures qui subissent les pressions de la communauté
internationale (...) Dans cette situation, il peut être bon pour eux de
détourner l'attention de certains problèmes et de la diriger vers autre
chose", a-t-elle déclaré.
http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L06635450
Gaza
crowd throws stones at EU office in cartoon row
Mon 6 Feb 2006 5:12 AM ET
GAZA,
Feb 6 (Reuters) - Palestinian demonstrators hurled stones at European Union
offices in the Gaza Strip on Monday and pulled down the EU flag in protest over
caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad first printed in European newspapers.
Thrusting their fists into the air, the crowd chanted: "Down with Denmark.
Down with Norway. With our blood we will redeem our Prophet."
Palestinian riot police surrounded the EU building to prevent the crowd of
several dozen students from entering.
Security forces fired into the air as one protester pulled the EU flag down.
Some demonstrators threw stones at the building.
A wave of anger has swept the Muslim world over the publication of the cartoons,
one of which shows the Prophet Mohammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.
The cartoons were first printed in Denmark. The cartoons have since been
reprinted in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Spain, Switzerland,
Hungary, New Zealand, Norway, Poland and the United States.
On Sunday, Muslim protesters set ablaze the Danish consulate in Beirut. Syrians
set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.romandie.com/infos/ats/display.asp?page=20060206055621271721948157000.XML&associate=PHF0153
(ats / 06 février 2006 05:56)
BEYROUTH - Les
protestations de musulmans contre la publication en Europe de caricatures de
Mahomet se sont étendues au Liban, où des manifestants ont incendié le
consulat du Danemark. Prisonnier des flammes, un des manifestants s'est tué en
se jetant du troisième étage du bâtiment.
Vivement mis en cause
à la suite de ces émeutes, le ministre libanais de l'intérieur Hassan Sabeh a
présenté sa démission. Il a précisé avoir refusé de donner l'ordre
d'ouvrir le feu sur les manifestants "car il refuse d'être responsable
d'un carnage".
"Malgré
l'intervention de plus d'un millier de membres des forces de l'ordre, nous
n'avons pas pu imposer l'ordre en raison de la détermination des manifestants
qui étaient plusieurs milliers", a-t- il indiqué.
Des manifestants
brandissant des drapeaux noirs et verts ont incendié le consulat, lapidé des
églises et des commerces dans le quartier chrétien d'Achrafiyé, à Beyrouth.
Quelques milliers de personnes ont également incendié des voitures de police
et de pompiers dans ce quartier. Vingt-huit personnes ont été blessées.
Selon le premier
ministre libanais, Fouad Siniora, une centaine de Palestiniens et de Syriens ont
été arrêtés.
Samedi, les bâtiments
des ambassades du Danemark et de la Norvège à Damas ont été incendiés. Le
Danemark a appelé ses ressortissants à quitter le Liban, alors que Danois et
Norvégiens s'apprêtaient à faire de même en Syrie, conformément à l'appel
lancé la veille par leurs gouvernements.
Face à cette flambée
de violences, des autorités morales, religieuses et politiques ont multiplié
les appels au calme et au dialogue de par le monde.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5596837,00.html
Protesters Torch Danish Mission in Beirut
Monday February 6, 2006 5:16 AM
AP Photo BEI129
By JOSEPH PANOSSIAN
Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT,
Lebanon (AP) - Muslim rage over caricatures of the prophet Muhammad grew
increasingly violent Sunday as thousands of rampaging protesters - undaunted by
tear gas and water cannons - torched the Danish mission and ransacked a
Christian neighborhood. At least one person reportedly died and about 200 were
detained, officials said.
Muslim
clerics denounced the violence, with some wading into the mobs trying to stop
them. Copenhagen ordered Danes to leave the country or stay indoors in the
second day of attacks on its diplomatic outposts in the Middle East.
In
Beirut, a day after violent protests in neighboring Syria, the crowd broke
through a cordon of troops and police that had encircled the embassy. Security
forces fired tear gas and loosed their weapons into the air to stop the
onslaught.
The
protesters, armed with stones and sticks, damaged police and fire vehicles and
threw stones at a Maronite Catholic church in the wealthy Ashrafieh area - a
Christian neighborhood where the Danish Embassy is located.
Flames
and smoke billowed from the 10-story building, which also houses the Austrian
Embassy and the residence of Slovakia's consul. Protesters waved green and black
Islamic flags from broken windows and tossed papers and filing cabinets outside.
Witnesses
said one protester, apparently overcome by smoke, jumped from a window and was
rushed to the hospital. Security officials said he died.
Thirty
people were injured, half of them members of the security forces, officials said,
making it the most violent in a string of demonstrations across the Muslim
world. All the injuries were from beatings and stones.
Prime
Minister Fuad Saniora said before meeting with top Islamic leaders that about
200 people were detained, and police said they included 76 Syrians, 35
Palestinians and 38 Lebanese.
The
first apparent victim of the political fallout from the violence was Interior
Minister Hassan Sabei, who submitted his resignation. It was not immediately
clear if the resignation was accepted.
Sabei
said authorities had tried to prevent the protest from turning violent.
``Things
got out of hand when elements that had infiltrated into the ranks of the
demonstrators broke through security shields,'' he said. ``The one remaining
option was an order to shoot, but I was not prepared to order the troops to
shoot Lebanese citizens.''
Sabei,
like other Lebanese politicians and Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Kabbani,
spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims, suggested Islamic radicals had
fanned the anger.
Kabbani
said outsiders among the protesters were trying to ``distort the image of Islam.''
The
United States accused the Syrian government of backing the protests in Lebanon
and Syria.
U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a statement that the resentment over the
caricatures ``cannot justify violence, least of all when directed at people who
have no responsibility for, or control over, the publications in question.''
The
Danish Foreign Ministry urged Danes to leave Lebanon. The violence Saturday in
Damascus prompted a similar warning.
``The
government has no intention to insult Muslims,'' Danish Foreign Minister Per
Stig Moeller said on public radio in Copenhagen. ``We are trying to explain to
everyone that enough is enough.''
The
Syrian state-run daily newspaper Al-Thawra said Denmark was to blame because its
government had not apologized for the September publication of the caricatures
in Jyllands-Posten.
The
drawings - including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb
with a burning fuse - have since been republished in several European and New
Zealand newspapers as a statement on behalf of a free press.
In
Malaysia, an editor at a small newspaper on remote Borneo Island resigned for
reprinting the caricatures and, in a statement Monday, the newspaper apologized
and expressed ``profound regret over the unauthorized publication.'' The Sunday
Tribune was the only newspaper in mainly Muslim Malaysia to reprint any of the
caricatures, and a government official warned that the newspaper may lose its
license if it fails to give a satisfactory explanation.
Islamic
law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad for fear
they could lead to idolatry.
Denmark's
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.
Thousands
also took to the streets elsewhere in the Muslim world and parts of Europe,
including some 3,000 Afghans who burned a Danish flag and demanding that the
editors at Jyllands-Posten be prosecuted for blasphemy.
Afghan
President Hamid Karzai urged forgiveness.
``God
instructs us to forgive. Therefore, we - as much as we condemn it strongly -
must stay above this dispute and not bring ourselves ... to equating ourselves
to those who have published the cartoons,'' he said on CNN's ``Late Edition.''
In
Indonesia, about 300 protesters demonstrated outside the Danish Embassy on
Monday, far fewer than the thousands expected. It was the second protest in the
world's most populous Muslim nation against the cartoons.
About
300 Muslims also demonstrated peacefully outside the Danish Embassy in Bangkok,
Thailand.
Stepping
up the pressure, the Islamic Army in Iraq, a key group in the insurgency
fighting U.S.-led and Iraqi forces, posted a second Internet statement Sunday
calling for violence against citizens of countries where the caricatures have
been published.
A
Lebanese security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was
not allowed to speak to the press, said Danish diplomats had evacuated the
mission in Beirut two days earlier, anticipating the protests.
The
protesters, who came in buses from all over Lebanon, waved flags and banners.
``There
is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God!'' they shouted as they
pushed against riot police.
Many
Muslim clerics were among them.
``Regretfully,
the march did more harm to the prophet than it did good,'' said Sunni Sheik
Ibrahim Ibrahim, who was in the crowd. He said he and others tried to stop the
mob, but ``we got stones and insults.''
European
leaders also urged calm and respect - both for religion and freedom of the press.
``The
violence now, particularly the burning of Danish missions abroad, is absolutely
outrageous and totally unjustified, and what we want to see is this matter being
calmed down,'' British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in London, adding that
the media must exercise its free speech privilege responsibly.
Lebanon's
most senior Shiite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah,
issued an edict banning violence, saying it ``harms Islam and Prophet Muhammad
the same as the others (the publishers of the cartoons) did.''
But
Iran's Foreign Ministry announced Tehran had recalled its ambassador to Denmark,
joining Syria, Saudi Arabia and Libya in pulling diplomatic representatives.
Iraqi
Transport Minister Salam al-Maliki also said his country would cancel its
contracts with Danish firms and reject reconstruction money from Copenhagen.
http://www.rtl.be/page/rtlinfo/articles/international/209.aspx?articleid=56215
Trois morts
dans des manifestations contre les caricatures en Afghanistan
le
6-2-2006 16:00
Deux autres personnes ont été
tuées aujourd'hui près de Kaboul, portant à trois morts le bilan des
manifestations qui ont eu lieu en Afghanistan pour protester contre la
publication en Europe de caricatures du prophète musulman Mahomet.
Hier,
une personne est morte et au moins cinq personnes ont été blessées par balles
lors d'une manifestation à Mihtarlam, capitale de la province de Laghman, où
un millier de personnes ont réclamé la fermeture de l'ambassade du Danemark,
où les dessins ont été publiés pour la première fois en septembre.
Par
ailleurs, un nouveau bilan a été établi après les émeutes survenues hier
dans un quartier chrétien de Beyrouth (Liban) lors d'une manifestation. Une
personne est morte et une cinquantaine de blessés ont été comptabilisés. Un
des manifestants qui ont mis le feu à l'immeuble qui abrite le consulat danois,
dans le quartier d'Achrafiyé, Khodr Hajj, a en effet été trouvé mort par
asphyxie dans la cage d'escalier de l'immeuble.
http://info.rsr.ch/fr/rsr.html?siteSect=500&sid=6442327&cKey=1139229303000
Dernière mise à jour: lundi, 6 février 2006 à 21:51
Les manifestations continuent après la publication de
caricatures de Mahomet [Keystone]
Un groupe
de manifestants a brièvement pénétré lundi soir dans l'enceinte de
l'ambassade du Danemark à Téhéran alors que la police a tiré des gaz
lacrymogènes.
La liste
des pays musulmans touchés par ces manifestations de colère s'est allongée:
Afghanistan, Iran, Inde, Thaïlande, Indonésie, Irak, Territoires palestiniens,
et même Somalie ont rejoint la Syrie et le Liban.
Les protestations les plus violentes ont eu lieu lundi en Afghanistan avec un
bilan total de quatre morts et une vingtaine de blessés, domment en Europe.
En
Indonésie, premier pays musulman du monde, la police a tiré des coups de
semonce à Surabaya, deuxième ville du pays, pour disperser des manifestants
qui ont jeté des pierres sur le consulat du Danemark avant de se diriger vers
celui des Etats-Unis. D'autres manifestations ont eu lieu à Djakarta, et dans
deux villes où des drapeaux danois ont été brûlés.
En Inde, la police anti-émeute a fait usage de gaz lacrymogène et canons à
eau à New Delhi en direction des centaines d'étudiants qui mettaient le feu à
des drapeaux danois. Et à Srinagar (Jammu-et-Cachemire), l'appel à un jour de
grève générale a entraîné la fermeture de commerces et d'écoles.
Quelque 400 membres de la minorité musulmane de Thaïlande se sont par ailleurs
rassemblés devant l'ambassade du Danemark à Bangkok.
En Irak,
plusieurs milliers de personnes ont réclamé la rupture des liens diplomatiques
et économiques avec les pays où les dessins ont été publiés. A Kout (160km
au sud-est de Bagdad), les protestataires ont demandé la mort de quiconque
insulte Mahomet et le retrait des 530 militaires danois opérant sous contrôle
britannique.
A Gaza, la police palestinienne a dispersé à la matraque des manifestants qui
jetaient des pierres devant le bâtiment de la Commission européenne, tandis
qu'au Caire, plusieurs milliers d'étudiants se sont rassemblés dans le calme
sur le campus de l'université Al-Azhar.
Et en Somalie, pays d'Afrique orientale, des heurts entre manifestants et forces
de l'ordre dans la ville portuaire de Bossaso (nord) ont provoqué une vaste
bousculade au cours de laquelle un adolescent a péri.
Lundi, le
Liban a présenté ses excuses au Danemark au lendemain de la mise à sac et
l'incendie de la mission diplomatique danoise à Beyrouth lors de violentes
manifestations qui ont fait un mort et une trentaine de blessés.
Face à la poursuite de ce mouvement de colère, les appels au calme se
multiplient. Dans un texte commun publié dans l'"International Herald
Tribune", le Premier ministre turc Recep Tayyip Erdogan et le chef du
gouvernement espagnol José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero ont appelé au
"respect" et au "calme". "Nous serons tous perdants si
nous ne réussissons pas immédiatement à désamorcer la situation."
Le président français Jacques Chirac a aussi "encouragé tous les gestes
qui peuvent contribuer à l'apaisement" et condamné "tous les actes
de violence dirigés contre les Danois et des représentations
étrangères".
La presse
britannique s'insurgeait lundi contre l'absence de réaction de la police et des
autorités britanniques contre les manifestants qui ont appelé au meurtre
vendredi à Londres pour protester contre la publication de caricatures de
Mahomet dans des journaux européens.
Le quotidien populaire The Sun, vendu à plus de 3 millions d'exemplaires, a
appelé ses lecteurs à lui communiquer l'identité des manifestants dont il
publie les photos. En "une" notamment, on voit un jeune homme
déguisé en kamikaze.
Même si aucun journal britannique n'a publié les caricatures de Mahomet, des
manifestants devant l'ambassade du Danemark à Londres ont appelé vendredi à
"massacrer ceux qui insultent l'islam" ou averti l'Europe que son 11
septembre allait venir.
agences/ml/sch
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/13800366.htm
Posted
on Mon, Feb. 06, 2006
Hundreds in Iran protest Muhammad drawings
NASSER
KARIMI
Associated
Press
TEHRAN,
Iran - Hundreds
of angry protesters hurled stones and fire bombs at the Danish Embassy in the
Iranian capital Monday to protest publication of caricatures of the Prophet
Muhammad. Police used tear gas and surrounded the walled villa to hold back
the crowd.
It
was the second attack on a Western mission in Tehran on Monday. Earlier in the
day, 200 student demonstrators threw stones at the Austrian Embassy, breaking
windows and starting small fires. The mission was targeted because Austria
holds the presidency of the European Union.
Thousands
more people joined violent demonstrations across the world to protest
publication of the caricatures of Muhammad, and the Bush administration
appealed to Saudi Arabia to use its influence among Arabs to help ease
tensions in the Middle East and Europe.
Afghan troops shot and killed four protesters, some as they tried to
storm a U.S. military base outside Bagram - the first time a protest over the
issue has targeted the United States. A teenage boy was killed when protesters
stampeded in Somalia.
The EU issued stern reminders to 18 Arab and other Muslim countries that
they are under treaty obligations to protect foreign embassies.
Lebanon apologized to Denmark - where the cartoons were first published -
a day after protesters set fire to a building housing the Danish mission in
Beirut. The attack "harmed Lebanon's reputation and its civilized
image," Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said.
In the Iranian capital, police encircled the Danish Embassy but were
unable to hold back 400 demonstrators as they tossed stones and Molotov
cocktails at the walled brick villa. At least nine protesters were hurt, police
said.
About an hour into the protest, police fired tear gas, driving the
demonstrators into a nearby park. Later, about 20 people returned and tried to
break through police lines to enter the embassy compound but were blocked by
security forces.
As the tear gas dissipated, most of the crowd filtered back to the
embassy, where they burned Danish flags and chanted anti-Danish slogans and
"God is great."
Two trees inside the embassy compound were set on fire by the gasoline
bombs. The embassy gate was burned, as was a police booth along the wall
protecting the building.
The Danish Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of any staff inside the
building, which closed for the day before the demonstration.
Ambassador Claus Juul Nielsen told DR public television in Denmark that
the protesters vandalized the ground floor of the embassy, which included the
trade and the visa departments.
The crowd, which included about 100 women, ignored police orders to
disperse and kept hurling fire bombs until being hit by tear gas. The crowd
dispersed by midnight.
Also Monday, 200 members of Iran's parliament issued a statement warning
that those who published the cartoons should remember the case of Salman Rushdie
- the British author against whom the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini issued a death warrant for his novel "The Satanic Verses."
The angry demonstrations in Iran recall the Nov. 4, 1979, seizure of the
American Embassy in Tehran after the Islamic revolution that overthrew U.S. ally
Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The students who held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days faced little or
no police resistance in the post-revolutionary turmoil that had brought Shiite
theologian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and an Islamic government to power.
There has been a wave of protests across the Islamic world over
caricatures first published in September by a Danish paper. They have since been
reprinted by 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 Islamic law forbids
any illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.
In a meeting with local authors, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
condemned the cartoons and addressed the West: "Insulting the Prophet
Muhammad would not promote your position," the official Iranian news agency
quoted him as saying.
The Bush administration urged Saudi Arabia to help stem protests. "Certainly
the leaders of the Saudi government might be individuals who might fulfill that
role," spokesman Sean McCormack said. "There are others in the region
who also might fulfill that role as well."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan issued a broad appeal to "all
governments to take steps to lower tensions and prevent violence."
The worst of the violence in Afghanistan was outside Bagram, the main
U.S. base, with Afghan police firing on some 2,000 protesters as they tried to
break into the heavily guarded facility, said Kabir Ahmed, the local government
chief.
Two demonstrators were killed and 13 people, including eight police, were
wounded, he said. No U.S. troops were involved, the military said.
Afghan police also fired on protesters in the central city of Mihtarlam
after a man in the crowd shot at them and others threw stones and knives,
Interior Ministry spokesman Dad Mohammed Rasa said. Two protesters were
killed and three people were wounded,
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article343568.ece
7
February 2006 22:41 Home > News > UK > UK Politics
'Police
must bear down on extremist protesters'
By Joe
Churcher and Jamie Lyons, PA
Published:
06 February 2006
Police
should come down "heavily" on anti-cartoon protesters who broke the
law, a Cabinet Minister demanded today as an extremist cleric called for the
artist to face execution.
The
Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain said the actions of some Muslims in London
at the weekend had been "completely unacceptable and intolerable".
Placards
threatened a repeat of the 11 September and 7 July atrocities following the
publication of cartoons in Denmark depicting the prophet Mohammed, sparking
calls for action.
Amid
violence in cities across the world - which has seen one death in Afghanistan
and embassies torched - UK-based Muslim groups condemned extreme aspects of the
demonstrations here.
But
radical cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed insisted on the BBC this morning that anyone
who "insults a prophet" must be punished and executed.
That did
not mean a vigilante murder, he insisted, but warned that any country which
refused to put people on trial for such insults would have to "face the
consequences".
Reacting
to the protests, Mr Hain said on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "Demonstrators
on the streets over the weekend were doing things and saying things that are
completely unacceptable and intolerable.
"The
police need to bear down on them very heavily and chase down those who have
committed offences and prosecute them where they can get the evidence, because
there is freedom of speech on the one hand - that is sacrosanct.
"But
on the other hand, incitement to terror, incitement to suicide bombing - all of
those are clear infringements of the law.
"And
where there is evidence to back that up, then prosecutions will obviously follow
and the police are investigating that now."
The
demonstration was condemned by a range of Muslim organisations, from the
moderate Muslim Council of Britain to the more radical Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which
Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking to outlaw because of claims it backs
terrorism.
Hizb-ut-Tahrir
organised a less incendiary protest in London on Saturday, which passed off
without incident.
The
Shadow Home Secretary David Davis has called for a "no tolerance"
approach from the police to banners whose slogans consisted of incitement to
murder.
Specialist
police officers who attended the demo were understood to have taken film and
photographic evidence, but no protesters were arrested.
The
Metropolitan Police spokeswoman has said any arrests would be made "at the
appropriate time".
Lord
Harris, a board member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, backed the policing
of the demonstrations, saying immediate public safety had to be the first
consideration.
"It
is much more important to deal with that and to make sure that people in the
immediate environment are physically safe and then to assess whether other
offences have been committed.
"That,
I think, seems to have been the approach in this case, but we will need to look
at it in some detail."
Bakri
Mohammed, who left the UK for Lebanon in August amid suggestions he might be
charged with treason for allegedly praising the July 7 bombers, said on the
programme: "The insult has been established now by everybody, Muslim and
non-Muslim, and everybody condemns the cartoonist and condemns the cartoon.
"However,
in Islam, God said, and the messenger Mohammed said, whoever insults a prophet,
he must be punished and executed.
"This
man should be put on trial and if it is proven to be executed."
Muslims
around the world must not kill anyone who insulted Mohammed "by their own
personal, individual initiative", he added.
"We
are not saying ourselves to go there and start to look to him and kill him, we
are not talking about that. We are talking about Islamic rules. If anybody
insults the prophet, he will have to take a punishment."
One man
who was pictured dressed up a suicide bomber at the protest has defended his
actions and said he wanted to expose "double standards".
Building
student Omar Khayam, 22, of Bedford, said: "I would do it again to make a
point. I could have gone and held up banners or something, but this made the
point better.
"If
certain people have the right to do what they want and other people don't, then
that is double standards."
*
Hundreds of Afghans clashed with police and soldiers today during a
demonstration against the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. One
person was killed and four were wounded. Police fired on the demonstrators after
a man in the crowd shot at them and others threw stones and knives during the
rally in the central Afghan city of Mihtarlam, said a spokesman for the Interior
Ministry.
* Riot
police in New Delhi fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of
students protesting against the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
in European newspapers. The protesters chanted slogans and burned a Danish flag
before riot police broke up the demonstration.
http://www.sltrib.com/portlet/article/html/fragments/print_article.jsp?article=3480324
Article
Last Updated: 2/06/2006 03:19 AM
Lebanese riot over prophet cartoons
Worst in years: Followers burn the Danish Embassy
By
Anthony Shadid
The Washington Post
Salt Lake Tribune
BEIRUT,
Lebanon - Thousands of Muslim protesters, enraged over the publication of
caricatures of Islam's prophet Muhammad, set ablaze the Danish Embassy on Sunday
and rampaged through a predominantly Christian neighborhood, escalating
sectarian tensions in a country whose melange of faiths can sometimes serve as a
microcosm of the world's religious divide.
The unrest was some of the worst in Lebanon in years, and leaders from across
both political and religious spectra appealed for calm. In vain, some Muslim
clerics tried to step into the hours-long fray to end the clashes, which news
agencies said left at least one demonstrator dead and 30 wounded. In the
streets, fistfights broke out between Christian and Muslim Lebanese after
protesters threw rocks at a Maronite Catholic Church, broke windows at the
Lebanese Red Cross office and shattered windshields of cars. Bands of Christian
youths congregated with sticks and iron bars, promising to defend their
neighborhoods.
''Those who are committing these acts have nothing to do with Islam or with
Lebanon,'' Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora told Lebanon's Future Television
before the protests ended. ''This is absolutely not the way we express our
opinions.''
The unrest in Lebanon, mired in its own political uncertainty, was the latest
turn in a controversy that has spread worldwide following publication of the
cartoons in Denmark and other Western countries and showed no signs of ebbing
Sunday. Demonstrators took to the streets in Afghanistan, Iraq, the West Bank
and New Zealand. A day earlier, protesters burned the Danish and Norwegian
embassies in Syria after charging past security barriers.
In Iraq, the Islamic Army in Iraq, a Sunni Arab insurgent group, issued an
Internet statement calling for attacks on Danish companies and nationals. The
group asked followers to ''catch some Danish people and cut them into pieces.''
There are about 500 Danish soldiers in Iraq, most based in the southern part of
the country.
In their scope and vitriol, the protests say much about the state of relations
between the West and the Muslim world in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
in the United States. The anger was ignited by 12 caricatures of the prophet
Muhammad that were commissioned in September by a Danish newspaper to challenge
Islam's ban on depicting the prophet. Along with picturing him, some lampooned
him, with one artist rendering his turban as a bomb with a burning fuse. After
protests began, other European papers reprinted the cartoons.
They declared it an issue of freedom of expression, a cornerstone of democratic
values; many Muslims cast it as another insult in a growing conflict that is
most often reflected here through the lens of a religious struggle with an
American-led West.
''What are you going to do?'' asked a leaflet circulated in Beirut that called
for Sunday's protest.
''Bush and his group have invaded and are fighting war by all means available,''
it added. ''The goal: destroying the Islamic nation ideologically, economically
and existentially, and stealing and looting its resources.''
The protest in Lebanon drew as many as 20,000 people answering calls from
mosques Friday and similar leaflets circulated in Beirut and other cities. Most
of them stayed peaceful. But bands broke through police lines at the Danish
Embassy, and hundreds of protesters surged through nearby streets, waving green
religious flags and shouting, ''God is greatest.'' Police shot into the air and
fired tear gas and water cannons at protesters who threw stones, set ablaze fire
trucks and overturned police vehicles. Dozens were arrested.
The Danish Embassy was gutted, and its granite facade scorched. Acrid black
smoke spilled out of its windows hours later, as fire trucks tried to contain
the blaze. Workers swept up glass that littered the narrow streets of the
neighborhood of Ashrafiyeh.
The Danish Foreign Ministry urged Danes on Sunday to leave Lebanon and
instructed its citizens not to travel there. The embassy, bracing for the
expected protests, had been evacuated Saturday. The building also housed the
Austrian consulate.
''The situation in Beirut is not under control,'' the Danish Foreign Ministry
said in a statement.
European and Muslim leaders appealed for calm. Turkey's prime minister, Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, said the solution ''lies in diplomacy, not in guns,'' while
Lebanon's senior Sunni Muslim cleric warned that violence could portray ''a
distorted image of Islam.''
The Associated Press
A demonstrator uses a tool to damage the wall of the building housing the Danish
mission as another demonstrator waves a green Islamic flag during a protest
Sunday in Beirut, Lebanon, against the publication of caricatures of Islam's
revered prophet in European newspapers.
http://www.normantranscript.com/feeds/apcontent/apstories/apstorysection/D8FJHLF80.xml.txt/resources_apstoryview
Lebanon Apologizes to Denmark for Protests
By SAM F. GHATTAS
The Associated Press
BEIRUT,
Lebanon — Norman Transcript, OK - Feb 6, 2006
Lebanon
apologized Monday to Denmark after thousands of rampaging Muslim demonstrators
set fire to its diplomatic mission in Beirut in the most violent of escalating
worldwide protests over the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad
in Western newspapers.
In
Afghanistan, hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police and soldiers during a
protest in the central city of Mihtarlam, killing one person and wounding four.
Police fired on the crowd after a protester shot at them and others threw stones
and knives, said Dad Mohammed Rasa, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
Elsewhere,
the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir came to a standstill as shops,
businesses and schools shut down for a day to protest the drawings. Dozens of
protesters torched Danish flags, burned tires and shouted slogans across
Srinagar.
The
Lebanese Cabinet apologized to Denmark following a late Sunday emergency
meeting. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said the government had unanimously
"rejected and condemned the acts of riots ... that harmed Lebanon's
reputation and its civilized image and the noble aim of the demonstration."
At least
one person died, 30 were injured and about 200 were detained in the violence
Sunday, officials said. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said the arrested included
76 Syrians, 35 Palestinians and 38 Lebanese.
The
protesters set the building housing the Danish Embassy ablaze and threw stones
at a Maronite Catholic church _ the first attack on Christians since the
protests began. Muslim clerics also denounced the violence Sunday, with some
wading into the mobs to try to stop the attacks.
The day
before protesters in neighboring Syria burned the Danish and Norwegian
embassies, a fire that also damaged the Chilean and Swedish missions, which
share the building. The United States accused the Syrian government of backing
the protests in Lebanon and Syria, an accusation also made by anti-Syrian
Lebanese politicians.
The
Middle East has for months been a powder keg of anti-Western rage over the war
in Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But some observers say the furor
over the drawings may have been exploited or intensified by some Muslim
countries in the region to settle scores with Western powers.
Syria and
Iran face growing pressure from the Americans and the Europeans on the issues of
foreign extremists infiltrating Iraq's borders and on Tehran's nuclear program.
And Egypt, one of the first to publicly criticize the series of cartoons, has
been critical of the Danish government for funding critics of human rights
abuses.
"This
is an organized attempt to take advantage of Muslim anger for purposes that do
not serve the interests of Muslims and Lebanon, but those of others beyond the
border," Lebanese Social Affairs Minister Nayla Mouawad, a Christian, said
Sunday after riots in Beirut.
But Syria
blamed Denmark, criticizing the Scandinavian nation for refusing to apologize
after the caricatures were first published in September in the Danish newspaper
Jyllands-Posten.
Denmark's
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said he disapproves of the caricatures
and any attacks on religion, but insisted he cannot apologize on behalf of his
country's independent press.
The
caricatures were republished recently in several European, Australian and New
Zealand newspapers as a statement on behalf of a free press. One caricature
showed the revered prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb with a burning
fuse.
Islamic
law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad for fear
they could lead to idolatry.
Thousands
took to the streets Sunday elsewhere in the Muslim world and parts of Europe,
including some 4,000 Afghans who burned a Danish flag and demanding that the
editors at Jyllands-Posten be prosecuted for blasphemy.
Afghan
President Hamid Karzai urged forgiveness.
The
Islamic Army in Iraq, a key group in the insurgency fighting U.S.-led and Iraqi
forces, posted a second Internet statement Sunday calling for violence against
citizens of countries where the caricatures have been published.
In
Lebanon, Interior Minister Hassan Sabei submitted his resignation at the late
Sunday cabinet session following widespread criticism of the failure of the
Lebanese security forces, which appeared to lose control of the streets for
about three hours.
But Sabei
defended their actions.
"Things
got out of hand when elements that had infiltrated into the ranks of the
demonstrators broke through security shields," he told reporters. "The
one remaining option was an order to shoot, but I was not prepared to order the
troops to shoot Lebanese citizens."
Sabei,
like other Lebanese politicians and Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Kabbani,
spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims, suggested that Islamic radicals had
fanned the anger.
Legislator
Michel Aoun, leader of an opposition coalition, referring to reports that
Syrians were among the protesters, insisted the government should have quelled
the riot, and called for its resignation.
"We
know that there were military units ready to intervene, but they were not
ordered to intervene," he told reporters.
The
government has called for a speedy investigation of the violence.
http://www.heraldnewsdaily.com/stories/news-00137159.html
Staff
and agencies
06 February, 2006
GAZA
- Palestinian demonstrators hurled stones at European Union offices in the Gaza
Strip on Monday and pulled down the EU flag in protest over caricatures of the
Prophet Mohammad first printed in European newspapers.
Thrusting their fists into the air, the crowd chanted: "Down with
Denmark. Down with Norway. With our blood we will redeem our Prophet."
Palestinian riot police surrounded the EU building to prevent the crowd
of several dozen students from entering.
Security forces fired into the air as one protester pulled the EU flag
down. Some demonstrators threw stones at the building.
A wave of anger has swept the Muslim world over the publication of the
cartoons, one of which shows the Prophet Mohammad wearing a turban shaped like a
bomb.
The cartoons were first printed in Denmark. The cartoons have since been
reprinted in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Spain, Switzerland,
Hungary, New Zealand, Norway, Poland and the United States.
On Sunday, Muslim protesters set ablaze the Danish consulate in Beirut.
Syrians set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday.
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-06T110413Z_01_L06357511_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-RELIGION-CARTOONS-COL.XML
Calls
for calm in cartoon row after embassy blazes
Mon Feb 6, 2006 6:03 AM EST
By
Kerstin Gehmlich
PARIS
(Reuters) - World leaders called for calm on Monday after weekend attacks in
which Danish diplomatic missions were set ablaze and Lebanon and Syria promised
inquiries into how protests about cartoons of the Prophet turned violent.
U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed alarm about the riots and urged restraint
but oil giant Iran, which is reviewing trade ties with countries that published
the cartoons, vowed to respond to "an anti-Islamic and Islamophobic
current."
Denmark
is the focus of Muslim rage because the images, one showing the Prophet Mohammad
with a turban resembling a bomb, first appeared in a Danish daily and the
ensuing furor has become a clash between press freedom and religious respect.
"I
call on all Arab countries to talk with moderation about what is
happening," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said, in a view
echoed by other leaders after the riots in Beirut and Damascus. "Let's keep
it calm."
Ukraine
on Monday became the latest country where newspapers have published the
cartoons, joining Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary,
New Zealand, Poland and the United States.
There
were fresh protests about the cartoons outside the European Union offices in
Gaza on Monday.
Waving
fists, protesters chanted: "Down with Denmark. Down with Norway. With our
blood we will redeem our Prophet." The presidential guard fired in the air
to disperse the demonstrators and anti-riot police secured the area.
For
Muslims, depicting the Prophet Mohammad is prohibited by Islam and protests have
raged from Lahore to Gaza, but moderate Muslim groups have expressed their fears
about radicals and militants hijacking the affair.
Speaking
from Beirut, Omar Bakri Mohammad, leader of the Islamist group al Muhajiroon
which is banned in Britain, called for the execution of those involved with the
cartoons.
"In
Islam, God said, and the messenger Mohammad said, whoever insults a prophet, he
must be punished and executed," he told BBC radio by telephone.
"With
growing concern, we are witnessing the escalation in disturbing tensions
provoked by the publication, in European newspapers, of caricatures of the
Prophet Mohammad that Muslims consider deeply offensive," the prime
ministers of Turkey and Spain said in the International Herald Tribune.
"We
shall all be the losers if we fail to immediately defuse this situation, which
can only leave a trail of mistrust and misunderstanding between both sides in
its wake," Tayyip Erdogan and Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said in the
joint article.
SECURITY
QUESTIONS
Lebanese
Interior Minister Hassan al-Sabaa resigned after police used tear gas and water
cannon in Beirut to disperse thousands of protesters, some of whom ransacked and
burned the Danish consulate and hurled rocks at police.
One
protester, among those who set the consulate alight, was encircled by flames and
died after jumping from the third floor.
Syrians
set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday. They
damaged the Swedish embassy and tried to storm the French mission but were held
off by riot police.
The
Philadelphia Inquirer, one of the few U.S. newspapers to publish a cartoon of
the Prophet, defended the action on Sunday by saying it was just doing its job.
Editor
Amanda Bennett said "when a use of religious imagery that many find
offensive becomes a major news story, we believe it is important for readers to
be able to judge the content of the image for themselves."
The
Danish Foreign Ministry urged Danes on Sunday to leave Lebanon and advised its
citizens not to travel there.
Up
to 4,000 people marched in Brussels on Sunday to protest against the cartoons,
police said. In Paris, about 1,000 people protested peacefully against the
caricatures, police said.
In
New York, hundreds of Muslims and supporters gathered for a rally at the Danish
mission to the United Nations, seeking an apology from Denmark.
Demonstrators
held signs with slogans such as: "Hate speech is not free speech,"
"Denmark must apologize" and "Europe must show civility."
Syria
stepped up security at Western embassies on Sunday after being criticized for
failing to protect the Danish and Norwegian missions. Fearing for their safety,
scores of Danish and Norwegian citizens flew out of Damascus on Sunday.
Norway
said it would complain to the United Nations about Syria's failure to protect
its embassy.
http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=10022
February, 6 - 6:46 AM
Asian Muslims protest against Prophet cartoons
JAKARTA.–
Muslims across parts of Asia staged noisy but largely peaceful protests on
Monday against cartoons published in European newspapers depicting caricatures
of the Prophet Mohammad.
While
the region escaped much of the violence and arson that accompanied protests in
the Middle East, Asian leaders were quick to condemn the cartoons while also
calling for calm.
The
cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper in September, but other
European newspapers – saying press freedom was more important than religious
taboos – began reprinting them last week.
Many
Muslims consider any images of Mohammad to be blasphemous and offensive.
The
worst violence on Monday came in Afghanistan, where one man was shot dead and
two others injured in clashes between protesters and police.
Officials
in Mehtarlam, Laghman province, said the crowd had been incited by Taliban and
al Qaeda operatives and had called for the expulsion of Danish troops from the
NATO-led peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
In
the capital Kabul, hundreds of young men, many wielding sticks, marched through
the city and eventually found the Danish embassy which they attacked with
stones, smashing several windows.
Some
of the protesters burned a Danish flag while others tried to smash down the
embassy's gate before they moved off to a main U.S military base, where they
again threw stones, breaking windows in a guard house.
Police
beat protesters with clubs and eventually dispersed them, a witness said.
In
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, protesters in four cities
demanded that Denmark apologize for the controversial caricatures.
Police
fired warning shots to disperse 300 hardline Muslims when they threw rocks at
police during a protest outside the Danish consulate in Indonesia's second
largest city Surabaya.
District
police chief Anang Iskandar said two policemen were hurt in the clash. Three
protesters had been detained, he said, adding the situation was now calm.
In
India, shops and businesses were shut and traffic was light in Srinagar, summer
capital of the country's only Muslim-majority state, following a strike called
by lawyers.
About
300 protesters rallied peacefully in front of the Danish embassy in Thailand's
capital as dozens of riot police put up barricades to prevent the crowd getting
close to the gate.
Despite
protests and boycotts across the Muslim world, the cartoons have now appeared in
papers in Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Spain, Switzerland,
Hungary, New Zealand, Australia, Norway and Poland.
A
Malaysian newspaper editor quit after he embarrassed his Muslim boss by
reprinting the controversial cartoons in a bid to illustrate a story about the
controversy.
The
Sarawak Tribune reprinted the cartoons in its Saturday edition after its
editor-on-duty made an "oversight" in looking to illustrate the story,
Polit Hamzah, executive director of the paper's publisher, said on
Monday.
Malaysia
is mainly Muslim and Islam the official religion, but Muslims are a minority in
Sarawak – part of Borneo island, where the biggest single ethnic group is the
Iban, a tribal people known as head-hunters over a century ago.
http://dnaindia.com/dnaPrint.asp?NewsID=1011502&CatID=9
Monday,
February 06, 2006 4:41:00 PM
Delhi
students join worldwide protests against cartoons
NEW
DELHI: Several leaders of the Jamia Milia Islamia University were detained after
students, protesting against cartoons portraying Prophet Mohammad in bad light,
clashed with the police on Monday afternoon.
The caricatures originally appeared in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten last
year and recent reprinting elsewhere, sparked death threats, kidnappings,
boycotts of Norwegian products and, at the weekend, attacks on the Danish
embassies in Beirut and Damascus.
The cartoons have been reprinted in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway, Poland and the United States.
Some
student leaders were detained after they clashed with the police when stopped
while they tried to move towards the Danish Embassy, said a senior police
official.
''Police intervened after the mob became unruly when stopped from proceeding
towards the embassy at about 2.30 pm. As they did not have permission to move in
that area we had to stop them.''
At
this they started pelting stones following which water cannons had to be used to
disperse them, he said.
The
students wanted to protest outside the Embassy of Denmark, demanding action
against cartoons published in a Danish publication recently, allegedly
portraying the Prophet in a derogatory manner.
TEHRAN:
Hundreds of Iranian demonstrators pelted the Austrian embassy here on Monday
with stones, firecrackers and eggs, smashing windows in protest against the
cartoons.
The
300-strong crowd, mainly members of the hardline Basij militia, burned flags of
several European nations and demanded that the embassies of countries where the
media have printed the cartoons be shut down.
SURABAYA
(Indonesia): Police fired warning shots outside the United States consulate in
Indonesia's second city of Surabaya on Monday to disperse protesters who earlier
smashed windows at the Danish consulate.
About
200 members of the hardline Front of the Defenders of Islam protested against
the cartoons, at the building that houses the Danish consulate before the group
moved to the US mission.
JALALABAD
(Afghanistan): Fresh protests against the cartoons erupted across Afghanistan on
Monday, with one demonstrator killed and up to four wounded in clashes,
officials said.
Protestors
also threw stones at the Danish, British and French embassies in the capital
Kabul as well as the main base for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan and the
head United Nations office.
SYDNEY:
Australia was drawn on Monday into the widespread anger over the cartoons after
a weekend newspaper printed an image.
The
president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ameer Ali, urged
newspapers not to print the cartoons, which Muslims say are blasphemous and
contrary to Islamic tradition prohibiting depictions of the prophet.
Brisbane's
Courier Mail printed one of the 12 cartoons at the weekend, prompting calls for
an apology from Queensland's state Islamic Council.
GAZA:
Palestinian demonstrators hurled stones at European Union offices in the Gaza
Strip on Monday and pulled down the EU flag in protest against the
caricatures.
Palestinian
riot police surrounded the EU building to prevent the crowd of several dozen
students from entering.
Security
forces fired into the air as one protester pulled the EU flag down. Some
demonstrators threw stones at the building.
LONDON:
Muslim cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed, banned from Britain for his radical views,
called on Monday for capital punishment for cartoonists who dare depict the
Prophet Mohammed.
Speaking
to BBC radio from Lebanon, where he now lives, Bakri claimed
"everybody" now acknowledged that cartoons of the prophet were
insulting.
"In
Islam, God said, and the messenger Mohammed said, whoever insults a prophet, he
must be punished and executed," he added. "This man (the cartoonist)
should be put on trial and... executed" if proven guilty.
PARIS:
World leaders called for calm on Monday after the weekend
attacks.
United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed alarm about the riots and urged
restraint but oil giant Iran, which is reviewing trade ties with countries that
published the cartoons, vowed to respond to “an anti-Islamic and Islamophobic
current”.
“I
call on all Arab countries to talk with moderation about what is happening,”
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said, in a view echoed by other
leaders after the riots in Beirut and Damascus.
COPENHAGEN:
Denmark told its nationals on Monday to avoid Muslim countries even as it
pursued diplomatic efforts to defuse worldwide tension surrounding the
publication of the cartoons.
The
foreign ministry warning, which affects thousands of holiday-makers and business
executives, lists 14 Muslim countries travellers should avoid following violent
protests against the cartoons: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran,
Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab
Emirates and Qatar.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L06381242.htm
Iranians hurl petrol
bombs at Austrian embassy
06
Feb 2006 17:42:19 GMT
Source: Reuters
An
Iranian man holds a copy of the Koran during a demonstration in front of the
Austrian embassy in Tehran February 6, 2006. A crowd of about 200 people pelted
the Austrian Embassy in Tehran with petrol bombs and stones on Monday in a
protest over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
REUTERS/RAHEB HOMAVANDI
Iranian
men burn flags and shout slogans during a demonstration in front of the Austrian
embassy in Tehran February 6, 2006. A crowd of about 200 people pelted the
Austrian Embassy in Tehran with petrol bombs and stones on Monday in a protest
over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
REUTERS/RAHEB HOMAVANDI
Iranian
men shout slogans during a demonstration in front of the Austrian embassy in
Tehran February 6, 2006. A crowd of about 200 people pelted the Austrian Embassy
in Tehran with petrol bombs and stones on Monday in a protest over the
publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
REUTERS/RAHEB HOMAVANDI
By Raheb Homavandi and Saeed Komeijani
TEHRAN, Feb 6 (Reuters) - A crowd of about 200 people
pelted the Austrian Embassy in Tehran with petrol bombs and stones on Monday to
protest against the publication of satirical cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in
European newspapers.
The protesters, chanting "God is Greatest"
and "Europe, Europe, shame on you", smashed all the diplomatic
mission's windows with stones and then tried to hurl petrol bombs inside.
Austria currently holds the presidency of the European
Union. Protesters also waved placards and shouted slogans against the EU's
stance on Iran's nuclear programme.
The bombs exploded in flames against metal grilles
guarding the windows. But the building did not catch fire and the flames were
quickly put out by police with fire extinguishers.
Iran has withdrawn its ambassador to Denmark and
Iranian Commerce Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said on Monday that all trade with
Denmark had been severed because of the cartoons, first published in September
in a Danish newspaper.
"All trade ties with Denmark were cut," he
was quoted by the Iranian student news agency ISNA as telling a news conference.
Mirkazemi said from Tuesday Iran would stop any Danish
goods from entering its customs' areas. Iran imports some $280 million worth of
goods a year from Denmark.
Trade ties were under review with all countries where
the cartoons were published, he said. Islam prohibits any depiction of the
Prophet Mohammad.
Further demonstrations were planned for later on Monday
outside the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Tehran.
Danish diplomatic missions in Syria and Lebanon were
set ablaze and ransacked over the weekend because of the cartoons.
The Austrian Foreign Ministry said the Austrian
cultural centre building was also damaged but no injuries resulted.
The demonstration was announced in advance and
organised by members of the official Basij militia, a volunteer force affiliated
to the hardline Revolutionary Guards.
EMERGENCY MEETING
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called for an
emergency meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference to discuss
Islamophobia in the West.
"Insult to Islamic values and Muslims' sanctity in
the West has become a main challenge facing Islamic nations now. It is vital to
seriously confront this challenge," the official IRNA news agency quoted
him as saying.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticised the argument
of freedom of speech employed by European newspapers to justify publication of
the cartoons.
"If your newspapers are free why do not they
publish anything about the innocence of the Palestinians and protest against the
crimes committed by the Zionists?" the semi-official Mehr news agency
quoted him as saying.
More than 200 lawmakers from Iran's 290-seat parliament
also denounced the cartoons. "Apparently, they have not learned their
lesson from the miserable author of the Satanic Verses," they said in a
statement carried on the official IRNA news agency.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual father of the
1979 Islamic revolution, passed a fatwa in 1989 ordering the killing of British
writer Salman Rushdie for his book "The Satanic Verses" which many
Muslims deemed blasphemous.
Although the Iranian government promised Britain in
1998 that it would not send an assassin to kill Rushdie, Iran's hardline
Revolutionary Guards pledge on every anniversary of the fatwa that Muslims will
one day carry it out.
(Additional
reporting by Parinoosh Arami)
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1138622559640&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
Two killed, three wounded in riots over
prophet cartoons in Afganistan
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST
Feb. 6, 2006
Muslim
demonstrators clashed with security forces who fired live rounds and tear gas to
break up violent protests in several Asian countries on Monday against the
publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Two
demonstrators were shot to death and three other people, including two police
officials, were injured in the central Afghan city of Mihtarlam, when police
reportedly fired on hundreds of demonstrators.
Police
opened fire after a man in the crowd shot at them while others threw stones and
knives. The protesters burned tires and threw stones at the offices of the
police and the provincial governor.
In
Kabul, police using batons and rifle butts broke up a protest by about 200
youths in front of the presidential palace in the Afghan capital.
"Long live Islam! We are Muslims! We don't let anyone insult our
prophet!" chanted the demonstrators. They also chanted, "Down with
America!" and displayed slogans against the Afghan and US presidents.
Earlier,
the protesters tried and failed to break down the gate of the Danish
government's diplomatic mission. Police reported that protesters beat some of
the police on guard there and security guards at a nearby house used by Belgian
diplomats received similar treatment.
The
protesters also threw stones, smashing windows of a guardhouse at the main US
military base in Kabul. Police standing amid the protesters watched but did not
intervene.
The
demonstrators also stoned three vehicles belonging to NATO-led peacekeepers in
the city.
Some
3,000 people demonstrated peacefully in three other Afghan cities. The spreading
unrest came a day after some 4,000 Afghans took to the streets across the
country.
In
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, police fired warning shots
to stop protesters from ripping a plaque from the wall of the US consulate in
Surabaya, the country's second largest city, witnesses said.
Hundreds
of demonstrators threw rocks at the Danish consulate in the city before moving
on to the US consulate.
In
New Delhi, riot police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse hundreds of
student protesters who burned Danish flags and chanted slogans. No injuries were
reported.
The
main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir came to a standstill as shops, businesses
and schools shut down in a one-day general strike in protest of the caricatures.
Dozens
of protesters torched Danish flags, burned tires and shouted slogans in several
parts of Srinagar, police officer Ali Mohammad said.
Protesters
also hurled rocks at passing cars, but no one was reported hurt.
In
the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, about 300 people protested outside the office
building housing the Danish Embassy, which was guarded by a cordon of security
forces.
"The
cartoons were meant to insult us," said Hendri Novrizal, one of the
demonstrators. "We wouldn't insult Jesus or the Buddha because such an act
would cause tension among believers."
In
Bangkok, about 400 members of Thailand's Muslim minority shouted, "God is
Great", outside Denmark's embassy, and some demonstrators stomped on a
Danish flag.
In
Malaysia, it was reported that an editor of a newspaper that ran one of the
drawings resigned.
The Sunday Tribune, in the country's remote Sarawak state, also apologized for
printing the picture.
06/02/2006
Noruega
ha denunciado a Siria ante la ONU y solicitará una indemnización. El Gobierno
danés cree que ya ha pasado el peor momento de la crisis.
Miles de manifestantes musulmanes libaneses arremeten
contra el consulado danés en Beirut
Seis personas han muerto hasta ahora en los actos de protesta contra la
publicación de caricaturas de Mahoma en varios medios de comunicación
europeos. Cuatro de los fallecimientos se han producido en Afganistán, uno en
Somalia y otro en El Líbano. Además, grupos de manifestantes han quemado las
banderas de Dinamarca, Noruega, Alemania, España e Israel en la ciudad iraquí
de Kut (sureste del país).
En Beirut, al menos 300 personas han sido detenidas y se sigue buscando a
las personas implicadas en los actos vandálicos ocurridos durante el fin de
semana, en el transcurso de los cuales fueron atacados el consulado de
Dinamarca, así como varias iglesias, propiedades privadas, comercios, bancos y
vehículos. Una persona murió y otras 50 resultaron heridas durante los
disturbios.
En Afganistán son cuatro las víctimas mortales y numerosos los heridos en
las violentas manifestaciones registradas en diferentes puntos del país, que
han sido reprimidas por las fuerzas de seguridad. Varios miles de personas han
tratado de forzar las puertas de la principal base estadounidense, en Bagram.
Dos de los manifestantes han muerto en los enfrentamientos los enfrentamientos
con la Policía.
Otros dos afganos han muerto en la provincia de Laghman (este de
Afganistán) en un enfrentamiento en las calles de la ciudad. La sexta víctima
mortal se ha registrado en Somalia, cuando la Policía ha reprimido a cientos de
musulmanes que, según la versión oficial, han apedreado las sedes de agencias
humanitarias extranjeras y de Naciones Unidas.
Protestas
en Asia, Europa y EE.UU.
En Asia, cientos de personas se han echado a la calle en Tailandia, a pesar
de que los musulmanes sólo suponen el 8% de la población. Los manifestantes,
observados de cerca por la policía, que ha establecido un cordón de seguridad
en torno a la misión diplomática danesa, han gritado consignas a favor de un
boicot a las importaciones de productos daneses.
Por otro lado, miembros de la organización radical Frente de Defensores
Islámicos (FPI) han pedido en la ciudad indonesia de Bandung la muerte de los
responsables de la publicación de las caricaturas de Mahoma, a quienes han
calificado de "difamadores".
Además, miles de personas se manifestaron el domingo en París, Bruselas y
Nueva York para protestar por la publicación de las caricaturas del profeta
Mahoma. Unas 1.000 personas que gritaban 'Dios es grande' marcharon por las
calles de París. "Atacar al profeta es atacarnos a nosotros", decía
un cartel que portaban los manifestantes. La Policía aseguró que ignoraba qué
grupo organizó la manifestación, que transcurrió en calma.
Reacciones
políticas
La crisis está teniendo, además, consecuencias políticas. Así, la
Unión Europea ha destacado la importancia de profundizar el diálogo con el
mundo árabe para ponerfin a los ataques. El secretario general de la ONU, Kofi
Annan, ha pedido que se ponga fin a la ola de violencia, y ha expresado su
alarma por las amenazas y lasacciones de violencia ocurridas en los últimos
días.
Esa declaración se ha producido después de que el primer ministro
noruego, Jens Stoltenberg, hablara por teléfono con el propio Annan para
expresar su condena por la quema de su embajada Siria, país al que exigirá una
indemnización. Por su parte
Además, el ministro libanés de Interior, Hassan Sabei, dimitió el
domingo después de los incidentes violentos de la mañana, cuando miles de
manifestantes enfurecidos por la publicación de unas caricaturas de Mahoma
atacaron y quemaron el consulado danés en Beirut. Las fuerzas de seguridad
tuvieron que recurrir a gases lacrimógenos y cañones de agua para dispersar a
los más violentos. Por su parte, el gobierno danés cree que ya ha pasado la
peor parte de la crisis, después de 48 horas de graves incidentes.
Sabei hizo el anuncio después de salir de un Consejo de emergencia
convocado por el presidente de Líbano, Emile Lahoud, en el Palacio
presidencial. "Presento mi dimisión al primer ministro, Fuad Saniora, y
dejo la reunión inmediatamente", aseguró.
Por su parte, ell ministro danés de Asuntos Exteriores, Per Stig Moeller,
hizo un llamamiento a los manifestantes que han protestado en los últimos días
de manera violenta por la publicación en Dinamarca de unas caricaturas sobre el
Profeta del Islam, Mahoma, y les pidió que guarden la calma. "Es una
situación crítica, y es muy seria", reconoció Moeller a la radio
pública danesa, después de que manifestantes atacaran e incendiaran la
representación diplomática de su país en Beirut.
De todos modos, el gobierno danés intentó rebajar la tensión en la crisis por las caricaturas de Mahoma con un llamamiento al diálogo como único medio para una solución y oponiéndose a sanciones contra Siria y el Líbano tras los ataques contra sus sedes diplomáticas.
http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=273894&sid=WOR
Embassies attacked as Iran cartoon protests intensify
Tehran, Feb 07: Protests in Iran over cartoons
portraying the Prophet Mohammed intensified today, with hundreds of
demonstrators attacking two European embassies and the regime halting trade with
Denmark.
After first smashing and torching the facade of the Austrian embassy, a group of
some 400 student members of the Islamic Hardline Basij Militia moved on to
Denmark's leafy diplomatic compound and attempted a full-scale assault.
The mission was pelted with petrol bombs and rocks, before a small group managed
to scale the Danish embassy's main gate. They managed to ransack the interior
and torch paperwork, before being removed by police.
Some 100 anti-riot police and a crew of firefighters were on hand to prevent the
embassy from falling into the hands of the mob and stop several fires from
engulfing the entire compound. Tear gas was also fired at the protestors as they
smashed at the main gate with iron bars.
Spelling out Iran's anger over the cartoons, Hardline President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said the offending newspapers were "prisoners of a bunch of
blood-sucking Zionists".
Commerce Minister Masoud Mir-Kazemi also announced a total ban on Danish imports
as well as any other business dealings with the country "until further
notice", adding that Danish-registered ships entering Iranian ports would
also be charged "very heavy" fees.
He said annual trade between the two countries amounted to 280 million dollars,
but added that "since the balance is extremely negative, Iran will not be
harmed by this decision".
Bureau Report
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=37a83077-61bd-4ab3-858d-43e611c3d716&k=46500
Rioters
clash with police and NATO peacekeepers over prophet cartoons
Daniel
Cooney
Canadian
Press
Tuesday,
February 07, 2006
An
Afghan police officer beats a protester outside the Danish embassy
during a protest demonstration in Kabul on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Rafiq
Maqbool) |
KABUL
(AP) - NATO peacekeepers exchanged fire with protesters who attacked their base
Tuesday in a second straight day of deadly demonstrations in Afghanistan over
the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, officials said. Three
demonstrators were killed and dozens wounded.
In
neighbouring Pakistan, 5,000 people chanting "Hang the man who insulted the
Prophet" burned effigies of one cartoonist and Denmark's prime minister.
Citizens from Denmark - where the images were first published - were advised to
leave Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic nation, because of safety
fears.
A
prominent Iranian newspaper said it would hold a competition for cartoons on the
Holocaust in reaction to European newspapers publishing the Prophet drawings,
and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the publication of the
cartoons was an Israeli conspiracy motivated by anger over the victory of the
militant Hamas group in the Palestinian elections last month.
The
European Union, in turn, warned Iran that attempts to boycott Danish goods or
cancel trade contracts with European countries would lead to a further
deterioration in relations.
The
drawings - including one depicting the Prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban -
have touched a raw nerve, in part because Islam forbids any illustrations of the
Prophet Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.
The
most violent demonstrations were in Afghanistan, where thousands of rioters
clashed with police and NATO peacekeepers across the country.
About
250 protesters armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the NATO base in
the northwestern town of Maymana, burning an armoured vehicle, a UN car and
guard posts, said a doctor at Maymana Hospital.
Some
in the crowd fired light weapons and threw stones and hand grenades, and
Norwegian troops responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and warning shots, said
Sverre Diesen, commander of Norwegian forces.
Three
protesters were shot to death and 25 were wounded. It wasn't clear who killed
the protesters.
Two
Norwegian and two Finnish soldiers were slightly hurt, Diesen told reporters in
Oslo.
The
United Nations pulled its staff out of Maymana, near Afghanistan's border with
Turkmenistan, and NATO peacekeepers rushed reinforcements to the remote town.
In
the capital, Kabul, police used batons to beat protesters outside the Danish
diplomatic mission office and near the offices of the World Bank.
More
than 3,000 protesters threw stones at government buildings and an Italian
peacekeeping base in the western city of Herat.
About
5,000 people clashed with police in the town of Pulikhumri, north of Kabul, and
the windows of several buildings and cars were smashed.
Four
people died and 19 were injured Monday in demonstrations in Afghanistan.
Muslim
anger has been directed at Denmark, where the cartoons were first printed in a
newspaper in September. Danish missions have been attacked and boycotts of
Danish products launched in many Muslim countries.
The
cartoons have since been reprinted by media outlets in other European countries,
the United States and elsewhere - sometimes to illustrate stories about the
controversy but also by some who say they were supporting free speech.
In
India's portion of the disputed region of Kashmir, police fired tear gas to
disperse hundreds of protesters. At least six protesters and two police were
injured in the clash.
The
protest in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar was the largest to date
in that Muslim country against the prophet drawings. There were no reports of
violence.
Chief
Minister Akram Durrani, the province's top elected official who led the rally,
demanded the cartoonists "be punished like a terrorist."
"Islam
is a religion of peace. It insists that all other religions and faiths should be
respected," he told the crowd. "Nobody has the right to insult Islam
and hurt the feelings of Muslims."
Danish
citizens were also 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.
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 travelling to the
Middle East.
The
Iranian newspaper Hamshahri invited foreign cartoonists to enter its Holocaust
cartoon competition, which it said would be launched Monday. 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.
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3214,36-738641@51-735567,0.html
L'Iran
oriente contre l'UE la colère des musulmans
LE MONDE | 07.02.06 | 13h37 • Mis
à jour le 07.02.06 | 13h37
BEYROUTH CORRESPONDANTE
Avec un temps de retard sur de
nombreux autres pays musulmans, l'Iran s'est joint, lundi 6 février, à la
vague de protestation contre les caricatures du prophète Mahomet publiées au
Danemark et reproduites dans plusieurs pays européens. En y ajoutant une sorte
de marque de fabrique : outre le Danemark, viser l'ensemble de l'Union
européenne (UE) par le biais de l'Autriche qui en assure la présidence, et
faire de la provocation concernant la Shoah.
Les ambassades
d'Autriche et du Danemark à Téhéran ont été la cible de jets de pierres et
de projectiles incendiaires de la part d'une poignée de manifestants (quelques
centaines dans les deux cas) que la police a dispersés à coups de gaz
lacrymogènes. Les dégâts sont mineurs et, hormis quelques manifestants
blessés lors des heurts avec la police, il n'y a pas eu de victimes.
L'importation de produits danois est désormais interdite. Dans la nuit de
dimanche à lundi, le centre culturel autrichien avait déjà été visé par un
explosif.
L'Autriche est
doublement symbolique. Outre la présidence en exercice de l'Union européenne,
Vienne abrite le siège de l'Agence internationale de l'énergie atomique
(AIEA), qui vient de saisir, à la demande de l'UE, le Conseil de sécurité de
l'ONU du cas iranien. Le même jour, Téhéran annonçait au demeurant la
restriction des inspections de son programme nucléaire, la levée de la
suspension, volontairement consentie à la demande de l'UE, de l'enrichissement
de l'uranium, et le renoncement à l'application du protocole additionnel au
traité de non-prolifération nucléaire, elle aussi librement consentie.
C'est comme si, note
Farhad Khosrokhavar, spécialiste de l'Iran et de l'islam, "l'affaire
des caricatures tombait à point pour le pouvoir iranien, qui en tire argument
pour affirmer que l'opposition de l'Occident au nucléaire iranien tient à son
hostilité à l'islam et aux musulmans."
La "manipulation",
poursuit M. Khosrokhavar, ici comme dans d'autres pays —pour des objectifs
différents —, surfe néanmoins sur "un mouvement immense de
constitution, dans les esprits des musulmans à travers le monde, d'une
néo-oumma communauté des croyants mythique, rendue possible par les
images et les moyens d'information ; une néo-oumma qui se perçoit comme une
force planétaire, mais en même temps écrasée par les pouvoirs en place,
vivant dans des sociétés en crise et tenue dans le mépris total par
l'Occident. En Iran, l'image d'Epinal d'une société islamique idéale, qui est
encore vive dans d'autres pays musulmans, s'est usée pour l'écrasante
majorité de la population, les résultats n'étant pas à la hauteur de
l'expérience de vingt-six années de République islamique. Mais une minorité
demeure sensible à la radicalisation", ajoute M. Khosrokhavar.
Le parallèle entre
l'interdit qui frappe en Europe toute remise en question de la Shoah et la
tolérance à l'endroit des caricatures du prophète étant un argument
récurent dans le monde musulman depuis l'affaire danoise, le quotidien Hamshahri
a décidé de jouer sur cette corde. Il vient de lancer un concours
"international" de caricatures sur le thème de la Shoah, en mettant
au défi la presse européenne de les reproduire. Les douze caricaturistes
lauréats — un nombre égal à celui du concours lancé par le quotidien
danois Jyllands Posten — recevront chacun une pièce d'or.
Hamshahri
est publié par la municipalité de Téhéran, dont Mahmoud Ahmadinejad était
maire jusqu'à son accession à la présidence de la République, en août 2005.
Et pour M. Ahmadinejad, la Shoah est "un mythe".
Mouna Naïm
La
Syrie accusée d'avoir infiltré des agents pour créer des troubles au Liban
Le comité de
coordination des forces et partis libanais antisyriens, majoritaires au
Parlement et au gouvernement, a accusé, lundi 6 février, la Syrie d'être à
l'origine des émeutes qui ont eu lieu la veille à Beyrouth, à l'occasion
d'une manifestation de protestation contre les caricatures jugées
blasphématoires pour le prophète Mahomet.
Ils fondent leurs
accusations sur des informations selon eux avérées : quarante-huit heures
avant les émeutes, affirment-ils, des fondamentalistes jordaniens ont été
infiltrés en territoire libanais à partir de la frontière syrienne dans la
région du Akkar (nord). Un grand nombre de membres des forces spéciales
syriennes en tenue civile, ainsi que des Palestiniens membres du
FPLP-Commandement général (prosyrien), se seraient également, selon eux,
introduits au Liban à partir de cette région.
Des organisations
prosyriennes ont par ailleurs tenu une réunion de coordination sous la
présidence du chef des services de renseignement militaires syriens, Assef
Chawkat, a ajouté le comité, qui exige du gouvernement libanais qu'il porte
plainte contre la Syrie — pays qu'il tient pour responsable de tous les
attentats qui ont eu lieu au Liban depuis plus d'un an — auprès du Conseil de
sécurité des Nations unies et de la Ligue arabe. — (Corresp.)
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=189995b3-5a60-41cc-afe3-0efc18cc31a1&k=48685
Anger
over cartoons directed at U.S.
'They
are the enemy of Islam'
Noor
Khan
Canadian
Press
Wednesday,
February 08, 2006
CREDIT:
AP Photo/Noor Khan
Afghan
men look at a truck set on fire by protesters outside a U.S. military base in
Qalat, northeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006.
QALAT,
Afghanistan -- Police killed four people Wednesday as Afghans enraged over
drawings of the Prophet Muhammad marched on a U.S. military base in a volatile
southern province, directing their anger not against Europe but America.
The
U.S. base was targeted because the United States "is the leader of Europe
and the leading infidel in the world," said Sher Mohammed, a 40-year-old
farmer who suffered a gunshot wound while taking part in the demonstration in
the city of Qalat.
"They
are all the enemy of Islam. They are occupiers in our country and must be driven
out," Mohammed said.
Wednesday's
violence began when hundreds of protesters tried to storm the U.S. base, said
Ghulam Nabi Malakhail, a provincial police chief. When warning shots failed to
deter them, police shot into the crowd, killing four and wounding 11, he said.
Flying
rocks injured eight police and one Afghan soldier, he said.
Two
Pakistanis arrested for allegedly firing at police were being questioned to see
whether they were linked to al-Qaida, Malakhail said. Some officials accuse
al-Qaida of inciting three days of bloody riots across Afghanistan that have
left 11 dead.
Protesters
also burned three fuel tankers waiting to deliver gasoline to the base, said
Malakhail. He said U.S. troops fired warning shots into the air.
U.S.
military spokesman Col. James Yonts said the American forces fired flares above
the crowd, but he said it was not clear whether they fired their weapons.
Muslims
around the world have demonstrated over the images — including one depicting
the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb — printed in Western media.
Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of the prophet.
In
Baghdad, Iraq's top Shiite political leader criticized attacks on foreign
embassies by Muslims.
"We
value and appreciate peaceful Islamic protests," said Abdul Aziz al-Hakim.
"But we are against the idea of attacking embassies and other official
sites."
In
the West Bank, about 300 Palestinians overpowered a Palestinian police detail
and attacked an international observer mission in the city of Hebron.
Sixty
members of the mission were inside, said Gunhild Forselv, spokeswoman for the
Temporary International Presence in Hebron. A few protesters forced their way
in, where unarmed observers waved clubs in an attempt to drive them off. Police
reinforcements eventually restored order.
Muslims
also demonstrated in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Bangladesh, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
and in Turkey.
In
Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran and Syria of
instigating protests in their countries, and President Bush called upon
governments to stop the violence and protect the lives of diplomats overseas.
The
United States and other countries were looking into whether extremist groups may
be inciting protesters to riot, said Yonts, the U.S. spokesman in Afghanistan.
Zahor
Afghan, editor for Erada, Afghanistan's most respected newspaper, said the riots
in his country have surprised him.
"No
media in Afghanistan has published or broadcast pictures of these cartoons. The
radio has been reporting on it, but there are definitely people using this to
incite violence against the presence of foreigners in Afghanistan," he
said.
Afghans
who rioted Wednesday said they heard about the cartoons on the radio but none
questioned had seen printed versions.
"The
radio is talking about them all the time. Everybody heard about them this
way," said 28-year-old shopkeeper Ramatullah, who uses only name.
Wednesday's
riot erupted despite an appeal from Afghanistan's top Islamic organization, the
Ulama Council, for an end to the violence.
"Islam
says it's all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must
stop," senior cleric Mohammed Usman told The Associated Press. "We
condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are
defaming the name of Islam."
In
France, President Jacques Chirac asked media to avoid offending religious
beliefs as another French newspaper reprinted the caricatures. The satirical
French weekly Charlie-Hebdo also printed a new drawing under the headline
"Muhammad Overwhelmed by the Fundamentalists" that showed the prophet
with his head in his hands, remarking, "It's hard to be loved by
idiots."
http://www.lailalalami.com/blog/archives/2006_02.html
If one were to look for an example of the
popular "clash of civilizations" paradigm, one would do no better than
the controversy over the caricatures of Muhammad that appeared in the Danish
conservative newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September. It's easy to see
how right-wing parties in the West can capitalize on the affair, with the
argument that Muslims, as a group, simply cannot understand the West's notions
of free speech. Similarly, it's not hard to imagine how right-wing parties in
the East can make the most of this story, telling Muslim youth that the West
hates them and has no respect for their beliefs. The demagogues on either side
will quickly find an attentive ear.
However, the "clash of
civilization" concept doesn't fully explain this situation, for several
reasons. First, the illustrations of the Prophet Muhammad, although arguably
blasphemous, are not unique. The Danish cartoonists are in the company of many
other artists who have crossed the no-icon line, among them Muslims themselves.
There are drawings of the Prophet in medieval Persian miniatures, for instance,
showing him on the Night Journey known as the Mi'raj.
Second, there have been other depictions
in modern times that did not lead to this kind of controversy. A few years ago,
an episode of South Park showed the Prophet Muhammad, along with Jesus,
Krishna, Buddha, Joseph Smith, Lao Tsu, and Moses as members of a superhero
team, the "Super Best Friends," who are called upon to defeat the
Blaintologists, a new cult started by the magician David Blaine. As far as I
know, there were no reactions to the South Park episode. It could be that
the imams don't watch Comedy Central. Or maybe, just maybe, they didn't mind
that the Prophet was depicted, so long as he got to be a superhero, equal to all
the other prophet-heroes.
Third, the reactions on each side have
been far from uniform. In the Arab press, for instance, editorials in Al-Safir
and Al-Ittihad chided the protestors for focusing on the cartoons rather
than on the more immediate harm done to the Prophet in the name of Islam by
terrorists like Bin Laden. Annahar Al-Maghribiya and Shihane,
which are published out of Morocco and Jordan, reprinted the cartoons, in one
case in order to denounce them, and in the other in order to debunk the idea
that there had been any offense. In the West, editorials in the Guardian
and the Boston Globe called for greater respect toward other people's
beliefs. With the exception of the Philadelphia Inquirer, most American
newspapers have so far abstained from reprinting the cartoons.
Let's face it: The virulent reaction to
the cartoons isn't just because of blasphemy; it's because the drawings are
utterly offensive to Muslims, suggesting that the Prophet is a terrorist, and
because they were specifically commissioned by a conservative newspaper with the
intent to provoke. (Those who still doubt that intent would do well to read this
article.) Ironically, the few protestors who have resorted to violence have
confirmed the very stereotype they were trying to dispel.
What's interesting is that everyone, from
all sides of the spectrum, wants to defend rights--the right to free speech, the
right to protest, or the right to boycott. So, let's talk about rights. Yes, the
artists had a right to draw the cartoons, and Jyllands-Posten had a right
to print them. And yes, the cartoons are offensive and hateful, and Muslims have
a right to speak up against them.
But what about responsibilities? Several
newspapers in Europe, among them Die Welt, La Stampa, El Mundo,
and France-Soir, chose to defend Jyllands-Posten by reprinting the
cartoons. Yet there is a difference between defending free speech, and promoting
hate speech. Reprinting the cartoons does the latter, without doing much for the
former. Imagine for a moment if the cartoons had depicted a greedy rabbi
counting his bags of gold coins. Would the European press be so keen on
reprinting such an abhorrent characterization? Reprinting the cartoons sends a
message to Muslims that the editors approve of the hate. It also smacks of
condescension; perhaps the newspapers wanted to teach Muslims a lesson about
free speech. Instead, they have ignited anger, and played right into the hands
of those who are seeking recruits for their fanatical ideologies.
Meanwhile, several factions in the Muslim
world have been quick to call for a boycott of Danish products, as if Danish
manufacturers were in cahoots with cartoonists. But, of all people, Muslims
should know better than to condemn an entire group of people for the sins of the
few. The threats against citizens of Denmark and Norway and the burning of their
embassies are completely despicable. And the appeals to the Danish government
display a lack of understanding of the function of the press in democratic
societies. The cartoonists' work is their own, and any grievances should be
addressed to them, not misdirected at the Danish government, Danish products, or
the Danish people.
The case of the Muhammad cartoons will
long be remembered as a test of freedom of expression, in both East and West.
When the few Syrian readers who never get a chance to protest their government
are allowed to express their feelings about a perceived offense, the results are
bound to be extreme. And when the few people in Europe who feel threatened by
their immigrant communities find an issue to rally around, they're likely to
turn freedom of expression into an excuse to inflame rather than inform. That
may well lead to a clash of civilizations, in which the rest of us will be
collateral damage.
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/world/13826830.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Posted on Thu, Feb. 09, 2006.
At least 3 dead in Afghan cartoon riot
RALLIES
TAKEN OVER BY PEOPLE WITH OWN AGENDA TO PUSH
By Griff Witte
THE
WASHINGTON POST
KABUL,
Afghanistan - Like
tens of thousands of protesters this week, the crowd that gathered yesterday in
the southern Afghan town of Qalat came to speak out against cartoons in European
newspapers mocking the prophet Mohammad.
But
the protest soon took a much different direction. Afghan demonstrators began
chanting against the hiring of Pakistanis to do reconstruction work. Pakistanis
in the crowd began chanting against the United States, and tried to force their
way into the local U.S. military base.
When
the crowd encountered Afghan security forces, a suspected Taliban member took a
shot. Then Afghan police returned fire. By the time the smoke cleared, at least
three protesters were dead and more than a dozen people were injured.
"They
forgot all about the cartoons," said Gulab Shah Alikheil, the regional
governor's spokesman.
Furor
over the caricatures of Islam's most revered figure may have triggered the wave
of demonstrations among Muslims worldwide during the past week. But as the
protests escalate, they are morphing into an opportunity for individuals, groups
and governments to push agendas that often have little or nothing to do with
defending Islam. Rallies ostensibly held for religious reasons have become
chances to vent economic frustrations, settle local scores or gain political
leverage.
"We
have condemned the cartoons and said those responsible should be brought to
justice," said Mulwi Sayed Imam Mutawali, deputy head of a religious
council in the Afghan city of Kandahar. "But there are some enemies of
Afghanistan that want to take advantage of this issue. They just want to advance
their own aims."
Mutawali
said his council initially supported the protests but has decided to demand they
be stopped because they have been hijacked by people with ulterior motives. At
least 10 people have been killed in Afghan protests over the past three days.
"There's
a sincere feeling of being wounded" by the cartoons, said Paul Fishstein,
director of the nonprofit Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit. "But
there's also the chance for certain forces to make mischief, to take advantage
of a situation where people are upset."
Afghanistan
is not the only place where motives are in question.
The
autocratic Syrian government was widely thought to be behind protests over the
weekend that resulted in the burning of the Danish and Norwegian embassies in
Damascus. In Lebanon, where the Danish Embassy burned a day later, local media
reported that Syrian agents had protesters bussed in to help stir up trouble.
Sarkis
Naoum, a columnist for the Lebanese newspaper An Nahar, said interest groups in
Lebanon also had incentive to see the cartoon protests spiral out of control.
In
Pakistan, too, conservative Muslim groups appeared to be using the uproar over
the cartoons to gain leverage.
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/arabtimes/breakingnews/view.asp?msgID=11151
Lebanon Shi'ite ceremony turns into cartoon protest
BEIRUT,
Feb 9 (Reuters) - More than 250,000 Shi'ite Muslims transformed a religious
ceremony in the Lebanese capital on Thursday into a protest against cartoons
depicting the Prophet Mohammad.
Unlike a protest on Sunday that turned into a riot in which the building housing
the Danish consulate was torched, there were no signs of violence in the march
in Beirut's southern suburb, a stronghold of the Hizbollah guerrilla group.
"At your service, oh Mohammad, at your service, oh Prophet of God,"
the crowds chanted with fists raised. "Death to America, Death to
Israel," they also shouted.
"No dignity to a nation whose prophet is insulted," a placard read;
"What comes after insulting sacred values?" another asked.
Turnout, put by security sources at over 250,000, was high despite wind and
rain. The march is an annual event to mark Ashura when Shi'ites mourn the death
of the Prophet's grandson, Imam Hussein, in Kerbala in Iraq 1,300 ago.
Hizbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah urged the faithful this year to take a
stand against the cartoons. He was expected to address the crowds later.
Angry Muslims have demonstrated around the world over the cartoons, first
published in Denmark, then Norway and several other countries in Europe and
elsewhere.
The caricatures, including one showing the Prophet Mohammad wearing a
bomb-shaped turban, have unleashed fury among many Muslims who consider any
portrayal of their Prophet as blasphemous, let alone one showing him as a
terrorist.
Protesters burnt the Danish and Norwegian missions in Damascus on Saturday.
Protesters torched the Danish consulate in Beirut a day later and vandalised a
church and property in a Christian neighbourhood.
Lebanon has charged 203 people, mostly Lebanese but including Syrians and
Palestinians, with taking part in the riots and promised swift trials.
Ashura is the 10th day of the lunar month of Muharram, when Imam Hussein was
killed in AD 680 in a battle with the army of Caliph Yazid. He was decapitated
and his head taken to Damascus, the seat of Yazid's Ummayad dynasty.
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200602091826.htm
Malaysia
closes paper for publishing prophet cartoon
Kuala
Lumpur, Feb. 9 (AP): Malaysia's Government on Thursday shut down a newspaper
that printed one of the Prophet Muhammad cartoons that have triggered outrage
among Muslims, while police used batons to disperse stone-throwing protesters in
Kashmir.
The
clash in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir was the only violence reported
from scattered demonstrations in Asia on Thursday following days of rioting
against the publication, mostly in Western media, of caricatures of the prophet.
But
as the violence waned, the fallout continued.
Indonesia
canceled badminton games against Denmark because it could not guarantee the
safety of the visiting athletes, and a top Iranian government official angrily
dismissed as unfounded Washington's claim that his government was fanning the
unrest.
In
mostly-Muslim Malaysia, the Bernama national news agency reported that Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had ordered the immediate suspension of the
printing license of the Sarawak Tribune, a small daily in a Borneo island
territory that printed one of the cartoons last Saturday.
The
paper's publishers, the Sarawak Press group, have faced relentless public
criticism despite apologizing for what it says was an editorial oversight in
publishing the cartoon, and the resignation of the editor held responsible.
Police
questioned the editor who resigned, Lester Melanyi, for two hours on Thursday
and were examining whether the paper's management broke any laws, the national
news agency, Bernama, cited Sarawak's police chief Talib Jamal as saying.
The
group's Executive Director Polit Hamzah, said earlier on Thursday that he
expected the paper's license to be suspended at any time.
Malaysia's
newspapers operate under government licenses that must be renewed yearly and
restrict them from publishing potentially provocative material on religion and
race and other topics.
Violent
demonstrations in Muslim countries _ directed mostly at the foreign missions of
Denmark, where the cartoons were first published _ turned deadly this week in
Afghanistan, where nine rioters have been fatally shot by security forces.
In
Kashmir, police beat back about 200 protesters who hurled stones at them and
yelled ``Down with Denmark'' and Down with Israel'' as they tried to break
through barricades, police superintendent Muneer Khan said.
In
Indonesia's capital, Jakarta, about 60 people rallied peacefully outside the
office building housing the Danish Embassy, which was pelted with eggs and
stormed by a mob almost a week ago.
Smaller
demonstrations were held in at least three other Indonesian towns, witnesses and
media reports said.
Indonesian
badminton officials announced Thursday they had called off matches planned for
March 14 against Danish players because of safety fears. Denmark's government
this week warned its citizens to leave the country after violent demonstrations
outside its embassy.
Meanwhile,
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said in Washington that ``Iran and
Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments'' that have produced the
violence.
``That
is 100 percent a lie,'' Isfandiar Rahim Mashaee, one of several Iranian vice
presidents, told reporters during a visit to Indonesia.
In
his first comments on the row, U.S. President George W. Bush on Wednesday
condemned the rioting in Afghanistan and urged foreign leaders to halt the
violence and protect diplomats.
U.S.
officials say they are looking into whether extremist groups may have incited
the Afghan protesters to riot.
Zahor
Afghan, Editor for Erada, Afghanistan's most respected newspaper, said the riots
in his country have surprised him.
``No
media in Afghanistan has published or broadcast pictures of these cartoons. The
radio has been reporting on it, but there are definitely people using this to
incite violence against the presence of foreigners in Afghanistan,'' he said.
Afghanistan's
top Islamic organization, the Ulama Council, urged an end to the violence.
http://za.today.reuters.com/news/NewsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-10T133908Z_01_BAN049105_RTRIDST_0_OZATP-RELIGION-CARTOONS-KENYA-20060210.XML
Kenyan
police shoot at Muslim protest, 1wounded
Fri Feb 10, 2006 3:38 PM GMT
NAIROBI
(Reuters) - Kenyan police shot at hundreds of Muslims protesting against
cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on Friday, wounding at least one person,
witnesses said.
Riot
police fired live rounds and tear gas at hundreds of demonstrators after stones
were thrown when the protest was blocked from reaching the Danish embassy.
Nineteen-year-old Shabaan Kariuki was shot in the thigh, one witness told
Reuters.
In
what appeared to be a freak accident, one person was killed when the car
carrying Kariuki crashed into another, a passenger travelling with the injured
man said.
Police
chased protesters who escaped into the grounds of a mosque before lobbing two
canisters of tear gas at the crowd, which retaliated with stone-throwing.
Tens
of thousands of Muslims have protested in the Middle East, Asia and Africa over
the caricatures first published in Denmark, then other countries in Europe and
beyond.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/10/world/main1303690.shtml
Feb. 10, 2006
Muslims
carrying banners march toward Danish Embassy, protesting the publication
of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad in a Danish newspaper in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, Friday, Feb. 10, 2006. (AP) "Long live Islam. Destroy Denmark.
Destroy Israel. Destroy George Bush. Destroy America!" Malaysian
protesters |
|
(CBS/AP) Malaysia's
leader on Friday warned of a "huge chasm" between Muslims and the
West, as thousands of people took to the streets for the largest demonstrations
yet in Asia against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.
It was the second week of demonstrations. But last week's protest attracted less
than 100 people, indicating that anger is growing in Malaysia, viewed as a model
of a tolerant, modern Islamic state.
The protest came a day after the government ordered a nationwide ban on
possessing or distributing the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad first published
in a Danish newspaper that have outraged the Islamic world, saying they could
trigger public tensions.
Thousands of Muslims also rallied in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, India and Sri
Lanka, while smaller demonstrations were held in Indonesia and the Philippines.
Protesters shouted anti-American and other slogans and burned, stomped and spat
on Danish flags. There were no immediate reports of violence.
The demonstrations grew out of traditional Friday prayers. Some were held
outside mosques while others involved crowds marching on the diplomatic missions
of Denmark, the main target of Muslim ire because a newspaper there was the
first to publish the cartoons.
In Malaysia's largest city, Kuala Lumpur, about 3,000 protesters marched from a
mosque to the high rise building housing the Danish Embassy shouting: "Long
live Islam. Destroy Denmark. Destroy Israel. Destroy George Bush. Destroy
America!"
Opening a conference at a nearby venue, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
talked of a "huge chasm that has emerged between the West and Islam,"
particularly because of Muslim frustrations at Western policies toward Iraq,
Afghanistan and the Palestinians.
"They think Osama bin Laden speaks for the religion and its
followers," Abdullah said in his speech. "The demonization of Islam
and the vilification of Muslims, there is no denying, is widespread within
mainstream Western society."
Islam is interpreted as banning any depiction of the prophet as a guard against
idolatry. Proponents say publication of the cartoons is a free speech issue.
In an interview with CBS News Up to the Minute Contributor Frank Ucciardo,
international political cartoonist Ranan Lurie said he didn't believe he would
draw a cartoon that "hurts a God."
"[The cartoonist] had a right to publish it and readers had the right to
say it's in poor taste," Lurie explained.
In Pakistan, about 5,000 supporters of radical Islamic groups demonstrated in
the capital, Islamabad, the biggest turnout since protests against the cartoons
began about a week ago. Protesters burned Danish cheese, broke windows and
briefly clashed with police Friday.
In a fiery speech, Mian Aslam, a leader of a coalition of Islamic groups, urged
Pakistan to sever ties with any country where the drawings were published.
In Bangladesh, more than 5,000 Muslims watched by hundreds of riot police
marched on Denmark's embassy in the capital, Dhaka, burning the country's flag
and shouting, "Death to those who degrade our beloved prophet!"
In India, thousands of angry Muslims kicked, spat on and tore Danish flags and
burned effigies in the capital, New Delhi, and in the Indian-controlled portion
of Kashmir.
Thousands of Egyptians protested in cities across the country after Muslim
prayers, and clashes erupted with police who tried to disperse the demonstrators
with water canons and tear gas.
In the Philippines, hundreds of Muslims burned a mock Danish flag and demanded
the Danish newspaper that first published the caricatures be punished.
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-02-10T224149Z_01_SP143342_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-RELIGION-CARTOONS-COL.XML
Kenya
police shoot protester, cartoon anger unabated
Fri Feb 10, 2006 5:41 PM EST
By
Guled Mohamed
NAIROBI
(Reuters) - Kenyan police opened fire at hundreds of people demonstrating
against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on Friday, wounding at least one, as
protests across the Muslim world showed no sign of abating.
Police
in Bangladesh beat back about 10,000 people marching on the Danish embassy in
Dhaka and demonstrators took to the streets in the Middle East, Asia, Africa
and, for the first time, Latin America.
The
Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad, which has carried out several suicide
bombings in Israel, threatened more violence and a leading Saudi Muslim cleric
called for no mercy in punishing anyone mocking the Prophet.
"So
far we have demanded an apology from the governments. But if they continue their
assault on our dear Prophet Mohammad, we will burn the ground underneath their
feet," Islamic Jihad leader Khader Habib told supporters after Friday
prayers.
Riot
police in Kenya, where about six percent of the population are Muslim, fired
live rounds and tear gas to prevent hundreds of stone-throwing protesters from
reaching the Danish embassy. One man was shot in the thigh, a witness said.
In
Morocco a government-sponsored march attracted tens of thousands of people while
around 200 people burned Danish and American flags in the Venezuelan capital.
At
least 11 people have been killed this year in protests over the cartoons, one of
which showed the Prophet Mohammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. They were first
published in Denmark and then in other European countries and elsewhere.
Muslims
consider any portrayal of the Prophet blasphemous, let alone one showing him as
a terrorist.
"We
demand stiff penalties without leniency against those who deride the Prophet
Mohammad," Abdel-Rahman al-Sudeis, a prominent Saudi Arabian cleric in
Islam's holiest city of Mecca, told worshippers. "With one voice, millions
of Muslims around the world are defending the Prophet of God."
"PRETEXT
FOR VIOLENCE"
EU
External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said both religious
sensitivities and freedom of speech needed to be respected and the violent
reaction was not justified.
"I
do think that, unfortunately, these cartoons have been used as a pretext for
violence and for showing that some Arabic countries could be manipulated or at
least the radical parts there could be manipulated," she told journalists
in London.
With
tensions running high and copies of the cartoons cropping up in newspapers
around the world, some tried to calm believers as authorities moved to clamp
down on the media.
The
imam at the heart of the row appeared to backtrack, saying Denmark was a
tolerant country after helping organize a delegation to the Middle East last
year which presented a dossier of alleged Danish insults to Muslims.
"As
a Muslim I am heavily indebted to this country," Imam Abu Laban told
worshippers at his Copenhagen mosque.
In
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, police were questioning an
editor after his tabloid, Peta, published a caricature of the Prophet and
Malaysia slapped a ban on circulating or possessing cartoons of the Prophet.
The
Danish newspaper editor who commissioned the cartoons was sent on holiday after
suggesting he would print Iranian cartoons on the Holocaust.
And
a source from France's Muslim Council said it would take legal action against a
French satirical weekly that reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad and ran
one of its own.
Bangladeshi
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia demanded an apology from the Danish government,
but urged protesters to refrain from violence.
In
Tehran, where protesters threw petrol bombs at the French embassy and stones at
the Danish and British missions, a senior cleric said Iran's arch enemy the
United States was responsible.
"The
anger shown by Muslims is a holy anger," Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told
worshippers at Friday prayers, while also urging worshippers not to attack
embassies.
MISUNDERSTANDING
The
Danish government has expressed regret over the publication of the cartoons, but
has refused to apologize saying that is a matter for the newspaper.
As
well as worldwide protests, the cartoons have ignited a debate over the limits
of freedom of speech and exposed a gulf of misunderstanding between the Western
and Islamic worlds.
"We're
dealing with two types of ignorance, about Islam and about the freedom of
speech," said Sohaib Bencheikh, a prominent Islamic theologian in France.
"We're
paying the bill for September 11 and all the tension and misunderstanding that
arose after it," complained Mohammad Bechari, head of the National
Federation of French Muslims.
He
criticized protesters who demanded the Danish government apologize for the
cartoons. "Frankly, that shows that the idea of genuine free speech has not
taken root in Muslim countries."
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060211/int/int1.html
Thousands
demonstrate in Africa over drawings
published: Saturday | February 11, 2006
NAIROBI,
Kenya (AP):
POLICE
SHOT and wounded one person yesterday as they sought to keep hundreds of
demonstrators from marching to the residence of Denmark's ambassador to protest
cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad first published in a Danish newspaper.
The
Kenyan protest was the most unruly of demonstrations across Africa yesterday in
response to the cartoons, some of which were satiric and all of which clashed
with Muslim tradition prohibiting any depiction of Muhammad.
Police
and organisers had said marchers would not be allowed near any embassy. At least
200 demonstrators tried to go to the home of the Danish envoy, triggering
clashes with anti-riot police near a major highway.
The
demonstrators shouted anti-Denmark slogans as they threw stones at vehicles
carrying foreigners in Westlands, an upscale neighbourhood in Kenya's capital of
Nairobi. The violence subsided after the protesters fled into a nearby mosque.
MARCHES,
FLAG BURNING
Elsewhere,
thousands of demonstrators, shouting "God is Great and Muhammad is his
Prophet!" and "Down with Denmark!" marched from the largest
mosque in downtown Nairobi to Kenya's Foreign Ministry, where they were expected
to deliver a protest note.
Other
demonstrators walked out of the Sar Ali Mosque, outside downtown Nairobi, and
burned Danish flags and shouted anti-Denmark slogans there. About 300 protesters
began a march to the city centre.
Protests
also erupted after Friday prayers in Mombasa, an Indian Ocean port city where
Muslims are the majority. Thousands gathered at the Tononoka Grounds, where they
burned the U.S. and Denmark's flags.
In
neighbouring Somalia, hundreds condemned the publication of the cartoons by the
Western media during peaceful protests in Marka, a town in the Lower Shabelle
Region.
In
Dhusamareb, capital of the central Galgudud Region, dozens of protesters marched
peacefully.
In
Uganda, Muslim leaders condemned the publication of the cartoons in Friday
sermons, and said they may hold protest marches next week.
In
West Africa, thousands of Muslims marched after Friday prayers in northern
Nigeria's Kano state.
Earlier
this week, Kano lawmakers burned Danish and Norwegian flags inside the regional
Parliament and cancelled a US$25 million (¤20 million) contract to buy 70
Danish buses. They also said Danish companies would not be allowed to bid on
construction of a planned power plant.
LARGE
MUSLIM COMMUNITY
Nigeria's
130 million people are about roughly split between Christians and Muslims,
giving the vast, restive country one of the largest Muslim communities in
Africa.
http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2006/02/cartoons_denm.php
Cartoons:
Denmark, Damascus, and Beirut
Saturday,
11 February, 2006 @ 5:05 PM
Beirut, Lebanon- This article by Lee Smith deals with the recent riots in
Beirut and Damascus in response to the publishing of the cartoons and analyzes
the role of Syria's authorities in these riots.
Ya Libnan is publishing the article courtesy of Yahoo:
Denmark, Damascus, and Beirut
By: Lee Smith
MUSLIMS all over the world are so angry about a series
of cartoons poking fun at the Messenger of God that by now pretty much every
Danish and Norwegian flag in the Muslim world has met its fiery end. And yet
only in Damascus and Beirut have institutions--embassies or
consulates--representing Denmark and Norway been attacked. Are Lebanese and
Syrian Muslims angrier than other Muslims? Or, what's going on here?
First of all, it's important to remember that Syria is an authoritarian state
where nothing happens on the street unless the regime permits it to happen.
Actually, that's something of an understatement--the government almost always
determines and drives public actions. So, many of the Damascus protestors
venting their pious outrage likely either work for Syrian security services or
are rent-a-mobs being paid to riot.
In Lebanon, it is only slightly different. It appears
that the Internal Security Forces were incapable or unwilling to protect the
Danish consulate from protestors, many of whom were apparently shipped in from
Syria and Lebanese Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon (where Syrian influence
and arms are extensive). Indeed, Damascus' Lebanese intelligence networks are
still active, even after Syrian troops left the country last April in compliance
with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559. And of course Syria has lots of
Lebanese allies, including Islamist groups such as the Al-Ahbash and Hezbollah,
whose General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah asked--maybe not so rhetorically--if
someone blowing themselves up in the middle of Denmark constituted "an
expression of freedom."
IT WOULD BE INTERESTING to know precisely the level of
involvement of the Syrian mukhabarat, but President Bashar al-Asad does not want
to be held accountable for what is practically an act of war. For that matter,
neither Denmark nor Norway would want to know the answer and then be forced with
having to respond as such. Americans might enjoy some schadenfreude in watching
flags other than theirs getting torched, but why is Syria so hostile to a Europe
that is by comparison much more accommodating? There are at least three possible
reasons: (1) To prevent the international community from bringing down Syria's
ruling regime; (2) To raise money for Hamas; (3) To warn against interfering
with the Iranian nuclear program.
(1) Syria has been under the international spotlight
now for nearly a year, following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime
Minister Rafiq al-Hariri. In a remarkable show of multilateral concord, the
United States and European Union have been working together to put pressure on
the regime in Damascus. In fact, it is France that has led the way.
Even before the murder of Hariri, Jacques Chirac
suggested to George Bush at the 60th anniversary of the Normandy invasion that
this was a project they might work on together. The White House was cross with
Syria for supporting the insurgency in Iraq and Chirac was angry because, among
many other reasons, Syria had handed out oil contracts to non-French firms and
squandered money the French president had raised at the Paris II talks in
November 2002 earmarked for political and economic reform in Lebanon.
Bush and Chirac used Lebanon as a platform to fight
Syria, and the regime in Damascus has been fighting back in every way possible,
including the continued destabilization of Lebanon and attempts to block the
U.N. investigation into the Hariri murder. The Muhammad cartoons provided yet
another opportunity for Syria to scare away meddlers. After the Danish consulate
was burned, protestors started to stone a Maronite church, a gesture that
comports nicely with a series of bombings in Christian areas and assassinations
of Christian figures designed to incite sectarian violence in Lebanon.
(2) For years, Syria has served as center of operations
for a number of Palestinian rejectionist groups, including Hamas. For instance,
Hamas political and military chief Khaled Mashaal makes his home just a quick
cab ride away from the presidential palace in Damascus. The United States and
the European Union have explained that they are not going to give any more money
to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority until it recognizes Israel's right to
exist and disowns violence. However, like many political bodies in the Arab
world, Hamas only knows how to express itself through violence. But Hamas has a
problem: the battleground that they typically availed themselves of in the past
is much less accessible now that Israel has built a fence and has stopped an
overwhelming percentage of suicide bombers. So, what are Hamas' options?
In the '70s and '80s Yasser Arafat's PLO found an
especially attractive venue in Europe. The continent was light on security and
fat in the wallet. Recall the most spectacular act of Palestinian terrorism,
commemorated now in Steven Spielberg's Munich, when the Black September group
kidnapped and killed Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympiad? Arafat said
he had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with radicals such as Black September.
But, he said, the only way for him to gain control in the political arena was to
build his prestige. The best way to do that, he argued, was by helping him
enhance his patronage networks, i.e. by giving him more money so he could put
more armed gunmen on salary who would, of course, eventually run operations,
like those in Europe, which Arafat disclaimed.
Europeans would be wise to remember what Arafat's shell
game cost them because right now, leaders all over Europe are being reminded of
what can happen when you try to de-fund Palestinian terrorists. The argument
will look something like this: The "moderate" and responsible wing of
Hamas that wants to "fix potholes" needs to be empowered to take on
its radical members who only want to kill nice Europeans. It's a protection
racket. Damascus and Beirut are serving as rehearsal spaces for what might
happen if the European Union stops signing checks.
(3) Iran is Syria's only ally in the world, but Tehran
has a price for siding with a virtual pariah state. They want a nuclear program
and Syria can help. The United States was frustrated when Europe decided it
wanted to negotiate with Iran: After all, the good-cop bad-cop routine only goes
so far when what's really called for is joint action. The United States
initially believed that even after the Europeans had failed at negotiations
their pride would never allow them to admit they were wrong. In fact, the
opposite happened. It was only once the Europeans started to deal with the
Iranians in depth that they really saw how bad the Iranians were. Now, the
Europeans and the United States see eye to eye: It is doubtful that anyone in
the international community, except Syria and Hezbollah, is willing to accept an
Iranian nuclear bomb. Syria is lobbying for the program and, again, making its
case to Europe. Remember that Damascus burned the very same day Iran was
reported to the U.N. Security Council.
The Muhammad cartoon conflict, as silly as it sounds,
is about our war for freedom and liberty and our way of life. Unlike the peoples
who live under authoritarian regimes, the citizens of liberal democracies don't
have to observe redlines, subjects that are too controversial to touch, whether
they're about the state or religion. We can talk about anything, pursue ideas
anywhere they take us, even into blasphemy. But the response to the cartoons is
also about the real war, the one that involves, among others, Syria, Iran and
Palestinian terrorist organizations.
Lee Smith is a visiting fellow at the Hudson Institute
and based in Beirut.
http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200602141114-1038-RT1-CRO-0-NF11&page=0&id=agionline-eng.oggitalia
ISLAMABAD, CROWD GASSED TO DEFEND EMBASSIES
(AGI) -
Islamabad, Feb. 14 - After clashes and numerous arrests yesterday in Peshawar,
the provincial capital of the North West Frontier, in northern Pakistan,
hundreds of protestors are also demonstrating today in Islamabad against the
cartoons of Muhammad published in various western newspapers, starting out with
Danish ones. It is no coincidence that the slogan chanted with the most
insistence by demonstrators, for the most part students, was "Death to
Denmark! Death to America!". The furious crowd tried to march to the
heavily guarded area where there are many foreign embassies. Pakistani police
were forced to use tear gas to protect the area. Hundreds of students attempted
to reach, in particular, the diplomatic missions of India and Great Britain, but
they were held back by police in riot gear. Before withdrawing, demonstrators
managed to break the windows of numerous parked cars and the casings of a
bank.(AGI) -
141114 FEB 06
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/southasia/printer_1097453.php
South
Asia News
Two
killed in anti-cartoon protest in Pakistan
By
DPA
Feb 14, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Islamabad
- Two people were killed Tuesday in anti-cartoons rallies in Pakistan\'s eastern
Lahore city after which protestors turned violent and set fire to an American
food outlet, commercial buildings and parts of regional legislature building,
officials and witnesses said.
Several
thousand demonstrators went on a rampage when a security guard stationed outside
a metropolitan bank allegedly fired and killed two people when they charged
towards the building.
Interior
Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao confirmed the fatalities but said no one has
so far been arrested.
After
the shooting incident, enraged protesters set fire to the American food outlet
KFC and three commercial buildings and also burned a few rooms of the Punjab
Assembly building.
Witnesses
said the protesters, breaking into small groups, also burned some 60 motorbikes
and a number of vehicles, parked outside the commercial buildings.
\'The
employees of various offices located in a building had to run for their lives
after people broke into the four-story structure and started ransacking and
setting stuff on fire,\' Azeem Ahmed told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
Riot
police fired tear gas and also carried out a baton charge to disperse the
violent mob chanting \'Punish the blasphemers,\' \'Down with Denmark\' and
\'Down with America\' slogans.
\'We
have allowed protest rallies after being assured (by various organizations and
traders\' bodies) that these will remain peaceful but unfortunately it did not
happen,\' Sherpao said.
The
law minister of Punjab, of which Lahore is the capital, condemned the violent
protest and warned of strict action against the \'miscreants.\'
The
violence \'has sent a wrong message abroad. This is not the way to protest,\'
Raja Basharat told reporters in Lahore.
Rallies
were also held in Islamabad, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Sheikhupura and Hyderabad to
protest the publication of satirical images of the Prophet Mohammed. Business
also came to a standstill as shops were closed in Islamabad and Lahore.
In
the national capital, Islamabad, up to 6,000 mostly students broke through riot
police barricades in a march to Parliament to protest the printing and
reprinting of blasphemous caricatures by the European media.
Police
fired tear gas and carried out baton charges to disperse the procession when the
students marched in to the diplomatic enclave where most of the foreign missions
in Islamabad are located.
Some
protesters were injured while at least 50 were detained by police.
On
their way to Parliament, the stick-carrying protesters threw stones at Standard
Chartered Bank and damaged signs and billboards of foreign telecommunications
companies.
The
cartoons, which were first published in a Danish newspaper before being
reprinted in several other countries, have prompted worldwide protests from
Muslims, who consider depictions of Mohammed blasphemous.
In
a separate demonstration in Islamabad, members of Parliament from both ruling
and opposition parties marched from Parliament House to foreign office buildings
to condemn the satirical sketches.
They
carried placards demanding an apology from the governments of those countries
where the cartoons were published.
The
Pakistani lawmakers \'wanted to demonstrate to the world that it (the
publication of the cartoons) hurt our entire nation and it is a condemnable
act,\' said Aitzaz Ahsan, a legislator from former premier Benazir Bhutto\'s
People\'s Party.
A
shutter-down strike was also observed in the capital city and over 3,000 traders
held a protest demonstration in front of the country\'s parliament.
Protest
demonstrations were also held in northern Peshawar city where people desecrated
a 45-meter-long Danish flag laid on the road and chanted slogans against
European countries where the Prophet\'s images were published.
The
caricatures first appeared in Denmark\'s Jyllands-Posten on September 30, but
the furore against the cartoons began after a Norwegian Christian magazine
reprinted them in late January.
Since
then, other publications in Europe and such countries as Australia, Jordan and
Malaysia have also printed the cartoons in a show of support for freedom of the
press.
Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf, however, said press freedom did not mean hurting the
feelings of followers of other faiths.
\'I
don\'t understand how any civilized person can take the excuse of freedom of the
press in hurting the feelings of over 1 billion Muslims,\' he told a group of
visiting Pakistani-American scholars Monday.
©
2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=9731
NewKerala.com, India -
Feb 14, 2006
By
Muhammad Najeeb, Islamabad: Four diplomatic missions here, including that of
India, were stoned Tuesday by students protesting
the caricatures of Prophet Mohammed while two people were killed during a
demonstration in Lahore.
The missions of India, Japan, Britain and Canada were stoned when a group of
about 200 students forced their entry into the high-security diplomatic enclave
here and attacked a branch of the Standard Chartered Bank.
No members of the staff of the Indian high commission were injured, an Indian
official told IANS.
The students from different colleges and universities
in Islamabad - who broke through riot police
barricades - chanted slogans against western countries as they entered the bank
and broke windows at its entrance.
"The students came in small groups and gathered outside the bank," a
police official said.
Soon after they attacked the bank, policemen used tear gas
and batons to beat back the students. Several of them were overpowered and
arrested.
The police official said only a few students threw stones at the walls of the
foreign missions and no damage was reported.
However, the Indian official said stones were thrown inside the high
commission's compound.
"No staff member was hurt, but people were panicked by the attack...the
local security authorities were informed and the protestors were
dispersed," the official said.
Some of the stones hit the windowpanes at the high commission's reception but
there was no damage, he said.
Student leader Abdul Basit said some of the protestors mistook the Indian
mission for the British High Commission, which is located next to it. "When
the West has no respect for our prophet and our sentiments, why should we
respect their buildings?" Basit said.
Later Tuesday evening, about 6,000 students gathered near the diplomatic enclave
but were not allowed to enter the area. Police used teargas and water cannons to
disperse them.
However, the students set on fire three cars and threw stones at about 20 more
vehicles. The police said there were no reports of anyone being injured.
Meanwhile, reports from Lahore said two people were killed and several injured
when private security guards of a branch of the Bank of America opened fire on a
mob as it tried to set the bank on fire.
Protestors also torched a part of the Punjab Assembly building and normal life
in the provincial capital was paralysed by a strike called by the business
community. Trade representatives said the entire business community was taking
part in the shutdown.
Groups in many other cities have called protest strikes Wednesday.
Parliamentarians also marched on roads in Islamabad Tuesday to protest the
caricatures, which have sparked violent protests by Muslims across the globe.
Islamabad's main markets remained closed.
The rally by the MPs, led by National Assembly Deputy Speaker Sardar Muhammad
Yaqub, passed off peacefully as they marched from the parliament building to the
diplomatic enclave.
The MPs carried placards inscribed with slogans like "Wicked face of
so-called enlightened West" and "Extremism of the West".
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said the protests against the
caricatures were quite natural but he asserted nobody would be allowed to take
the law into their own hands.
Talking to a private TV channel about the violent protest by students in
Islamabad, Sherpao said such protests were the religious obligation of everyone
but people should refrain from creating disturbances.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=249672&n_date=20060214&cat=Asia
Indian High Commission vehicle torched, two killed in
Pakistan
Islamabad
| February 14, 2006 8:36:00 PM IST
An
official vehicle of the Indian High Commission was damaged here today while two
people were killed in Lahore as Pakistanis staged violent demonstrations against
the publication of drawings caricaturing Prophet Mohammad.
A
large number of protestors broke through riot police barricades in Islamabad in
a march to Parliament. Police had to fire teargas after they tried to march on
to the diplomatic enclave where some 26 foreign missions are located.
Reports
said an official vehicle of the Indian High Commission was also damaged by the
protestors. However, no one from the High Commission was injured.
Violent
mob torched a Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) restaurant, commercial buildings as
well as private vehicles and motorbikes in Lahore.
Two
people were killed as security guards deployed outside a commercial bank opened
fire after protestors went on a rampage.
Confirming
two deaths, interior minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao said the government would
deal sternly with all those taking the law into their hands, adding that
contrary to the assurance given by organisers, the protestors became violent and
caused damage to public property.
Enraged
by security guards’ firing, the mob torched KFC restaurant and parts of the
Punjab provincial assembly.
Riot
police fired tear gas and also resorted to baton charge to disperse the violent
mob chanting "Punish the blasphemers," "Down with Denmark"
and "Down with America," slogans.
Irked
by violence, Punjab government officials including the law minister
Raja Basharat said this has sent a wrong message abroad.
Rallies
were also held in Islamabad, Peshawar, Faisalabad and other cities to protest
publication and reprinting of blasphemous cartoons in at least ten European
newspapers.
Some
100 members of Parliament, mostly from the opposition also went up to the main
entrance of diplomatic enclave to register their protest over the cartoons.
They
carried placards demanding an apology from the governments of those countries
where the cartoons were published.
Normal
business activities in these cities were also adversely affected due to a bandh
by the local traders.
Pakistani
government has already lodged strong protest with the governments where the
caricatures were published and reprinted, saying that freedom of press does not
mean to hurt feelings of others.
Protest
demonstrations were also held in northern Peshawar city where people burnt a
45-meter-long Danish flag laid on the road and chanted slogans against European
countries where the Prophet‘s images were published.
http://www.geo.tv/main_files/pakistan.aspx?id=106427
GEO, Pakistan - Feb 14, 2006
Blasphemous cartoons: Two killed in Lahore protest
LAHORE:
Enraged protests against publication of sacrilegious cartoons in the European
newspapers have turned more violent.
At least two protesters were killed when firing was opened on the protestors,
while a portion of the Punjab Assembly caught fire when the protestors hurled
firecrackers on the building during protest outside the building.
Two more buildings and a foreign restaurant were put on fire.
The angry protestors also threw stones on the buildings and caused massive
smashes and set ablaze different vehicle and motorcycles as they were marching
on the main roads of the city. The furious protestors also caused harm to
passersby during the protest march and did firing at different places,
triggering panic in the city.
Over 400 markets and business centers observing total strike called by business
community. Trade representatives said that the entire business community taking
part in the strike regardless of their differences. People belonged to Muslim
League (Q), Muslim League (N), Peoples Party and Jaamat-i-Islami and other
political parties join hands in the strike to convey the world that no comprise
being possible on Thafuz Namoos-i-Risaalat.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said the men died when guards at the
Metropolitan bank in Lahore opened fire. "It is a serious development. We
are grieved over the loss of precious life," he told private GEO
television.
More than 100 people were also injured, none seriously, Lahore Mayor Mian Aamir
Mahmood told media. "People have a right to protest but they must desist
from attacking public and private property," he said.
Paramilitary troops were deployed to crack down on mobs still running riot in
central Lahore and were sent to stand guard outside the US Consulate, officials
said.
http://www.stratfor.com/products/premium/read_article.php?id=262209
When Mobs Attack Multinationals Abroad: The Best Advice is -- Run
February
14, 2006 17 46 GMT
Some 600 demonstrators stormed a foreign diplomatic
enclave in Pakistan's capital of Islamabad on Feb. 14 in protest of cartoons
printed in Western Europe that satirize the Prophet Mohammed. On the same day,
protesters in the eastern city of Lahore vandalized Western businesses, burning
some and breaking windows in others. Although certain security measures can be
taken to reduce the risk of terrorist attacks against multinational corporations
abroad -- or the severity of such attacks -- little can be done to defend
property against a violent mob.
Protests over the cartoons of Mohammed have been occurring every few days in
Pakistan and other Muslim countries since early February. In general, most of
the protests have been loud but nonviolent, with flag- and effigy-burning being
the extent of the destruction. In recent days, however, protests in Pakistan
have grown angrier.
On Feb. 13 in Peshawar, Pakistani police fired tear gas into a crowd of about
5,000 protesting students who damaged storefronts and smashed windows in local
businesses, apparently focusing on businesses that displayed Western products.
In the Feb. 14 Islamabad protest, a handful of police stood by as the crowd
forced its way into the fenced-in diplomatic enclave and marched toward the
British, French and Indian embassies. The protesters threw stones at the
embassies and a bank until police reinforcements arrived and expelled them with
tear gas and water cannons.
The worst violence occurred in Lahore, about 180 miles southeast of Islamabad,
where a rampaging mob burned down four buildings housing the four-star
Ambassador Hotel, two banks, a KFC restaurant franchise and the regional office
of Telenor, a Norwegian cell phone company. The protesters also damaged about
200 cars and several storefronts, and threw stones through the windows of a
McDonald's restaurant, a Pizza Hut and the Holiday Inn hotel. At the Holiday
Inn, the crowd raged outside for three hours, but did not enter the hotel, the
staff said. Guests were able to go about their business in conference rooms, but
they did not venture outside.
Physical security measures such as concrete barriers, stand-off distances and
security cameras can add to a facility's defenses against a terrorist attack,
but they can do little to prevent an angry mob from overrunning a property. The
protesters can scale barriers, while their overwhelming numbers can render most
security details helpless. If they set fire to the building, as happened at the
U.S. Embassy in Islamabad in 1979, a safe-room can become a death trap. If a mob
storms a hotel, the local staff might be unable to protect the guests, and
conceivably could leave them to fend for themselves in the confusion and chaos
of a riot.
Once a mob attacks, there often is little that can be done. At that point, the
focus should be on preventing injuries and saving lives -- without regard to the
physical property. In most cases, when a mob attacks a multinational, it is
attacking a symbol of the West. KFC restaurants, for example, have been frequent
targets of attacks in Pakistan because of the company's association with the
United States.
Telenor, which has offices in Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore, likely was targeted
because it is from Norway, one of the countries where the offensive cartoons
were printed. During the riot in Peshawar, a Telenor outlet store was ransacked
and looted. The company has 11 Norwegian employees in Pakistan, and said it has
no current plan to take them out of the country.
Multinational franchises such as KFC and Telenor usually are owned by locals.
When a franchise is burned down, it is the local owner and not the multinational
that suffers the loss. In some cases -- Syria, for example -- governments have
not tried to stop protesters from attacking a Western embassy for fear the
protesters would turn their wrath on their home government. Furthermore, local
security agencies sometimes are not motivated to protect small, locally owned
businesses during a spree of violence.
When a seemingly innocuous issue such as cartoons spirals into violent protests,
the only precaution that many companies can take is to escape. This works best
when the protest is confined to one area -- as opposed to a major citywide riot
-- and appears that it will die out in several hours. The best defense is to
utilize good intelligence so as to know about the protests in advance. Only in
this way can facilities be secured and employees evacuated in time. Once a
protest begins, it should be tracked so that contingency plans can be enacted if
the angry mob begins to move toward the facility.
http://www.french.xinhuanet.com/french/2006-02/14/content_216740.htm
La France
accuse Téhéran de ne pas avoir suffisamment protégé son ambassade
2006-02-14
08:27:48
PARIS, 13 février(XINHUANET) --
La France a accusé lundi l'Iran de ne pas avoir "assuré une
protection suffisante" de son ambassade à Téhéran lors d'une
manifestation vendredi, et annoncé qu'elle convoquait le chargé
d'affaires iranien à Paris.
"Nous condamnons les
violences et les débordements auxquels a donné lieu la manifestation qui
s'est déroulée le vendredi 10 février aux abords de l'ambassade de
France à Téhéran", a déclaré le porte-parole du ministère
français des Affaires étrangères, Jean-Baptiste Mattéi.
"Alors que la Convention de
Vienne leur en fait l'obligation, les autorités iraniennes n'ont pas
assuré une protection suffisante de notre mission diplomatique",
a-t-il poursuivi.
"Les mesures mises en place
tardivement n'ont pas empêché les manifestants de se livrer à des
déprédations de nos locaux", a-t- il dit à la presse.
La France attend "des
autorités iraniennes qu'elles prennent toutes les mesures nécessaires
afin d'empêcher la répétition de tels actes inadmissibles", a
souligné M. Mattéi.
Il a précisé que le chargé
d'affaires iranien était "convoqué au ministère des Affaires
étrangères pour rappeler aux autorités iraniennes leurs obligations aux
termes de la Convention de Vienne dont l'Iran est signataire".
Une centaine de manifestants
iraniens, protestant contre la publication de caricatures de Mahomet dans
la presse française, avaient réussi à franchir les cordons de la police
anti-émeutes et avaient lancé des cocktails Molotov et des pierres contre
l'ambassade de France à Téhéran. Fin
http://today.reuters.com/business/newsarticle.aspx?type=tnBusinessNews&storyID=nL14740762
WRAPUP
2-Pakistan sees most violent reaction to cartoons
(Adds comments from EU presidency, U.S. officials)
By
Zeeshan Haider
ISLAMABAD,
Feb 14 (Reuters) - Security guards shot dead two men, police used teargas on
students in Islamabad's diplomatic enclave and protesters attacked Western
businesses on Tuesday in Pakistan's most violent reaction yet to cartoons of the
Prophet.
In
Iran, scores of demonstrators hurled petrol bombs at the British embassy in
renewed protests against the cartoons and Western opposition to Tehran's nuclear
ambitions.
The
EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the dispute should not be allowed
to divide Europe and the Muslim world, while a senior U.S. state department
official said it showed moderate Muslims needed a stronger voice.
Solana
is touring Muslim states to try to calm anger over the cartoons, published by
Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September and reprinted in many European
countries in a debate about the rights and restrictions of free speech.
Many
Muslims believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet Mohammad.
Pakistan's
Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said guards at a bank that was
attacked by protesters in the eastern city of Lahore shot dead two men.
Police
fired into the air and baton-charged protesters who set vehicles alight and
ransacked outlets of international fast food companies, including McDonald's,
KFC and Pizza Hut, and the Norwegian mobile phone firm Telenor, witnesses said.
Protesters
also hurled stones at a Holiday Inn hotel and Western-owned filling stations.
About 2,000 people staged a sit-in near the provincial assembly.
DIPLOMATIC
ENCLAVE
In
Islamabad, police fired tear gas to drive out about 400 students who stormed the
heavily-guarded diplomatic enclave. The protesters reached the Indian High
Commission, which is next to the British High Commission, before being driven
back.
Demonstrators
smashed windows of cars and a branch of British bank Standard Chartered and
shouted "Death to Denmark" and "Expel European ambassadors".
The
protests were the most serious in Pakistan, the second-most populous Muslim
nation and a key U.S. ally, since the cartoons row erupted.
The
diplomatic enclave is home to many European embassies and that of the United
States, but not that of Denmark. It is barricaded and guarded by armed police.
Extra police have been posted on roads around embassies and diplomatic
residences.
Protesters
tore down portraits of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and about 3,000
people shouted anti-American slogans outside parliament.
In
Iran, the protesters, mostly religious seminary students, chanted "Death to
Tony Blair", "Death to Britain" and Death to America" while
hurling stones at the British embassy buildings, smashing many windows.
The
Danish cartoons have been reproduced by only a handful of British media outlets
and most major U.S. publications have also refrained from publishing them.
Violent
protests have also taken place outside the Tehran embassies of Denmark, Norway,
Austria, France and Germany.
"Insulting
the Prophet disgusts us and nuclear energy gives us dignity," about 200
people at the British embassy shouted. The West suspects Iran of trying to build
nuclear weapons.
Cheers
erupted when a petrol bomb was thrown over the high wall surrounding the embassy
compound in central Tehran. Several other petrol bombs struck the wall and the
main gate.
Scuffles
broke out between the protesters and dozens of riot police. Stones and
firecrackers were thrown at the nearby German embassy by a smaller crowd of
protesters earlier on Tuesday.
Wolfgang
Schuessel, chancellor of Austria which holds the EU presidency, said the
violence was "simply not acceptable".
"I
am urgently calling upon Iran to fulfil its obligations under the Vienna
Convention (on the protection of diplomatic facilities)," he told a news
conference in Vienna.
The
U.S. state department praised Pakistan's efforts to protect diplomats,
contrasting this with Iran and Syria.
U.S.
Assistant Secretary of State for Europe Dan Fried, in Europe to consult with
governments on how to ease tensions sparked by the cartoons, said Europe and the
United States needed to do more to support democracy, reform and reformers.
Solana
arrived in Egypt from Saudi Arabia where he met the head of the Organisation of
the Islamic Conference, which is lobbying for the United Nations to include
language against blasphemy in the tenets of a new human rights body.
"I
cannot be very precise, but we are working on some ideas that maybe it is
possible to get through," Solana said in Cairo, when asked about such
proposals.
(Additional
reporting by Ali Reza Ronaghi in Tehran, Edmund Blair and Jonathan Wright in
Cairo)
http://www.dawn.com/2006/02/15/top1.htm
February 15, 2006
Wednesday
Muharram 16, 1427
Arson, violence on day of mob rule in Lahore: Two rioters dead; slow
police response alleged
By Asif Shahzad
LAHORE, Feb 14: Two young
men were killed and 20 suffered injuries when angry mobs, protesting against
publication of sacrilegious caricatures of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him)
in a number of European newspapers turned violent.
The protesters ransacked and set on fire a number of buildings, including the
Punjab Assembly, and hundreds of cars and motorcycles in the city on Tuesday.
The shooting, which claimed the two lives, occurred on Egerton Road where a bank
security guard opened fire on approaching rioters. Three youngsters suffered
bullet injuries and they were rushed to the Mayo Hospital.
One of the injured youngsters died on way to the hospital and another died after
first aid dressing, said Dr Tariq at the emergency ward of the hospital. The
deceased were identified as Muhammad Qaisar, 22, and Muhammad Rafiq, 25. He
added that 13 injured people had been taken to the hospital. Of them, five
suffered bullet injuries, he said, adding that three of them were in a critical
condition.
Eyewitnesses and police said the establishments ransacked and set on fire by
groups of rioters included a number of local and foreign banks, four restaurants
of two American fast food chains, a Norwegian cellphone company’s office, a
five-star hotel, a cinema, a theatre, a number of petrol pumps and various
shops.
Around 500 vehicles, mainly cars, were ransacked while at least 75 motorcycles
and 10 cars were burnt by the protesters. All traffic signals on The Mall,
Egerton Road, Hall Road, Laxmi Chowk, Bhati Chowk and some on Ferozpur Road and
Multan Road were broken completely by the angry youths. Looting also took place
when rioters broke into some offices and buildings, especially that of the
cellphone company.
The shutdown, which was observed in other parts of the province, saw violent
scenes in Faisalabad and Sargodha. Nearly three dozen people were arrested in
Sargodha for trying to block traffic on the Motorway.
In Lahore, thousands of people, including men from various religious parties and
seminary students, had taken to the street on a strike call given by the
Tahaffuz Namoos-i-Risalat Mahaz, a group of small Sunni parties. A seminary,
Jamia Naeemia, in Garhi Shahu had been a centre of activities for the past week
to make the strike a success.
By the time the authorities called in Pakistan Rangers it was too late as the
situation in the street had turned ugly. Eyewitnesses say the police deputed
along the route of the rally acted just as onlookers. Yelling helplessly to calm
down the protesters, a constable at the shooting scene where the two youngsters
got bullet injuries was heard saying: “I am nobody. I do not have any of my
officers around. I do not even have a wireless set to convey the situation. I am
helpless.”
Later, the riot police fired teargas shells and also baton-charged the
protesters at a number of places, but there was a complete lack of coordination
on the part of the law-enforcement agencies and the Punjab government. The
rioting continued for about six hours on various roads, while the police kept
pushing the groups of rioters back, sending them in various directions. No
action was taken to round up the rioters.
“They (the organizers of the protest rallies) have not honoured their
commitment. They had given us the assurance that they would remain peaceful,”
city police chief DIG Khwaja Khalid Farooq told Dawn, during the rioting at the
Charing Cross on The Mall. “It was not possible to depute force at each and
every building,” he said.
Asked why had the police not stopped the rioters initially from rampaging on,
and what was the strategy given to the police by the government, he replied: “We
will talk about that later.” Lahore operations police chief Aamir Zulfikar
Khan, who was present there, was not in a good shape after being held hostage
for 15 minutes by the rioters. He was later shifted to the Services Hospital for
treatment.
Responding to the strike call, thousands of people had gathered near the shrine
of the Data Ganj Bukhsh. They turned violent soon after the rally began. Lower
Mall police station was the first spot that fell prey to the protesters’
anger; it was pelted with stones.
The police blocked the protesters when they attempted to storm into the district
courts building. They damaged a hoarding depicting a message and a photo of
President Pervez Musharraf.
The protesters then marched on to The Mall, where they ransacked an American
fast food chain restaurant, a bank and burnt two vehicles. On reaching the GPO
Chowk, the protesters split into groups of 20 to 50 each and began vandalising
shops.
One of the groups put a hotel and a car showroom with four new cars inside on
fire at the Dyal Singh Mansion near the Regal Chowk. Not far away from this
scene, another group first ransacked another American fast food restaurant, two
banks and the office of a Norwegian cellular phone company; later, they torched
the buildings. Having three floors each, all the four buildings were reduced to
ashes long before fire tenders got to the scene.
The rioters broke glasses of shops on both sides of The Mall and on reaching the
Charing Cross, they vandalised the building of another bank and burnt two more
vehicles.
The police resorted to teargas shelling, but the protesters attacked the Punjab
Assembly building. Police deployed inside the assembly building first tried to
block the rioters, but then took to their heels. The protesters entered the
building and broke all windowpanes before setting a portion of the assembly
building on fire. The damage caused to the building was not extensive.
The rioters damaged the glass-fitted facade of the main PIA town office.
At the next intersection on Egerton Road, the protesters broke all traffic
signals and windscreens and windows of every car parked on both sides of the
road. A group marched towards the Lahore Stock Exchange and threw stones and
bricks on the building. The pelting also damaged around 10 cars parked inside
the building.
Yet another American fast food restaurant became their next target. They
vandalised the outlet and a bank on the first floor in the LDA Plaza. Nineteen
motorcycles parked outside the food outlet were set on fire. At least 40 cars
parked nearby were completely damaged by the rioters.
Another group of protesters attacked another bank near the food chain where the
guard opened fire. The rioters put on fire the bank, four cars and around 21
motorcycles parked on the premises were reduced to ashes.
The vehicles of the Edhi Foundation made announcements through mega-phones,
asking the people inside the commercial buildings to remain calm and start
evacuating the damaged buildings. Scores of people, including women, ran down
the stairs from the bank’s building, which also housed some multi-nationals’
offices.
The police and Pakistan Rangers later rushed to the spot, but they only pushed
the rioters out in other directions without making any effort to round them up.
The protesters put an office of a travel agency on fire before dispersing.
Some of the rioters reached Laxmi Chowk and vandalised over 20 shops and food
outlets there. They also torched a traffic police kiosk. At the Bhati Chowk,
another group of rioters torched a cinema house and ransacked a theatre besides
damaging several vehicles.
Reports from other parts of the city said rioters damaged two petrol pumps and a
bakery in Nawankot besides attacking vehicles on various roads.
When it was all over, District Nazim Mian Amer Mahmood and the Lahore DCO Mian
Ejaz reached The Mall and inspected the damage. The police present there again
baton-charged smaller groups of protesters, who had gathered there.
Till the time of the filing of this report, the police and Pakistan Rangers had
been deployed in and around all important buildings in the city, mainly along
The Mall and its surroundings. The police claimed having made 106 arrests.
Late at night, the Punjab IGP was presiding over a meeting to evolve a line of
action. Registration
of cases against the rioters was in progress.
http://dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1013133&CatID=9
Three
dead, dozens injured in Pakistan cartoon protests
AFP
Wednesday,
February 15, 2006 13:18 IST
PESHAWAR: Three people, including a child, were killed and dozens injured
in Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said, bringing the country's death toll from
protests against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to five.
An eight-year-old boy and a 28-year-old man died as thousands of people
demonstrated in the northwestern city of Peshawar, while a youth was killed by
gunfire during a second day of protests in eastern Lahore.
"We have received the bodies of two people, an eight-year-old boy
and a 28-year-old man," Yousuf Pervez, deputy medical superintendent at
Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, told reporters.
"The 28-year-old, named Feroz, fell on an electric wire that is said
to have snapped in police firing," he said. "The eight-year-old boy,
who was identified only as Mohammed, died when a bullet hit his head during
aerial firing."
He did not say whether police or protesters had fired the bullet that
killed the boy.
"There are 30 people wounded. The injured include people hit by
teargas shells," added Pervez. "Four or five are in a serious
condition. Their wounds are deep and we are worried about
them."
Meanwhile, a youth died in crossfire between police and protesters in the
New Campus area of Lahore's Punjab University, police said, a day after two
demonstrators were shot dead during mass riots in the same
city.
The exchange of fire happened when mostly student protesters started
hurling stones at security forces and passing vehicles the official said,
requesting anonymity.
Protesters also torched a KFC outlet and other western businesses in
Peshawar Wednesday, a day after two demonstrators were shot dead during mass
riots in the eastern city of Lahore.
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/15-02-2006/75985-Pakistan-0
02/15/2006
14:52
Gunfire
and rioting erupted Wednesday as more than 70,000 people joined Pakistan's
biggest protest yet against Prophet Muhammad cartoons, burning movie theaters, a
KFC restaurant and a South Korean-run bus station.
Pakistani
riots
Three people died and dozens were injured in two cities, police and
witnesses said.
The massive crowd went on a rampage in the northwestern city of Peshawar,
torching businesses and fighting police, who struck back with tear gas and
batons. It was the third straight day of violent demonstrations in the Islamic
nation.
The rioters ransacked the offices of the Norwegian mobile phone company
Telenor, three cinemas and offices of Mobilink, the main mobile phone operator
in the country, witnesses said. They also burned a bus terminal operated by the
South Korean company Daewoo. Flames were shooting out of some of the buses,
private TV station Geo reported.
Paramilitary forces were deployed, and the government announced that
schools and colleges would be closed in northwestern Pakistan for one week to
protect students from violence. Authorities also announced a ban on rallies in
eastern Pakistan for an indefinite period.
Demonstrations around Asia and the Middle East over the cartoons, which
first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have been reprinted by
other newspapers, mostly in the West, have subsided in recent days, including in
Afghanistan, where 11 people died in riots last week.
But the protests have gathered momentum in Pakistan this week. Islamic
groups and traders' associations have organized shutdowns and street rallies
that have descended into violence, reports the AP.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/53376cc4-9e42-11da-b641-0000779e2340.html
Riots
over cartoons continue for third day in Pakistan
By
Farhan Bokhari in Islamabad
Published: February 15 2006 16:55 | Last updated: February 15 2006 16:55
Riots
in Pakistan over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed on
Wednesday spread to the country’s conservative North West Frontier Province as
they continued for the third day.
At
least two people were killed and hundreds injured when police clashed with
protesters armed with sticks and stones in Peshawar, capital of the province.
Riot
police fired tear gas to disperse crowds in several towns in the NWFP, the only
one of Pakistan’s four provinces to have an Islamic government. In Peshawar,
protesters ransacked two franchises of Telenor, the Norwegian cellular phone
company, a KFC fast food outlet, as well as banks and cinemas.
Demonstrations
also continued in Punjab, withat least one death in crossfire between policemen
and protesters in Lahore, the provincial capital. Two people died in the city on
Tuesday.
“It’s
a grim and volatile situation,” said a senior police officer. “There are
reports that the demonstrators are organised enough to maintain their protests
in coming days.”
Senior
officials in Islamabad admitted that the protests were causing concerns in
government circles.
“If
these demonstrations are sustained, there is a great danger of panic and
violence spreading fast,” said a government official.
He
said if the violence continued through the weekend “this could become the
toughest phase for General Musharraf”.
General
Pervez Musharraf, who supports the US-led coalition against terrorism, has vowed
to remove the roots of extremism from Pakistan.
But
critics say he has failed to tackle fundamentalism – his tenure has seen
groups such as the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of Islamic political
parties that includes pro-Taliban groups, increase their political clout.
“There
are many people with influence in Pakistan who sympathise with fundamentalism,”
said Fawzia Wahab, member of parliament from the opposition Pakistan People’s
party. “The riots that you see in Pakistan have the chance to grow. These
demonstrations could create a snowball effect, they could become bigger, more
powerful and increasingly difficult to control.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-021506cartoons_lat,0,2817309.story?coll=la-story-footer
9:57
AM PST, February 15, 2006
More Rioting, Deaths Attributed to Muhammad Caricatures
By
Zulfiqar Ali and Mubashir Zaidi, Special to The Times
PESHAWAR,
Pakistan -- Three people were killed today in riots sparked by protests against
caricatures published in Western newspapers showing the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
Rioters
continued to ransack foreign firms and franchises across the country as protests
this week have left a total of five people dead.
Pakistani
authorities said two people died today here in Peshawar, capital of North-West
Frontier Province, while one person died in the city of Lahore.
In
Peshawar an 8-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet, police officials said,
while another person died when a power transmission line damaged in the rioting
fell on protesters.
A
doctor at one of the state-run hospitals in the city said that 50 people were
brought to the emergency ward for multiple injuries. Police officials said armed
protesters opened fire.
An
electric cable that was snapped by gunfire killed a 25-year-old man, police
said. Four police officers also suffered injuries when tear gas shells exploded
in their hands as they prepared to fire them at the mobs.
Violence
erupted in Peshawar when tens of thousands of people went on the rampage,
dragging the U.S. flag through the streets as they torched shops and offices. In
many areas of the city, angry protesters opened fire as riot police tried to
disperse them.
"We
will not forgive Danish dogs for publishing cartoons against our holy
prophet," said a banner in the city's main square. Peshawar's roads were
littered with burning tires and bricks.
Students
from madrassas, or Islamic seminaries, and Afghan refugees also joined the
protesters, who shouted anti-U.S. slogans such as, "God is Great: Down with
America and its allies. Death to Denmark."
Rioters
set fire to gas pumps, movie theaters, shops and banks as well as 16 buses owned
by a South Korean transportation company, Sammi-Daewoo, offices of the Norwegian
telecommunication company, Telenor, and fast-food restaurants of the American
chain KFC.
In
Lahore, a Punjab University employee was shot in crossfire between students and
police.
"The
protesters are rudderless. To my knowledge, it was the worst agitation in the
history of Peshawar," said Senior Superintendent of Police Saeed Khan
Wazir, who was commanding the police force.
He
said that over 200 protesters had been detained for damaging public and private
property.
The
North-West Frontier Province government closed down all education institutions,
including schools, colleges and universities, for one week in an effort to
prevent more protests.
Caricatures
mocking Muhammad were originally printed in a Danish newspaper last September.
But the cartoons were reprinted recently in several Western countries by
publications whose editors insist they are defending freedom of the press. Many
Muslims view such images as blasphemous.
Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz appealed for calm and
said the central government would not allow any one to disturb law and order.
Aziz
said the provincial governments have been directed to take any steps necessary
to protect the life and property of citizens and stressed that "anti-social
elements" must be identified and dealt with sternly.
"The
government will not allow vested interests and criminal elements to take the law
into their hands and create problems for the people," he said in a
statement.
Authorities
said the protesters were mobilized by the student wings of Islamic parties,
which form the official opposition in Pakistan's national parliament and govern
two provinces. The parties have called for a nationwide strike on March 3.
President
Bush is scheduled to visit Pakistan in early March during an official trip to
South Asia that will include a stop in neighboring India.
There
were small protest rallies today in Pakistan's capital Islamabad and other
cities, but the most violent protests were in Peshawar.
http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/etranger/20060216.FAP7408.html?1003
Caricatures
de Mahomet: 40.000 personnes dans les rues de Karachi
AP | 16.02.06 | 10:57
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- Quelque 40.000 manifestants
scandant "Dieu est grand" ont défilé jeudi dans les rues de Karachi,
le port du sud du Pakistan, pour protester contre les caricatures de Mahomet, ,
a annoncé la police.
Avant de se disperser dans le calme, des manifestants ont brûlé des portraits
du Premier ministre danois au cours de cette quatrième journée consécutive de
protestations organisées dans le pays.
Environ 5.000 policiers et forces paramilitaires en tenu anti-émeutes avec
casque, matraque et bouclier, ont été déployés le long des trois kilomètres
d'artères que doit emprunter le cortège dans le centre-ville. Pour l'heure, on
ne déplore aucune violence.
Jusqu'à présent, les manifestations organisées au Pakistan ont toutes
dégénéré en violences dans d'autres villes cette semaine, faisant au moins
cinq morts et des dizaines de blessés parmi les manifestants et les forces de
l'ordre. AP
http://www.armees.com/+Les-emeutes-continuent-au-Pakistan,3684+.html
Les émeutes continuent
au Pakistan
Publié le jeudi 16 février
2006, à 16h10
Après les violences de mardi 14 février, les
manifestations continuent au Pakistan. 70 000 personnes ont participé à une
importante manifestation mercredi 15 février à Peshawar.
Un manifestant a tiré une balle tuant un garçon de huit
ans, et un homme de 25 ans a été électrocuté par un câble. Au moins 45
autres personnes ont été blessées. La foule a saccagé plusieurs restaurants
et commerces occidentaux. 70 000 personnes ont manifesté en différents
endroits de la ville.
A Lahore, un homme de 30 ans a été tué dans une
confrontation avec la police. 1 500 étudiants se sont rassemblés, ont bloqué
la circulation et malmené la police.
La police n’a pas encore déterminé si les
manifestations ont été planifiées, mais elle pense que des groupes islamistes
y ont incité à la violence.
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200602/200602160003.html
Korean Firm Becomes Victim of Muslim Anger
Updated Feb.16,2006 16:27 KST
A
Korean firm in the city of Peshawar in Northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday got
caught up in Muslim anger about a series of cartoons depicting the Prophet
Muhammad. A riot erupted there when a demonstration by some 70,000 protesters to
condemn the publication of the cartoons in Europe got out of hand. A group of
the protesters set fire to the bus terminal run by Sammi Daewoo, and local
employees who tied to block them became caught up in the violence themselves.
Four of the firm's local employees who tried to stop the pillaging were injured.
Sammi Daewoo lost 16 buses, four cars, a gas station and the entire 900 sq.m
two-story terminal building in the blaze. The financial losses have been
calculated at around US$3 million.
A company executive said it was thought that competitor companies that
were jealous of Sammi’s success in Pakistan incited the mob.
The Sammi Daewoo bus terminal, owned by Daewoo before the firm’s crisis, was
acquired by Sammi in 2004 and is considered one of the most successful foreign
transport firms in Pakistan. Some 3,000 staff
operate buses in 35 cities in the country.
http://www.liberation.fr/page.php?Article=360446
Caricatures: une dizaine de morts dans des incidents en Libye
vendredi 17 février 2006 (Reuters - 22:38)
ROME - Une manifestation contre la publication de
caricatures du prophète Mahomet a dégénéré vendredi dans la ville libyenne
de Benghazi, faisant au moins neuf morts et 55 blessés, rapporte la chaîne de
télévision italienne Sky Italia.
Quelques minutes plus tôt, la télévision publique
libyenne avait fait état, sans plus de précisions, de "victimes".
Des manifestants qui tentaient d'entrer de force dans
l'enceinte du consulat d'Italie se sont heurtés aux forces anti-émeutes,
indiquait la chaîne, citant un communiqué officiel des autorités libyennes.
Sky Italia s'appuie sur le témoignage d'un employé
du consulat.
http://www.edicom.ch/news/international/060218182124.sa.shtml
18 février 18:21
Le
gouvernement pakistanais interdit les manifestations à Islamabad
ISLAMABAD (AP) -
Le gouvernement pakistanais a interdit samedi tout rassemblement ce week-end à
Islamabad mais une coalition de partis religieux a maintenu son appel à
manifester dimanche dans la capitale contre les caricatures du prophète Mahomet
parues dans la presse occidentale.
Au moins cinq personnes sont mortes dans les émeutes qui ont éclaté dans
différentes villes du Pakistan lors de manifestations contre ces dessins.
Samedi, des centaines de protestataires ont tenté d'incendier des boutiques à
Chaniot, dans l'est du pays. La police a ouvert le feu pour disperser la foule.
Quatre personnes ont été blessées.
Le ministre pakistanais de l'Information a expliqué que les autorités avaient
interdit le rassemblement prévu dimanche à Islamabad par crainte de nouvelles
violences. «Nous avons condamné ces dessins blasphématoires mais nous ne
permettrons à personne de troubler la paix», a déclaré Sheikh Rashid Ahmed.
«Aucun parti ne sera autorisé à organiser des rassemblements à Islamabad
dimanche».
Une coalition de six partis religieux a maintenu son appel à manifester. «Nous
organiserons le rassemblement comme prévu», a déclaré le député Mian
Mohammed Aslam. AP
cb/v575
© AP - The Associated Press. Tous droits réservés.
http://www.edicom.ch/news/international/060218144646.sa.shtml
18 février 14:46
Incendie du
consulat d'Italie à Benghazi: démission du ministre italien Roberto Calderoli,
selon ANSA
ROME (AP) -
Roberto Calderoli, le ministre italien accusé d'avoir déclenché des émeutes
en Libye après s'être déclaré prêt à porter un T-shirt reproduisant les
caricatures de Mahomet, a démissionné, rapporte samedi l'agence de presse
italienne ANSA.
Cette information n'a pas été confirmée officiellement dans l'immédiat. Des
manifestants protestant contre les caricatures du prophète Mahomet ont
incendié le consulat d'Italie à Benghazi, en Libye, vendredi soir au cours
d'une émeute qui a fait au moins dix morts, selon un bilan officiel italien.
Peu après cette émeute, le président du Conseil italien Silvio Berlusconi a
demandé la démission du ministre des Réformes. «Silvio Berlusconi, estimant
que le comportement de Roberto Calderoli est contraire à la position du
gouvernement, l'a invité à présenter sa démission», a indiqué le cabinet
de M. Berlusconi dans un communiqué. AP
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoonprotests/story/0,,1712816,00.html
Libya
suspends interior minister after cartoon riots
Associated
Press
Saturday February 18, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
A car burns near the Italian consulate in the north-eastern city of Benghazi,
Libya. Photograph: Reuters/Libya
Libya's
parliamentary secretariat today suspended the interior minister and referred him
for investigation over yesterday's riots that resulted in the deaths of at least
10 people.
Meanwhile, the Italian cabinet minister blamed for sparking the riots has
resigned.
"We condemn the excessive use of force and the inappropriate way
that went beyond the limits of carrying out the duties of the police," said
the Libyan statement announcing the suspension of Nasr al-Mabrouk.
The secretariat said all those involved "and the officials
responsible for them" should be referred to investigations and to court.
"Those
who have a relation to the incident and are responsible for security in Benghazi
have been suspended and referred to investigations," the statement said.
It declared Sunday a day of mourning for "our martyr sons."
At least 10 people died in a six-hour riot on outside the Italian
consulate yesterday, where more than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in an angry
protest, apparently in reaction to an Italian cabinet minister wearing a T-shirt
printed with the cartoons satirising Prophet Muhammad that have provoked
protests across the Muslim world.
The crowd hurled rocks and bottles before storming the compound and
setting fire to the building and cars parked nearby. Police with Kalashnikov
rifles fired live ammunition and tear gas to disperse them.
A right-wing Italian minister resigned today after the riots were blamed
on his decision to wear the T-shirt.
The reforms minister, Roberto Calderoli, said he had offered his
resignation to Silvio Berlusconi to stop "the shameful exploitation which
in these hours has been directed against me," according to comments
confirmed by Nicoletta Maggi, a spokeswoman for Calderoli's Northern League
party.
Calderoli had been under growing pressure to step down following the
violent protests, which resulted in the highest reported death toll in any of
the riots over cartoons of the prophet which were originally published by a
Danish newspaper in September.
The Italian government rushed to contain the damage.
Berlusconi's office said the premier had a "long and friendly"
telephone conversation with Libyan leader Muammar Gadafy, while the foreign
minister, Gianfranco Fini, visited Rome's main mosque to stress Italian respect
for Islam.
Fini met with representatives from Arab countries including Libya, Saudi
Arabia, Oman and Egypt.
"It is just that one respects another's religion and asks respect
for one's own," Fini told reporters after his talks at the mosque. He said
Calderoli's resignation was the "proper" action to take.
Calderoli's wearing of the T-shirt "was perhaps a provocation which
he didn't fully realize," Fini said.
Abdellah Redouane, secretary-general of the Islamic Cultural Centre of
Italy, said Calderoli's gesture had been a "provocation" and Fini's
visit was greatly appreciated.
"Not only was it welcome, but also necessary," said Redouane,
who was participating in the talks with Fini.
Calderoli embarrassed Italy's centre-right government, which is
campaigning for April general elections. Earlier today, several ministers, as
well as leaders of the centre-left opposition, joined Berlusconi in urging
Calderoli to quit.
The Italian president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, a highly respected voice in
the country, said that in Italy, "there is a clear, undisputed policy that
reflects the dominant feeling of Italians: the respect of religious creeds and
of the faiths of all peoples."
"Above all, those who have a responsibility in government have to
show responsible behavior," Ciampi said, adding that he was "deeply
saddened" by the clashes at Benghazi.
Calderoli, whose Northern League Party is known for its anti-immigrant
stance, showed off the T-shirt under his shirt during an appearance on Italian
state television.
http://permanent.nouvelobs.com/etranger/20060218.FAP8162.html?2246##
Emeutes
anticaricatures dans le nord du Nigeria: 15 morts
AP | 18.02.06 | 23:34
MAIDUGURI,
Nigeria (AP) -- Des manifestations de protestation contre les caricatures de
Mahomet ont dégénéré dans le nord-est du Nigeria, faisant une quinzaine de
morts, ont annoncé les autorités. Selon des témoins, trois enfants et un
prêtre catholique figurent parmi les victimes.
Les manifestants ont pris à partie des chrétiens et ont incendié leurs
commerces et des églises, selon des témoins. Quinze églises ont été
brûlées dans la localité de Maiduguri, a indiqué la police.
L'armée et la police ont été déployées pour rétablir l'ordre et plusieurs
dizaines de personnes ont été interpellées.
Il s'agit de la première manifestation d'importance provoquée par les
caricatures dépeignant le prophète de l'islam et parues dans quelques journaux
européens dans le pays le plus peuplé d'Afrique. La population du Nigeria est
estimé à 130 millions d'habitants pour moitié musulmane au Nord, chrétienne
et animiste au Sud.
Un journaliste de l'agence Associated Press (AP) présent sur place a vu des
groupes de protestataires essaimer dans le centre de Maiduguri, armés de
machettes, de bâtons et de barres de fer. Un groupe a fait subir le supplice du
collier à un malheureux en lui jetant un pneu autour du coup, en l'aspergeant
d'essence avant de lui mettre le feu.
D'après Chima Ezeoke, un chrétien de Maiduguri, les manifestants ont pillé
des commerces appartenant à des chrétiens. "La plupart des morts sont des
chrétiens battus à mort dans la rue par les émeutiers", selon ce
témoin.
Les affrontements entre les deux communautés religieuses sont assez fréquentes
au Nigeria. AP
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/3669618.html
Feb.
18, 2006, 3:46PM
Libya
Suspends Official After Deadly Riots
By
KHALED EL-DEEB Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The
Associated Press
TRIPOLI,
Libya — Libya suspended its interior minister Saturday, citing an
"excessive use of force" in riots the day before that left at least 10
people dead in the bloodiest protest yet against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons
roiling the Muslim world.
The
controversy claimed another political casualty in Italy as Reforms Minister
Roberto Calderoli offered his resignation after wearing a T-shirt featuring the
drawings, a provocative move blamed for Friday's protests at the Italian
consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi, in which at least 10 people were
killed.
In
eastern Pakistan, police opened fire on a mob trying to burn down shops, the
latest in a spate of cartoon protests that have killed five people in the
conservative country. At least four people were injured in the city of Chaniot,
said police officer Mohammad Ishaq.
Pakistani
authorities, meanwhile, imposed a ban on rallies in Islamabad ahead of a planned
protest Sunday. In the southern city of Karachi, though, about 12,000 women
joined a rally organized by the country's oldest and best-organized religious
party, Jamaat-e-Islami.
"We
want that those who drew these blasphemous cartoons to be hanged," Aysha
Munawar, a senior party leader, told the crowd.
In
London, more than 10,000 people joined an angry but peaceful protest against the
drawings. "Free speech cheap insults," read some placards. "How
dare you insult the blessed Prophet Muhammad?" asked another.
At
least 29 people have been killed in protests across the Muslim world, according
to a count by The Associated Press.
Also
Saturday, some 1,000 Muslims protested peacefully in Indian-controlled Kashmir,
carrying banners reading "We love our Prophet" and "Down with
enemies of Islam."
Libya's
parliamentary secretariat announced the suspension of Interior Minister Nasr
al-Mabrouk and said all those involved in Friday's riots "and the officials
responsible for them" should be referred to investigations and to the
courts.
"We
condemn the excessive use of force and the inappropriate way that went beyond
the limits of carrying out the duties of the police," the secretariat said
in a statement.
It
also declared Sunday a day of mourning for "our martyr sons."
Libyan
security officials said 11 people were killed or wounded during the riot in the
eastern city when police firing bullets and tear gas tried to contain more than
1,000 demonstrators hurling rocks and bottles. The casualties included police
officers.
Rioters
charged the consular compound and set fire to the first floor of the building,
the Italian Foreign Ministry said.
Domenico
Bellantone, an Italian diplomat, said 10 or 11 people _ all Libyan _ had died.
The
riot appeared to be a reaction to Calderoli's decision to wear a T-shirt printed
with the cartoons. His declaration that he would do so was widely published in
Libya.
Calderoli,
a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League Party, wore the T-shirt beneath a
suit on Friday and showed it off during an appearance on television. Hours
later, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi asked for his resignation.
Calderoli
said Saturday he had agreed to offer his resignation to stop "the shameful
exploitation which in these hours has been directed against me," the
Italian news agency ANSA reported.
There
was no demonstration outside the Italian Embassy in Tripoli, a possible
indication of greater state control in the capital. Politics is tightly
controlled in Libya _ a former Italian colony _ and open dissent is rare.
The
Italian ambassador to Tripoli met late Friday with the Libyan interior minister
"who expressed the condemnation of his government for the acts of violence
occurring in Benghazi," the Italian Foreign Ministry said.
In
London, demonstrators carried placards reading "Europe lacks respect for
others," and "Don't they teach manners in Denmark?"
Police
said about 10,000 people were present. The Muslim Action Committee, which
organized the protest, estimated that 20,000 people were there. There
were no reports of violence.
On
Friday, a Pakistani cleric announced a $1 million bounty for killing the
cartoonist but did not give a name _ apparently unaware that 12 different people
had drawn the pictures. Denmark temporarily closed its embassy in Pakistan and
advised its citizens to leave the country.
The
Danish newspaper that first printed the caricatures in September, the
Jyllands-Posten, has since apologized to Muslims for the cartoons, one of which
shows Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban. Other Western newspapers, mostly in
Europe, have reprinted the pictures, asserting their news value and the right to
freedom of expression.
Mogens
Blicher Bjerregaard, president of the Danish Journalist Union and spokesman for
the cartoonists, who have been living under police protection since last year,
condemned the bounty offer.
"It
is totally absurd what is happening. The cartoonists just did their job and they
did nothing illegal," he said.
Associated Press writers Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and
Jennifer Price in London contributed to this report.
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=1&id=3826
Libyans protesting Prophet Mohammad cartoons set fire
to Italian consulate; 10 killed
Saturday
18 February 2006
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) - Libyans protesting the Prophet Mohammad cartoons set fire
to the Italian consulate in Benghazi on Friday in a riot that killed at least 10
people, an Italian diplomat said.
The death toll was higher than that of any other riot against the caricatures
during the past two weeks of demonstrations across the Muslim world.
The rioters hurled rocks and bottles at the consulate in Benghazi, and then
charged into its compound and set fire to the building. Police with Kalashnikov
rifles fired live ammunition and tear gas at the more than 1,000 demonstrators,
but failed to disperse them until about six hours later.
Libya condemned the attack on embassy property and, in an exceptional move,
broadcast pictures of the violence. State television showed firefighters
extinguishing the blaze in the consulate, cars burning, rioters hurling stones,
and wounded men being carried to ambulances.
The riot appeared to be a reaction to Italian Cabinet Minister Roberto
Calderoli, who said this week he would wear a T-shirt printed with the cartoons
satirizing Prophet Mohammad that have provoked protests across the Muslim world.
His remark was widely published in Libya.
Calderoli actually wore the T-shirt underneath a suit on Friday. Hours later,
while the riot was taking place, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi asked
for Calderoli's resignation.
Libyan security officials said 11 people, including police officers, were killed
or wounded. The officials declined to say how many people had died.
Italian diplomat Domenico Bellantone said between 10 and 11 people had died, and
all were Libyan, either police or protesters. He spoke in Tripoli after the
Libyan interior minister had briefed the Italian ambassador on the riot.
Earlier, Italian consular official in Benghazi, Antonio Simoes-Concalves, had
said nine protesters were killed and several more wounded. Libya's second
biggest city, Benghazi is 400 miles (640 kilometers) east of Tripoli.
After clashing with police outside the consulate, the rioters burst into the
grounds and started a fire on the first floor, the Italian Foreign Ministry said
in Rome.
State television showed two cars ablaze, another two gutted by fire, and a
police vehicle with its rear window smashed.
Police fired shots to try to disperse the crowd, security officials said,
speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the
press.
Simoes-Goncalves told The Associated Press in Rome the police officers were not
able to control the crowd, despite firing bullets and tear gas. "They are
still continually firing," he said at 2100 GMT, speaking on the telephone
from inside the consulate where he was holed up. "They haven't managed to
block them."
About 11 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) the rioters dispersed. "The situation
is calm now," said diplomat Bellantone, adding that police had cordoned off
the consulate.
The television did not show police firing, but it screened blue uniformed police
officers carrying Kalashnikov rifles in the street outside the consulate. Nor
did the channel show the rioters setting fire to the building, but the
newscaster told viewers that "some protesters sneaked into the compound and
set part of the consulate on fire."
Simoes-Goncalves said the rioters had torched four cars in the consulate
compound and also broke windows. No Italians were injured during the riot, the
Italian Foreign Ministry said.
The Italian consulate is the only Western diplomatic mission in Benghazi.
There was no demonstration outside the Italian Embassy in Tripoli, a possible
indication of greater state control in the capital. Politics is tightly
controlled in Libya, and open dissent is rare.
The Italian ambassador to Tripoli met late Friday with the Libyan interior
minister "who expressed the condemnation of his government for the acts of
violence occurring in Benghazi," the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a
statement.
Numerous riots and demonstrations have broken out in Muslim countries in recent
weeks over 12 cartoons on the Prophet Mohammad that first appeared in a Danish
newspaper in September. They were republished in many other European newspapers
earlier this month.
http://www.tou-o.com/informations-3-9091.html
L'affaire
des caricatures continue d'enflammer le monde
Par Thierry, publié le
Samedi 18 Février 2006
Les caricatures de Mahomet
continuent de provoquer à travers le monde de l'indignation mais aussi des
violences et des retombées politiques.
A Benghazi, deuxième ville de Libye, la police a ouvert le feu hier soir sur
des manifestants qui tentaient de prendre d'assaut le consulat d'Italie. Le
bilan de dix morts est le plus lourd depuis le début des manifestations
organisées contre les caricatures de Mahomet dans plusieurs pays musulmans. Le
ministre libyen de l'Intérieur a dû démissionner.
Ces émeutes font suite, à l'heure où la campagne électorale bat son plein en
Italie en vue des législatives d'avril, à une provocation du ministre des
Réformes, qui s'était affiché à la télévision avec un T-shirt sur le dos
reproduisant des caricatures du prophète Mahomet. De nouvelles accusations
contre l'islam aux médias italiens ont également jeté de l'huile sur le feu.
Ce ministre de la Ligue du Nord, mouvement populiste et xénophobe, n'entend pas
s'excuser. "Je ne me sens pas responsable de ces morts",
a-t-il déclaré. "Ce qui est en jeu, c'est la civilisation
occidentale", a-t-il soutenu au quotidien La Repubblica. Il a du
démissionné à la demande du président du Conseil, Silvio Berlusconi.
Ce dernier avait déjà scandalisé le monde arabe en affirmant, deux semaines
après les attentats à New York, le 26 septembre 2001, "la
supériorité de la civilisation occidentale". Il avait éprouvé les
plus grandes difficultés à réparer les conséquences de ces propos.
Beaucoup plus calmement, à Londres, c'est plus de 15.000 manifestants selon la
police, 40.000 selon les organisateurs, qui ont défilés pour dénoncer les
caricatures du prophète publiés par uplusieurs journaux. En fin d'après-midi,
les manifestants ont commencé à se disperser sans qu'aucun incident n'ait
été signalé.
Le gouvernement pakistanais a lui interdit aujourd'hui tout rassemblement ce
week-end à Islamabad mais une coalition de partis religieux a maintenu son
appel à manifester demain dans la capitale. Au moins cinq personnes sont mortes
dans les émeutes qui ont éclaté dans différentes villes du Pakistan lors de
manifestations contre ces dessins. Le ministre pakistanais de l'Information a
expliqué que les autorités avaient interdit les rassemblements par crainte de
nouvelles violences.
De nouveaux rassemblements contre
la publication de caricatures du prophète Mahomet en Europe ont dégénéré
aujourd'hui dans le nord du Nigeria, à Maiduguri, capitale de l'Etat de Borno,
et dans la ville de Katsina, capitale de l'Etat du même nom, en violences
interconfessionnelles qui ont fait 16 morts.
Les violences ont commencé quand la police a tiré des gaz lacrymogènes pour
disperser des manifestants, rassemblés à l'appel d'une organisation islamique.
Des émeutiers s'en sont alors pris à la communauté chrétienne de la ville en
brûlant et en pillant des églises ainsi que des magasins tenus par des
chrétiens. "Nous avons arrêté 115 personnes. Une quinzaine de
personnes ont été tuées par les émeutiers et 11 églises brûlées,"
a déclaré un porte-parole de la police.
Il s'agit des premières victimes enregistrées depuis le début du mouvement de
protestation contre les caricatures au Nigeria, un pays où les violences
confessionnelles surviennent de façon épisodique.
The
Albuquerque Tribune
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this page, select File then Print from your browser
URL:
http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_world/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19864_4478290,00.html
10 people dead in protest
Italian
consulate set afire during Lybian riots
By
Associated Press
February 18, 2006
TRIPOLI,
Libya - Libyans set fire to the Italian consulate in a riot that left at least
10 people dead, the bloodiest protest yet against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons
that have roiled the Muslim world.
Most of the protests have been in Muslim countries, but
today more than 10,000 people turned out for a march in London, many arriving in
buses from cities around Britain.
The protesters gathered in Trafalgar Square where
speaker after speaker denounced the cartoons, first published in a Danish
newspaper last September then reprinted in European papers in recent weeks in
the name of press freedom.
Also today about 1,000 Muslims protested peacefully in
Indian-controlled Kashmir, carrying banners reading "We love our
Prophet" and "Down with enemies of Islam."
In eastern Pakistan, police opened fire on a mob trying
to burn down shops, the latest in a spate of cartoon protests that have killed
five people in the conservative country. At least four people were injured in
the city of Chaniot, said police officer Mohammad Ishaq.
On Friday, a Pakistani cleric announced a $1 million
bounty for killing the cartoonist. Denmark temporarily closed its embassy in
Pakistan and advised its citizens to leave the country.
At least 29 people have been killed in protests across
the Muslim world.
Libyan security officials said 11 people were killed or
wounded during Friday's riot in the eastern city of Benghazi when police firing
bullets and tear gas tried to contain more than 1,000 demonstrators hurling
rocks and bottles. The casualties included police officers, but the officials
declined to say how many people died.
Rioters charged the consular compound and set fire to
the first floor of the building, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.
Domenico Bellantone, an Italian diplomat, said 10 or 11
people - all Libyan - had died.
The riot appeared to be a reaction to Italian Cabinet
Minister Roberto Calderoli, who said this week he would wear a T-shirt printed
with the cartoons, which have provoked protests across the Muslim world. His
remark was widely published in Libya.
Calderoli wore the T-shirt beneath a suit on Friday.
Hours later, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi asked for his resignation.
The Italian consulate is the only Western diplomatic mission in Benghazi.
In Pakistan, the cleric Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi said
the mosque and the religious school he leads would give a $25,000 reward and a
car for killing the cartoonist who drew the caricatures - considered blasphemous
by many Muslims. He said a local jewelers' association would also give $1
million, but no representative of the association was available to confirm the
offer.
Copyright 2006, The Albuquerque Tribune. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1836409.htm
Nigerian
Muslims riot over cartoon protest, 16 dead
18 Feb 2006 22:41:00 GMT
Source: Reuters
By
Tume Ahemba
LAGOS, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Sixteen people died on
Saturday when Nigerian Muslims protesting against cartoons of the Prophet
Mohammad torched 11 churches and rioted in the north of the country, police
said.
It was the deadliest outbreak of violence so far in
demonstrations which have swept the world over the cartoons, and the first
violent protest in Nigeria, whose 140 million people are divided about equally
between Christians and Muslims.
Police spokesman Haz Iwendi said 15 people were killed
by rioters in the northeastern state of Borno where the churches were burned,
and one person died in similar riots in the north-central state of Katsina.
"The army is assisting the police and a curfew has
been imposed," Iwendi said in reference to the Borno riot.
Police arrested 115 people in the Borno state capital
Maiduguri and 105 in Katsina, he added.
Several hotels, shops and vehicles were also torched in
Maiduguri by the demonstrators who ran wild after police fired teargas to
disperse them, residents said.
"At least 10 churches, some hotels, more than 20
shops and over 10 vehicles were burned by the protesters," one resident
said by phone from Maiduguri.
Joseph Hayab, north-west secretary of the Christian
Association of Nigeria, told Reuters most of those who died were Christians.
"The Muslim group came out to protest and the
security forces tried to ensure it was peaceful, but there were some hoodlums in
the crowd and somehow the security forces shot one or two of them," he
said.
"They went on the rampage, burning shops and
churches of the Christians. The protesters killed the others. Some were even
killed in the churches."
The state government said troops were deployed in the
streets of the capital to restore order. In previous religious riots in Nigeria
the army has been given a shoot-to kill order to restore calm.
The far northeastern state on the edge of Lake Chad is
predominantly Muslim with a sizeable Christian population. The state has
recently seen an increase in Islamic radicalism.
Thousands have been killed in Christian-Muslim clashes
over the last five years in Nigeria. Twelve northern states, including Borno,
introduced Islamic sharia law in 2000 which has contributed to the animosity
between the two religions.
Last week, assembly members in the northwestern state
of Kano burned Danish flags in protest at the publication of the cartoons and
said they would impose a boycott of Danish goods.
The satirical cartoons were first published in a Danish
newspaper last year and reprinted in European newspapers this year, triggering
protests across the Muslim world. (Additional
reporting by Tom Ashby)
Religious violence erupts in Maiduguri
From Agaju Madugba in Kaduna, 02.18.2006
At least one person was killed while five persons sustained various
degrees of injuries in Katsina yesterday when police allegedly shot into a crowd
of demonstrators protesting the planned public hearing on the amendment of the
1999 Constitution which they believed was aimed at creating a third term in
office for President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Also in Maiduguri, about 16 people were reportedly killed as some muslims
protest over cartoons published in Denmark depicting the Holy Prophet Muham-med.
In the Katsina riot, the injured persons including one of the co-ordinators of
the protest, identified as Mallam Hamisu Safana, are currently receiving
treatment at the Katsina General Hospital.
A public relations officer for the Concerned Citizens Against Third Term, Mallam
Sabon Musa Hassan, told THISDAY that, "we were about 20,000 and we were
marching to the Government House to complain to the governor that we do not want
any public hearing concerning the Constitution because we know that the
President wants an amendment to stay for a third term."
"It was a peaceful demonstration. When we got to the roundabout near the
Government House, mobile policemen and opened fire on us. They shot some people
on the leg and our leader received a gun shot on the head. He is in a critical
condition now at the hospital. They did not allow us to see the governor,"
Hassan said.
In Maiduguri, churches and shops were also burnt during the riots which would
have escalated to other parts of the state but for the timely intervention of
the state Governor, Ali Modu Sheriff. Army troops and police reinforcements had
been deployed and a curfew imposed to restore order, police spokesman Haz Iwendi
said.
Hearing on the constitutional review which sparked off the protests in Katsina
will take place in the six geo-political zones between Wednesday and Thursday.
Many Nigerians however harbour suspicion that the key objective of the
constitution review exercise is to extend the tenure of office of President
Obasanjo and some governors now serving their second term in office. The current
1999 Constitution allows a person to serve as president or governor for two
terms of four years each.
Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) has said it would not take any position on
the issue of the alleged plan in some quarters to elongate the tenure of
President Obasanjo beyond 2007.
The EU which has membership drawn from a total of 25 countries however sai it
was the alleged third term issue which is causing ripples in the land closely,
Nigeria.
Speaking at a press briefing to mark the end of its two-day visit to Kaduna
state on Friday, a delegation of EU Heads of Mission in Nigeria, described the
third term issue as an entirely Nigerian internal affair which the union does
not have the competence to deal with.
According to the leader of the delegation who is also the Austrian Ambassador,
Dr. Christian Fellner, “there is no EU position on the third term question and
we have not even discussed it because the EU should not hold any position on
third term.
“It is none of our business, it is an internal matter for Nigeria. The United
States of America can take whatever positions it desires on the matter. But of
course we are following the developments closely and we want to see an outcome
that will increase stability and prospects of good elections in 2007.
“That is a strong interest for us. We are working to promote free and fair
elections by focusing on voter education especially at the grassroots level.”
Fellner said that the EU was equally committed to the control of corruption and
corrupt practices in the polity, a development which he noted informed the union’s
contribution of the sum of N4 billion to the Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC).
He said,“that the donation gives you an indication of the importance we attach
to strengthening the institution. With this help, we believe the EFCC will be in
a better position to track funds that were transferred out of Nigeria illegally.
This is one of the direct ways of helping Nigeria to fight corruption.”
Fellner condemned developments in the Niger Delta noting however that hostage
taking would not solve problems in the area. According to him, the EU, in
collaboration with some other agencies, had embarked on a number of measures to
disarm militant groups in the Niger Delta.
He said, “we at the European Union also believe that we should promote the
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative [EITI], to promote transparency
and accountability regarding revenues from oil and gas exploitations.”
http://www.edicom.ch/news/international/060219043532.su.shtml
19 février 4:35
Caricatures
de Mahomet: des responsables religieux arrêtés au Pakistan avant une grande
manifestation
ISLAMABAD (AP) -
Plusieurs responsables musulmans pakistanais ont été arrêtés ou assignés à
résidence par la police dimanche afin d'empêcher une grande manifestation à
Islamabad contre la publication de caricatures du prophète Mahomet dans la
presse occidentale.
Selon Mian Maqsood, porte-parole d'une coalition de six partis religieux, «des
centaines» de personnes ont été arrêtées. Le ministre de l'Intérieur Aftab
Khan Sherpao a de son côté indiqué que seulement une vingtaine avaient été
arrêtées pour empêcher la manifestation prévue dans la journée dans la
capitale pakistanaise.
Samedi, les autorités pakistanaises avaient décidé d'interdire les
rassemblements dans plusieurs villes de l'est du pays, où des émeutes ont fait
des morts la semaine dernière. Au total, cinq personnes ont été tuées dans
tout le Pakistan lors de manifestations contre la publication des caricatures de
Mahomet.
Les organisateurs du rassemblement d'Islamabad ont toutefois maintenu leur appel
à manifester dimanche.
Parmi les responsables religieux arrêtés ou assignés à leur résidence
figurent Qazi Hussain Ahmad, chef de la coalition de six partis et Mian Mohammed
Aslam, député affilié à cette coalition. AP
http://www.matin.qc.ca/canada.php?article=20060218220147
Le
18 février 2006 - 22:01
Des
centaines de personnes manifestent contre les caricatures de Mahomet
Presse
Canadienne
Le
centre-ville de Vancouver a retenti du son des chants islamiques, samedi,
lorsque des centaines de personnes se sont réunies pour manifester
pacifiquement contre des caricatures présentant le prophète Mahomet comme un
terroriste.
Tous
ceux qui ont pris la parole ont dénoncé ces caricatures, publiées en
septembre dernier par un journal danois, le Jyllands-Posten. Ils ont affirmé
que l'objectif des dessins était d'abaisser et d'insulter les musulmans.
Plusieurs
se sont montrés indignés que les défenseurs des caricatures invoquent la
liberté de presse pour justifier leur publication, à l'étranger et au Canada
_ dans le cas d'une publication albertaine, le Western Standard.
"Nous
reconnaissons que nous sommes dans une société démocratique et que nous
devons respecter la liberté de presse, a affirmé Mohamed Shafiq à la foule.
Toutefois, nous devons respecter les droits des autres. Il faudrait faire preuve
de responsabilité quand ces droits sont invoqués."
Au
cours des dernières semaines, plusieurs manifestations et émeutes ont eu lieu
à travers le monde à cause de ces caricatures.
Par
ailleurs, un journal étudiant de l'Université de Toronto a refusé de se
rétracter après avoir publié une caricature montrant Mahomet embrassant
Jésus.
Nick
Ragaz, représentant du journal, a refusé de retirer des présentoirs
l'édition courante du journal, dans laquelle le dessin est publié.
Il
a affirmé que la publication de la caricature avait pour but de susciter un
débat et ne devait pas être perçue comme faisant la promotion de la violence
ou de la haine raciale.
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Libya/194818
Posted: 19-02-2006 , 08:10 GMT
Libya: Mourning day for victims of cartoon protest
Libya's
parliamentary secretariat suspended interior minister and referred him for
investigation after riots in the city of Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of
at least 11 people. Sunday was declared a day of mourning for "our martyr
sons," an official statement has said.
the six-hour
riot took place on Friday outside the Italian consulate, where more than 1,000
demonstrators gathered in an angry protest, apparently in reaction to an Italian
Cabinet minister who said he would wear a T-shirt printed with the cartoons
satirizing Prophet Muhammad.
The
crowd hurled rocks and bottles before storming the building and setting fire
to it and cars nearby.
Police
used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse the protestors.
The
Italian Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli resigned Saturday after being blamed
by Libya for sparking the protests, ANSA news agency reported. The
49-year-old minister drew strong criticism from his colleagues in the cabinet
for wearing the T-shirt and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had asked to step
down.
©
2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
http://en.ljbc.net/online/news_details.php?id=1394
Libya riots – Update
Foreigners
among the dead, wounded sent abroad for treatment
2006-02-19
The
final death toll of Friday’s riot in Benghazi is 11 dead and 69 wounded, 25 of
them are in critical situation, sources at the People's Committee for Health in
Benghazi confirmed.
A number of non-Libyan citizens were among the victims of the incident
that occurred in front of the Italian consulate in Benghazi
The sources said that among the dead were one Syrian of a Palestinian origin and
one Palestinian.
“ two Syrians, two Palestinians, four Egyptians and one Sudanese were injured
during the riot,” the sources confirmed.
The sources indicated that work was underway to verify whether still there are
more non-Libyans among the injured and the dead.
Meanwhile, a special plane carrying four of the wounded people in the
demonstration left Benina International Airport Saturday night for treatment
abroad.
The departure of the plane with the wounded for treatment abroad is in line with
the decision of the General People's Committee to send the cases -that require
so- abroad for treatment.
The General Coordinator of the Social People's Leaderships in Libya and the
Assistant Secretary of the General people's Committee accompanied by the
Coordinator of the Social People's Leaderships in Benghazi and the Secretary of
the People's Congress in the city, made a visit on Saturday to al-Jala hospital
for Surgery and Accidents in Benghazi where citizens who suffered injuries are
being treated as a result of the clashes between police and the people who
marched towards the Italian consulate.
The General Coordinator of the SPLs and the Assistant of the GPC were reassured
about the health conditions of those wounded.
The General Coordinator of the SPLs said what has happened in front of the
Italian Consulate in Benghazi on Friday will not go without investigation. He
confirmed that immediate instructions has been made to send the injured whose
conditions require treatment abroad as soon as possible.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1420364.cms
45 killed in Nigeria cartoon riots
[
Sunday, February 19, 2006 04:35:45 pm IANS
]
ABUJA:
The Nigerian government deployed troops in the northeastern parts of the country
on Sunday as the death toll from the previous day's riots over the controversial
Prophet Mohammed cartoons rose to 45.
Police reports said 42 people have been arrested in the city of Maiduguri,
capital city of Borneo state and the scene of Saturday's riots.
Soldiers have been deployed amid fears that rioters could regroup or strike in
another city in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north.
Mufutau Ogunyemi, an undergraduate student at the University of Maiduguri, told
DPA on Sunday that there was calm in the city as foot soldiers and armoured
vehicles patrolled the streets.
"Figures of arrests have been contradictory. While some said 30 were
arrested, others put the figure at close to 100. A Christian policeman and a
pastor are hiding in our house now," he said.
"We are lucky that our landlord, an indigenous ethnic Kanuri, is a liberal
Muslim and chose to still accommodate us," he added.
Most of the victims of Saturday's violence were Christians or other non-Muslims.
Rioters razed 18 churches during the protests and at least 17 houses were set
alight.
Thousands of demonstrators took part in Saturday's rally to protest the cartoons
of Prophet Mohammed, published last year by a Danish newspaper.
http://www.edicom.ch/news/international/060219195933.su.shtml
19 février 19:59
Caricatures
de Mahomet: les autorités ont bouclé Islamabad pour empêcher toute
manifestation de masse
ISLAMABAD (AP) -
La police pakistanaise a pratiquement bouclé la capitale Islamabad, dimanche,
réussissant à empêcher le grand rassemblement de protestation contre les
caricatures de Mahomet auquel avaient appelé les formations islamistes.
Les autorités avaient pris les devants dès la veille en envoyant la police
effectuer des descentes dans trois villes du pays dans la nuit de samedi à
dimanche, procédant à des centaines d'interpellations et assignations à
résidence, y compris parmi des députés.
La police avait bloqué les voies d'accès à la capitale et annoncé que toute
personne participant à un rassemblement de plus de cinq personnes serait
arrêtée.
La tentative de rassemblement elle-même a donné lieu à une dispersion
musclée, à coups de grenades lacrymogènes et de tirs en l'air. Les
affrontements ont duré trois heures, les manifestants tentant de pénétrer
dans l'enclave diplomatique de la capitale.
Les autorités craignaient une répétition des émeutes qui ont fait cinq morts
dans deux villes la semaine dernière.
C'est une coalition de formations islamiques, le Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) ou
Forum d'action uni, qui appelait à descendre dans la rue. Le MMA est proche des
anciens talibans afghans et farouchement anti-américain.
Le chef de l'opposition, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, qui avait dénoncé cette
interdiction de manifester comme inconstitutionnelle, a été autorisé tenir un
petit meeting avec huit autres députés et quelques partisans. Les participants
ont scandé quelques slogans tels que «Dieu est grand!» et «tout ami de
l'Amérique est un traître».
Le président du Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, entretient de bonnes résolutions
avec Washington.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DF497FB6-9712-4536-9D81-358A124AA96B.htm
Fifteen killed in Nigerian cartoon riots
Sunday
19 February 2006, 0:53 Makka Time, 21:53 GMT
Nigerian rioters have killed at least 15 people after a protest
against the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad descended into
violence, a police spokesman says.
Witnesses told reporters that protesters turned on the Christian
minority in the northern city of Maiduguri on Saturday, burning shops and
churches, after police dispersed a rally called to condemn European newspapers
that printed the caricatures.
A police spokesman, Deputy Commissioner Haz Iwendi, told reporters
that army troops and police reinforcements had been deployed to the city and
that a curfew had been imposed to bring about a return to order.
"We've arrested 115 people. Some 15 persons were killed by rioters,
and 11 churches burnt," he said.
The victims were the first to die in Nigeria as anger over the drawings
of Islam's prophet mounts among its 60 million Muslims, roughly half the
population.
Police action
Mohammed Auwal, a civil servant, told reporters by telephone: "When
the protesters gathered for the protest at Ramat square they were ordered by a
police detachment to disperse but the crowd insisted on holding the
protest."
"The policemen then fired canisters of teargas to disperse the
crowd.
"When news went into town about what happened at the square, a mob attacked
motor spare-parts shops of Christian Igbo traders at Monday market in the city,
looting and burning them," Auwalu said.
A local reporter, Abdullahi Bego, told reporters from the scene that
at least 20 shops had been looted and vandalised and churches had been burned to
the ground.
"There are a lot of anti-riot police squad all over the city and their
presence has helped quell the rampage," Bego said. Ibrahim Bukar, a
student, said: "I have been indoors since the riots broke out, but a friend
told me he saw two dead bodies at the scene of the looting."
Muslim anger
In recent weeks there have been protests around the world -some peaceful, some
violent - by Muslims angry over the publication in European newspapers of
cartoons satirising Islam's holiest figure, Prophet Muhammad.
In a radio broadcast following the violence, Ali Modu Sheriff, the
local governor, said: "The Borno State government is shocked and
disgusted."
Sheriff, a Muslim like the vast majority of Borno State residents, said
that while he sympathised with the feelings of Muslims offended by the cartoons,
Nigerian Christians should in no way be blamed for them.
He promised that the perpetrators of the violence would be punished.
In Abuja, Frank Nweke, the Nigerian information minister, called on
religious leaders to rein in their angry followers.
Call for calm
"The federal government, while it does not begrudge any group the right to
defend their faith and religion, also believes that certain actions - such
as burning of churches - are not the best way," he told reporters.
Northern Nigeria is overwhelmingly Muslim, but major cities have
significant Christian minorities, mainly members of the Igbo ethnic group who
operate successful small businesses, trading especially in car parts and
alcohol.
Since 1999 a dozen northern states, including Borno, have attempted to
reintroduce Islamic Sharia law, exacerbating latent tensions between the
communities and triggering several bloody riots.
Sometimes external factors such as the cartoon controversy trigger the
fighting. In September 2001 news of the attack by al-Qaida hijackers on New York
and Washington rekindled unrest in Jos which killed 915 people.
And in 2002 an attempt to stage the Miss World beauty contest in Nigeria
offended conservative Muslims and led to a riot which left 220 dead.
http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/200602200123.html
Mayhem in Borno Over Controversial Cartoon
Daily Champion (Lagos)
NEWS
February 19, 2006
Posted to the web February 20, 2006
By Raymond Gukas
Maiduguri
AT
least three persons were feared dead and property worth millions of naira burnt
Saturday when Muslims took to the streets of Maiduguri, Borno State capital
denouncing recent anti-Islamic cartoons published by a newspaper in Denmark.
Several
churches including Saint Mary Catholic Church near the federal low cost housing
estate, Winners Chapel, Bulumkutu and St. Augustine Anglican Church on Lagos
Street were burnt in the mayhem.
Borno
State governor, Ali Modu Sheriff in his response to the demonstration drafted a
combined team of soldiers and anti-riot policemen to contain the situation.
Trouble
started when one of the policemen drafted to the venue of a public lecture on
"The Personality of the Holy Prophet" allegedly fired a cannister of
tear gas to disperse a gathering who caught a pick pocket and were bent on
lynching the suspect.
The
event was slated for the Ramat Square, Maiduguri.
The
tear gas, it was gathered provoked the violent crisis as some miscreants and
almajiris took advantage of the commotion to destroy and loot private
properties, setting ablaze shops, houses and churches in the process.
Efforts
by Senator Sheriff to bring the situation under control failed at the first
attempt as scores of miscreants chanting "Allahu Akbar" blocked his
convoy thereby disrupting further movement on the busy post office area through
Dandal Way.
However,
during a second attempt to douse tension, Governor Sheriff detailed security
caution and drove to the Maimalari Military Barracks where he secured the
release of a contingent of military personnel who helped quell the riot.
Although
the police deserted the troubled spots, a source at the state police command
confirmed that some policemen who were injured were receiving treatment at the
police clinic.
It
was learnt that the Muslim Forum had earlier obtained police and security
service permission to organise the lecture which they urged muslim Umma in the
state to show solidarity by mobilising muslims to grace the event where Islamic
scholars were expected to deliver papers.
A
visibly disturbed Governor Sheriff had after touring the troubled spots in the
metropolis in company of security chiefs later went into a marathon security
meeting which ended in a state wide broadcast in local electronic media.
In
the broadcast, the governor sympathised with muslim faithful in the state over
the offending cartoon, but warned that the government would not fold its arm to
watch undesirable elements cause havoc.
He
said security personnel have been placed on red alert and all those involved in
the violent acts would be brought to book and call for calm as steps have been
taken to deal decisively with the situation.
A
high level committee he said would be seek up to look into the remote and
immediate cause by the riot and urged the people to remain peaceful and go about
their normal duties.
Meanwhile
the state police commissioner, Mohammed Abubakar shortly after the broadcast
that the miscreants overpowered his men at the initial stage that was why the
violence lasted that long.
http://www.11alive.com/news/usnews_article.aspx?storyid=76344
Hundreds
Arrested in Pakistan Protests
Last Modified: 2/19/2006 11:03:06
PM
By
MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press Writer
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP)- Pakistani security forces arrested hundreds of Islamic
hard-liners, virtually sealed off the capital and used gunfire and tear gas
Sunday to quell protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Pakistan had banned protests after riots killed five people in two cities last
week.
Elsewhere in the Muslim world on Sunday, demonstrators with wooden staves and
stones tried unsuccessfully to storm the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia, while tens
of thousands rallied in the Turkish city of Istanbul and complained about
negative Western perceptions of Islam.
Troops patrolled the deserted streets of the northern Nigerian town of
Maiduguri, where thousands of Muslims attacked Christians and burned churches
Saturday, killing at least 15 people during a protest over the cartoons. Most of
the victims were beaten to death by rioters.
In Saudi Arabia, newspapers ran full-page apologies by Jyllands-Posten, the
Danish newspaper that first ran the caricatures in September. The newspaper's
Web site said businesses placed the ad on their own initiative, using an apology
issued by the newspaper late last month. It did not identify the companies or
say if they were Danish.
Boycotts of Danish products throughout the Muslim world have taken a heavy toll
on Denmark's exporters, especially those selling Denmark's famed dairy products.
The cartoons, which have been reprinted by other Western publications, have
outraged Muslims. But protests over the past three weeks have grown into a
broader anger against the West in general, and Israel and the United States in
particular.
Demonstrations have turned increasingly violent and claimed at least 45 lives
worldwide, including 11 in Afghanistan during a three-day span two weeks ago and
10 on Friday in the Libyan coastal city of Benghazi. The Libyan riot outside the
Italian consulate apparently was sparked by a right-wing Italian Cabinet
minister who wore a T-shirt with a caricature of Muhammad.
On Sunday, thousands of police and paramilitary troops manned armored personnel
carriers and sandbag bunkers in and around Islamabad to block a planned rally
organized by a coalition of hardline Islamic parties that sympathizes with the
former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and is fiercely anti-American.
As roadblocks went up around the capital, authorities declared they would arrest
anyone joining a gathering of more than five people.
Maulana Fazlur Rahman, an opposition leader who denounced the government ban as
unconstitutional, was allowed to stage a small rally with eight other opposition
lawmakers and a few supporters. They chanted "God is great!" and
"Any friend of America is a traitor."
But police fired tear gas and guns to chase off hundreds of stone-throwing
protesters who tried to join the rally and then enter an enclave where most
foreign embassies are. The three-hour clash left the street littered with rocks
and spent tear gas shells. An Associated Press reporter saw two injured police,
one bleeding from his head, and several injured protesters.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said police used tear gas, but denied they
fired guns. The private Geo TV network said officers fired rubber bullets.
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, a top leader of the hardline Islamic coalition, the Mutahida
Majlis-e-Amal (United Action Forum), was confined to his Lahore residence and
others were detained or told to stay at home, police said.
"These people could create problems of law and order," said Chaudhry
Shafqaat Ahmed, chief investigator of the Lahore police.
In Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, police said 15,000 coalition supporters,
most wearing white shrouds of mourning splashed with red paint to symbolize
their willingness to die defending the prophet's honor, rallied peacefully.
Twelve-year-old Amar Ahmed joined the protest, carrying a sign reading, "O
Allah, give me courage to kill the blasphemer."
Hundreds of Muslims burned a church in the southern city of Sukkur. No
worshippers were inside at the time, but one person was hurt afterward when
police fired tear gas.
Local police chief Akbar Arian said the riot was not sparked by the cartoons but
by allegations that a local Christian had burned pages of Islam's holy book, the
Quran — another sign of the heightened sectarian tensions in this
overwhelmingly Muslim nation.
In Indonesia, about 400 people marched to the heavily fortified U.S. Embassy in
central Jakarta behind a banner that read, "We are ready to attack the
enemies of the prophet."
Brandishing wooden staves and lobbing stones, they tried to storm the gates.
They also set fire to U.S. flags and a poster of President Bush, and smashed the
windows of a guard outpost before dispersing after a few minutes.
The U.S. Embassy condemned the attack as "thuggery."
In Istanbul, tens of thousands joined a protest organized by the Islamic
Felicity Party, whose leaders shouted over loudspeakers that the crowd
symbolized the anger of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims and urged them to
"resist oppression." Protesters chanted slogans against Denmark,
Israel and the United States.
Ethem Erkovan, a 47-year-old participant who held a banner in one hand and his
daughter in the other, accused Western nations of maligning Islam. "They
are the ones who are trying to depict the expanding Islamic community as
terrorists, though all we want is peace," he said.
Associated Press writers Sadaqat Jan in Islamabad, C. Onur Ant in Istanbul, Ali
Kotarumalos in Jakarta and Abdullah al-Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
contributed to this report.
(Copyright
2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights
Reserved.)
http://archquo.nouvelobs.com/cgi/articles?ad=/20060219.OBS7211.html&datebase=20060221
20 FEVRIER
Nigéria
: marche interdite
Après les émeutes
anti-chrétiennes de samedi qui ont fait quinze morts, un Etat du Nord du pays a
interdit la tenue d'une manifestation lundi.
|
L'Etat de Gombe, dans
le nord du Nigeria, a interdit lundi 20 février la tenue d'une manifestation
organisée par des musulmans qui souhaitaient protester contre la publication en
Europe de caricatures du prophète Mahomet.
"Nous n'allons pas autoriser la manifestation contre les caricature
danoises prévue aujourd'hui", a déclaré le chef de la police de Gombe,
Atiku Yusuf.
"C'est dans l'intérêt de la paix", a-t-il ajouté, reconnaissant
qu'il faut "trouver un compromis avec les libertés d'expression et
d'association quand la paix civile est en jeu".
"Nous avons déployé nos hommes dans toute la ville pour s'assurer que
personne ne trouble la paix et cause des problèmes", a-t-il ajouté,
depuis Gombe, capitale de cet Etat voisin de l'Etat de Borno.
Une quinzaine de morts
Des manifestations de protestation contre les caricatures de Mahomet ont
dégénéré samedi dans le nord-est du pays. Elles ont fait une quinzaine de
morts, ont annoncé les autorités. Selon des témoins, trois enfants et un
prêtre catholique figurent parmi les victimes.
Les manifestants ont pris à partie des chrétiens et ont incendié leurs
commerces et des églises, selon des témoins.
Quinze églises ont été brûlées dans la localité de Maiduguri, a indiqué
la police.
L'armée et la police ont été déployées pour rétablir l'ordre et plusieurs
dizaines de personnes ont été interpellées.
Il s'agit de la première manifestation d'importance provoquée par les
caricatures dépeignant le prophète de l'islam et parues dans quelques journaux
européens dans le pays le plus peuplé d'Afrique. La population du Nigeria est
estimé à 130 millions d'habitants pour moitié musulmane au Nord, chrétienne
et animiste au Sud.
Machettes, bâtons et barres de fer
Un journaliste de l'agence Associated Press (AP) présent sur place a vu des
groupes de protestataires essaimer dans le centre de Maiduguri, armés de
machettes, de bâtons et de barres de fer. Un groupe a fait subir le supplice du
collier à un malheureux en lui jetant un pneu autour du coup, en l'aspergeant
d'essence avant de lui mettre le feu.
D'après Chima Ezeoke, un chrétien de Maiduguri, les manifestants ont pillé
des commerces appartenant à des chrétiens. "La plupart des morts sont des
chrétiens battus à mort dans la rue par les émeutiers", selon ce
témoin.
Les affrontements entre les deux communautés religieuses sont assez fréquentes
au Nigeria. (AP)
http://www.nettali.com/article.php3?id_article=459
Caricatures du
Prophète Mahommet (PSL)
Emeutes meutrières au Nigéria
Nettali.com |20 février 2006 | 04:31
Emeutiers dans l’état de Borno
Les
caricatures de Les récentes caricatures du Prophète Mahommed ont entraîné
une vague importante de violence ce week-end, au Nigéria. A Lagos, la capitale
du Nigéria, les rapports de police annoncèrent 144 arrestations lors de scène
de violence qui se sont déroulées ce samedi. L’armée a été appelée en
renfort pour éviter que les émeutes gagnent d’autres villes du nord.
L’appel
au calme de la Jama Ahmadiyya rappelant que "la vrai mission du Prophète s’adressait
à tout le monde pronant calme et tolérance vis à vis toute forme de
provocation" ciblant ainsi les faits derniers concernant les caricatures du
prophète, n’auront pas suffit à contenir l’envergure du phénomène.
Plus
grave, dans l’état du Borno, plus d’une dizaine de morts a été
décomptée ainsi que l’incendie de 46 églises, 22 cars et plus de 40
magasins appartenant à de non musulmans lors d’une manifestation organisée
à l’encontre du Danemark et des médias danois.
Cette
marche s’était pourtant annoncée pacifiste mais la tension qui ornait le
défilé a toute de suite pris le dessus lorsque les policiers intervinrent pour
sauver un pick pocket lynché par la foule. Pour repousser les assaillants, les
forces de l’ordre ont lancé des bombes lachrymogènes en vain. Les jeunes s’encouragèrent
en chantant des versets et criant des slogans anti-gouvernementalistes. Puis
brutalement, la foule assoiffée de haine s’attaqua aux églises et autres
biens suspectés d’appartenir à des catholiques ou protestants.
Les
autorités déplorent la mort de 17 personnes dont un religieux catholique. Le
gouverneur de l’état de Borno, Ali Modu Sheriff, demande à la communauté
chrétienne de ne pas franchir le pas de la violence et assure que la crise sera
résolue avec l’aide fédérale.
Ces
émeutes s’inscrivent dans un climat de violence où le Nigéria est
confronté depuis plus d’une semaine à des troubles au niveau des compagnies
pétrolières.
Daily
Independent (Lagos)
http://www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/fr1/Articolo.asp?c=67033
20/02/2006 10.12.03
Explosion de violences en Libye et au Nigeria
(RV-lundi 20 février 2006) 44 morts : c’est le bilan de
l’explosion de violences qui a suivi la publication des caricatures de Mahomet
ces deux dernières semaines, dans le monde musulman. En Libye, on s’apprete
à célébrer aujourd’hui les funérailles des 11 victimes des émeutes de
Benghazi, vendredi. Tandis qu'au Nigeria, le couvre feu a été renforcé ; au
cours des violences de ces derniers jours, les chrétiens ont été visés
directement. 11 églises ont été brûlées et 16 personnes tuées, samedi.
Death
toll in Maiduguri crisis now 16 - Curfew imposed
DEATH toll in Maiduguri religious riot which broke out
on Saturday has risen to 16. Among those killed was a Catholic priest, Mike
Gajere, who was burnt to ashes at St. Rita’s Catholic Church, Maiduguri.
Also, during the incident, no fewer than 15 churches
were razed while shops, hotels, houses and several cars belonging to Christians
were destroyed by the Muslim fanatics who were seen in large numbers at
different locations of the town, shouting war songs and carrying dangerous
weapons.
Nigerian Tribune investigations further revealed that
many of the people killed were burnt beyond recognition. The killings, according
to an eyewitness, started at the Ramat Square, Maiduguri, where a public lecture
on the personality of the Prophet Mohammed, which was organised by Muslim Forum,
the umbrella body of all Islamic organisations, was being held.
According to the eyewitness, as the public lecture
which had in attendance prominent Islamic scholars was going on, a pick pocket
was said to have been caught and was taken to the police station.
On the way to the police station, a group of people
followed the policemen who were taking the suspected thief to the station,
insisting that he (pick pocket) must be lynched.
In the ensuing struggle, one of the policemen was said
to have thrown a tear gas canister at them. The mob then went wild and started
damaging things. The riots in Nigeria are the first violent protests in the
country over the cartoons.
Also, reports from the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) said the protest had begun peacefully in Maiduguri, and it was not clear
what started the violence. The city’s residents described demonstrators
running wild after police tried to disperse the protest with tear gas.
Crowds of protesters carried machetes, sticks and iron
rods through the city centre, the Associated Press news agency reported. One
group threw a tyre around one man, poured petrol on him and set him ablaze, it
said.
Christian leader, Joseph Hayab, told Reuters agency
that most of those who died had been Christians. “The Muslim group came out to
protest and the security forces tried to ensure it was peaceful, but there were
some hoodlums in the crowd and somehow, the security forces shot one or two of
them,” said Mr Hayab.
“They went on the rampage, burning shops and churches
of the Christians. The protesters killed the others. Some were even killed in
the churches.” Soldiers have been deployed and a curfew imposed. Around 115
people were arrested in Maiduguri and 105 in Katsina.
Borno State governor, Modu Sheriff, said the state “was
shocked and disgusted” by “the civil disturbance” in Maiduguri.
http://www.sunnewsonline.com/webpages/features/newsonthehour/2006/feb/20/newsbreak-20-02-2006-001.htm
Maiduguri
mayhem: 58 killed, 30 churches burnt
By Tony
Icheku, Maiduguri
Monday,
February 20, 2006
No fewer
than 58 persons were killed and 30 churches burnt as the protest in Maiduguri,
Borno State, over controversial cartoons published in Europe on Prophet Muhammed
turned violent.
A
victim, Mr Joseph Tukwa watched helplessly as six of his children were burnt to
ashes. Another family of five in another part of Maiduguri were also burnt to
death in the disturbance which occurred last Saturday.
In a
reaction, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Borno State chapter has
accused the police command of complicity in the crisis. The state chairman, Rev.
Joshua Adamu revealed that over 68 persons were reported dead and churches
numbering about 30 burnt in various parts of the city.
Altogether,
he estimated that the CAN corporate members have suffered greatly, putting the
loss at over N5 billion .
According
to the state secretary, Rev Niven Mshelia, the police failed to act promptly to
nip the crisis in the bud. Rev Mshelia told journalists that the police failed
to provide security while the hoodlums were gathering, and for over three hours
disappeared from the city of Maiduguri while the havoc was going on.
Daily
Sun counted over 50 shops and three hotels belonging to southerners which were
either burnt, looted or destroyed. Dr. Anthony Uba who led the delegation of
Igbo Community Welfare Association to meet with Governor Sheriff at the
Government House, told journalists that the damage in terms of lives lost and
property damaged was extensive and yet to be estimated. “We are now seeking
hope, shelter and food for the homeless,” he said.
Rev
Mshelia, however, asserted that southerners were the main target, and they
greatly suffered during the crisis, which lasted over six hours.
The
state commissioner of police, Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed said the police has on
its record 17 deaths, while they have arrested 144 suspects. He also confirmed
that 30 churches were completely burnt down.
The
first 11 people whose death were actually confirmed, a priest and his personal
assistant, were burnt to death at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Olokutu area of
Maiduguri.
Sources
at the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital also confirmed that more than
35 corpses were received at the hospital mortuary. However, the sources declined
disclosing their identities.
Prominent
on the list of churches destroyed include newly completed multi-million naira
two-storey building of the Living Faith Church, which premises houses a nursery
and primary school,
The
Deeper Life Church also lost its state headquarters, while the Catholic Church
lost over 10 church compounds housing church halls, offices and residents for
its priests and other church workers.
Governor
Sheriff in a speech on Saturday warned that there would be no sacred cow in
dealing with the culprits caught in the crisis.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20060220.FIG000000409_nigeria_des_islamistes_font_la_chasse_aux_chretiens.html
Nigeria
: des islamistes font la chasse aux chrétiens
20
février 2006
Caricatures : une manifestation a dégénéré dans la ville de
Maiduguri, où quinze chrétiens ont été tués et onze églises brûlées.
L'INSTRUMENTALISATION politique, par les formations
islamistes, de la publication – déjà ancienne – de caricatures de Mahomet
dans un journal danois, n'en finit pas de tuer. Au Nigeria, samedi, elle a
provoqué la mort de quinze chrétiens – qui n'avaient bien sûr rien à voir
avec ces caricatures – et brûlé onze églises.
C'est la ville à majorité musulmane de Maiduguri, située
au nord du grand pays anglophone de l'Afrique de l'Ouest, qui fut le théâtre
de ce massacre. Tout a commencé par une manifestation, qui avait été appelée
par une organisation islamique. Initialement, les manifestants s'étaient
rassemblés pour écouter leur leader, qui a dénoncé les caricatures du
Prophète, et appelé à la punition des responsables de leur publication. Les
violences ont commencé après que la police eut tiré des gaz lacrymogènes
pour disperser les manifestants. Des émeutiers s'en sont alors pris à la
communauté chrétienne de la ville, brûlant et pillant les églises, ainsi que
les magasins tenus par les chrétiens.
Instauration d'un couvre-feu
Le Nigeria, pays fédéral grand comme presque deux fois la
France, compte 130 millions d'habitants, dont 60 millions de musulmans et autant
de chrétiens. Le nord du pays est très majoritairement musulman, mais
d'importantes minorités chrétiennes sont installées dans ses principales
villes. Ces chrétiens sont presque tous des Ibos (principale ethnie du Sud-Est
du pays).
Le gouvernement fédéral de Lagos a instauré, dès samedi
soir, le couvre-feu dans tout le nord du Nigeria. Policiers et militaires
effectuent des patrouilles conjointes dans cette ville de Maiduguri, capitale de
l'Etat fédéré de Borno, située à l'extrême nord-est du pays (à 200
kilomètres à vol d'oiseau de N'Djamena).
La ville de Katsina, capitale de l'Etat du même nom,
située à l'extrême nord du pays, a elle aussi été le théâtre, samedi, de
violentes manifestations islamistes. Mais elles ont été moins meurtrières
qu'à Maiduguri (un émeutier tué par balle par la police).
«Nous appelons tous les Nigérians, quelle que soit
leur croyance, à suivre le chemin de la paix», a déclaré samedi soir le
ministre fédéral de l'Information. «Le gouvernement, qui ne refuse à
aucun groupe le droit de défendre sa foi et sa religion, pense que certains
actes, comme le fait de brûler des églises, ne constituent pas le meilleur
moyen de le faire», a ajouté le ministre, dans un bel exemple d'understatement
britannique.
Après son indépendance en 1963, le Nigeria ne connut
pratiquement que des régimes militaires. Depuis 1999 et le retour à un régime
civil, plusieurs Etats du nord de la fédération ont instauré la charia (loi
islamique), provoquant souvent des violences contre les minorités chrétiennes.
Après les attentats islamistes du 11 septembre 2001 aux
Etats-Unis, des affrontements entre musulmans et chrétiens avaient fait 915
morts à Jos, capitale de l'Etat du Plateau (centre du pays). En 2002, le
concours de Miss Monde, prévu au Nigeria, avait été annulé et transféré en
Grande-Bretagne après des émeutes de musulmans fondamentalistes, qui avaient
fait 220 morts.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/february06/20022006/f220022006.html
Mayhem:
Troops deployed in Maiduguri, Katsina
By
Rotimi Ajayi, Bala Ajiya & Tanimu Dogare
Posted to the Web: Monday, February 20, 2006
MAIDUGURI
— TROOPS were deployed in Maiduguri and Katsina, Saturday, after protests over
cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed triggered riots in which 16 people died
and 11 churches burnt.
Fifteen of the victims died in the Maiduguri riots and the remaining one in
Katsina when police opened fire into a crowd of stone-throwers. The police
also arrested 220 suspects and a curfew imposed.
Some residents of Maiduguri have been fleeing the state on account of the riots.
The Borno State government, reacting to the riots, set up a high-powered
administrative committee to probe the unrest which it described as unfortunate
and condemnable.
Christians
in the North Central Zone deplored the riots and said they would not fold arms
while they are being attacked.
Trouble had first broken out in Katsina when the crowd began protesting against
rumours that President Olusegun Obasanjo might change the constitution to
allow him to stand for a third term.
But in both incidents, the protesters had initially gathered to hear Islamic
leaders denounce the cartoons and to call for their publishers to be
punished.
“The situation out there is regrettable,” Information Minister Frank Nweke
said Saturday in Abuja after a meeting with President Obasanjo.
“The
Federal Government, while it does not begrudge any group the right to defend
their faith and their religion, it also believes that certain actions–
such as burning of churches and all of that– are not the best way. We
are pleased that the security agencies have since moved into action and
the situation is under control. Again, we appeal to all Nigerians,
irrespective of their faith, to continue to follow the path of peace. We hope
that religious leaders will continue to counsel their people to embrace
peace and peaceful co-existence,” he said.
Gov
Sheriff sets up probe panel
In
a swift reaction, Governor Ali Modu Sheriff on Saturday inaugurated a
high-powered Administrative Committee of Inquiry into the Maiduguri
religious disturbances. He described the incident as unfortunate, condemnable
and aimed at disrupting the age-long peaceful co-existence of the people
of the state.
He said it was planned by some unscrupulous elements in the state to tarnish the
highly cherished name of Borno the Home of Peace, and vowed that
government would leave no stone unturned to ensure that justice, equity,
understanding and harmonious co-existence prevail in the state.
Governor
Sheriff said for democracy to be entrenched and meaningful developments to take
place, “we must imbibe the habit of accommodating everyone. We must also
forget our differences and learn to live with one another as a family.”
The Committee comprises the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Ambassador
Baba Ahmed Jidda as Chairman and Alhaji Lawan Tom Ahmed as the Secretary.
Others members are the Brigade Commander, Police Commissioner, Director of
SSS, Commissioners of Works and Housing, Information, Sports, Education, Chief
Imam OF Borno, CAN president and President, Igbos Welfare Association.
We
won’t fold our arms –CAN
Also
reacting, Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), North Central
and Plateau zone, the Reverend Yakubu Pam said Christians in the area
would not allow themselves to be massacred as it happened in 2001 in
Plateau State. “I want to make it emphatically clear that this time
around we will not fold our arms. We will react if they come to us. We are
ready for anything and we are not going to be intimidated, he told Vanguard.
“Islamic
scholars and leaders should call their people to order and the Federal
Government should put more security on ground to prevent the violence from
spreading further. What has happened in Maiduguri is bad because there is no
how something will happen somewhere else and I will start burning my
neighbours’ property and killing. Things that our brothers are doing is
out of context. If somebody defame my religion, I should be able to call him to
order instead of doing harm to my neighbour with whom I have been living
over the years.
“What we even heard is that the security people in Borno State were aware of
the violence ahead of time and yet no security was in place to protect
lives and property. ”
http://www.kanaalz.be/fr/Belga/BelgaNieuws.asp?ArticleID=50686&SectionID=10
Caricatures:
les émeutes au Nigeria ont fait 24 morts (Croix Rouge)
Bron: Belga
20/2/2006 19:32
LAGOS
20/02 (BELGA/AG) = Des manifestations samedi dans deux villes du nord du Nigeria
contre la publication de caricatures du prophète Mahomet en Europe ont fait 24
morts et 230 blessés, selon un nouveau bilan établi par la Croix Rouge
nigériane. "Selon les rapports de nos agents qui étaient samedi sur le
terrain à Maïduguri, 21 personnes sont mortes et 207 ont été blessées, 50
maisons ont été détruites et 32 autres incendiées ainsi que 250 magasins et
dix églises", a déclaré le responsable national de la gestion des
désastres de la Croix rouge nigériane, Adronicus Adeyemo. "A Katsina,
trois personnes sont mortes tandis que 23 autres ont été blessées ou
hospitalisées", a-t-il ajouté, notant qu'un millier de personnes sont
déplacées". Un précédent bilan faisait état de 15 morts à Maïduguri,
dont un prêtre, et un à Katsina. (GFR)
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/13916331.htm
Posted
on Mon, Feb. 20, 2006
Cartoon protesters, police clash, despite Pakistani ban
WIDESPREAD
UNREST STIRS MUSLIM WORLD
By
Matthew Pennington
Associated
Press
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani security forces arrested hundreds of Islamic hard-liners,
virtually sealed off the capital and used gunfire and tear gas Sunday to quell
protests against caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Pakistan had banned protests after riots killed five people in two cities
last week.
Elsewhere in the Muslim world Sunday, demonstrators with wooden staves
and stones tried unsuccessfully to storm the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia, while
tens of thousands rallied in the Turkish city of Istanbul and complained about
negative Western perceptions of Islam.
Soldiers patrolled the deserted streets of the northern Nigerian town of
Maiduguri, where thousands of Muslims attacked Christians and burned churches
Saturday, killing at least 15 people during a protest over the cartoons. Most of
the victims were beaten to death by rioters.
In Saudi Arabia, newspapers ran full-page apologies by Jyllands-Posten,
the Danish newspaper that first ran the caricatures in September. The
newspaper's Web site said businesses placed the ad, using an apology issued by
the newspaper late last month. It did not identify the companies or say if they
were Danish.
Boycott on Denmark
Boycotts of Danish products throughout the Muslim world have taken a
heavy toll on Denmark's exporters, especially those selling Denmark's famed
dairy products.
The cartoons, which have been reprinted by other Western publications,
have outraged Muslims. But protests over the past three weeks have grown into a
broader anger against the West in general, and Israel and the United States in
particular.
Demonstrations have turned increasingly violent and have killed at least
45 worldwide, including 11 in Afghanistan during a three-day span two weeks ago
and 10 on Friday in the Libyan coastal city of Benghazi. The Libyan riot outside
the Italian Consulate apparently was sparked by a right-wing Italian Cabinet
minister who wore a T-shirt with a caricature of Muhammad.
Sunday, thousands of police and paramilitary troops staffed armored
personnel carriers and sandbag bunkers in and around Islamabad to block a
planned rally organized by a coalition of Islamist parties that sympathize with
the former Taliban leadership in Afghanistan and is fiercely anti-American.
As roadblocks went up, authorities declared they would arrest anyone
joining a gathering of more than five people.
Small protest allowed
Maulana Fazlur Rahman, an opposition leader who denounced the government
ban as unconstitutional, was allowed to stage a small rally with eight other
opposition lawmakers and a few supporters. They chanted ``God is great!'' and
``Any friend of America is a traitor.''
Police fired tear gas and guns to chase off hundreds of stone-throwing
protesters who tried to join the rally and then enter an enclave where most
foreign embassies are. The three-hour clash left the street littered with rocks
and spent tear gas shells.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said police used tear gas, but
denied they fired guns. The private Geo TV network said officers fired rubber
bullets.
In Indonesia, about 400 people marched to the heavily fortified U.S.
Embassy in central Jakarta behind a banner that read, ``We are ready to attack
the enemies of the prophet.''
Brandishing wooden staves and lobbing stones, they tried to storm the
gates. They also set fire to U.S. flags and a poster of President Bush, and
smashed the windows of a guard outpost before dispersing after a few minutes.
http://www.deepikaglobal.com/ENG4_sub.asp?newscode=132636&catcode=ENG4&subcatcode=
Five
dead in new religious riot in northern Nigeria
BAUCHI,
Nigeria, Feb 20 (Reuters) Muslim protesters set fire to churches and clashed
with police in the northeastern Nigerian city of Bauchi today and the violence
left at least five people dead on the streets, a Reuters witness said.
The
violence followed weekend riots that killed at least 28 people in two other
predominantly Muslim northern Nigerian cities, Maiduguri and Katsina, although
it was not immediately clear if the Bauchi trouble was connected.
Residents
said trouble began after a teacher in a secondary school tried to confiscate a
Koran from a student who was reading it during class. Word got out into the
streets that the teacher had desecrated the Koran, infuriating Muslims.
A
Reuters witness saw Muslim youths set fire to two churches and to cars and tyres
in central Bauchi. The protesters hurled stones at police, who first used tear
gas before firing live bullets.
There
was no official word on casualties but at least five dead bodies lay on the
streets while at least 50 people were being treated with various injuries in the
main hospital.
http://archquo.nouvelobs.com/cgi/articles?ad=/20060221.OBS7526.html&datebase=20060221
21 FEVRIER
Nigeria
: 24 morts dans les violences
Le bilan
des violences qui ont éclaté samedi lors de manifestations dans deux villes au
nord du pays a été revu à la hausse.
Le bilan
des violences qui ont éclaté samedi lors de manifestations contre les
caricatures de Mahomet dans deux villes du nord du Nigeria est passé à 24
morts et 230 blessés, a annoncé lundi 20 février la Croix Rouge nigériane.
"Selon les rapports de nos agents qui étaient samedi sur le terrain à
Maïduguri, 21 personnes sont mortes et 207 ont été blessées, 50 maisons ont
été détruites et 32 autres incendiées ainsi que 250 magasins et dix
églises", a déclaré le responsable national de la gestion des désastres
de la Croix rouge nigériane, Adronicus Adeyemo.
"A Katsina, trois personnes sont mortes tandis que 23 autres ont été
blessées ou hospitalisées", a-t-il ajouté, notant qu'un millier de
personnes sont déplacées".
Une majorité de chrétiens
Selon lui, la majorité des victimes sont des chrétiens dont certains ont été
tués dans les églises. Les maisons et magasins détruits appartenaient aussi
à des chrétiens.
Un précédent bilan faisait état de 15 morts à Maïduguri, dont un prêtre,
et un mort à Katsina.
Selon des témoins, les violences ont commencé samedi
quand la police a tiré des gaz lacrymogènes pour disperser des manifestants,
rassemblés à l'appel d'une organisation islamique à Maïduguri. Des
émeutiers s'en sont alors pris à la communauté chrétienne de la ville,
brûlant et pillant des églises ainsi que des magasins tenus par des
chrétiens.
Les autorités de l'Etat de Borno (nord-est) donnaient de leur côté lundi un
bilan moins élevé des émeutes de Maïduguri: "selon nos informations, il
y a eu neuf morts dont quatre musulmans", a déclaré par téléphone le
porte-parole de l'Etat, Usman Chiroma.
"Un comité de haut niveau a été mis en place par le gouverneur pour
évaluer les dégâts causés par les troubles afin de pouvoir porter assistance
là et quand c'est nécessaire. Cette équipe est actuellement sur le
terrain", a annoncé Usman Chiroma.
Les autorités de Borno ont condamné les violences anti-chrétiennes et menacé
d'arrêter et de juger "toute personne ou groupe qui se lancerait dans ces
perturbations de la paix", a assuré le gouverneur Ali Modu Sheriff dans
une allocution.
Manifestation interdite
Lundi, l'Etat de Gombe, dans le nord du Nigeria, a interdit la tenue d'une
manifestation organisée par des musulmans qui souhaitaient également protester
contre la publication en Europe de caricatures du prophète Mahomet.
"Nous n'allons pas autoriser la manifestation contre les caricature
danoises prévue aujourd'hui (...) dans l'intérêt de la paix", a
déclaré par téléphone le chef de la police de Gombe, Atiku Yusuf.
"Nous avons déployé nos hommes dans toute la ville pour assurer que
personne ne trouble la paix et cause des problèmes", a-t-il ajouté.
La principale organisation musulmane du pays, le Conseil suprême nigérian des
affaires islamiques, avait condamné dimanche les émeutiers. "Prendre des
vies innocentes et détruire des propriétés est anti-islamique", avait
déclaré son secrétaire général Lateef Adegbite.
Le Nigeria, 130 millions d'habitants, compte quelque 60 millions de musulmans et
autant de chrétiens, mais le nord est très majoritairement musulman, bien que
des minorités chrétiennes y soient installées surtout dans les grandes
villes.
Depuis 1999 et le retour à un régime civil, plusieurs Etats du nord ont
instauré la charia (loi islamique), provoquant parfois des violences avec les
minorités chrétiennes.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/cover/february06/21022006/f421022006.html
Cartoon:
Mayhem spreads to Bauchi, Gombe
By Taye Obateru, Ben Ngwakwe, Tanimu Dongara & Umoru Henry
Posted to the Web: Tuesday, February 21, 2006
JOS—THE mayhem that erupted in Maiduguri last Saturday, which claimed
many lives and property over the publication in Denmark of a cartoon on Prophet
Mohammed has spread to Bauchi and Gombe States.
Meanwhile, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Borno State has rejected
the 13-man administrative committee set up by the state government to
investigate the riot, saying it has no confidence in the committee.
The Borno State Police Command, on the other hand, declared yesterday that it
had arrested about 150 suspects who were allegedly involved in the riot.
In Bauchi and Gombe States, business activities were paralysed yesterday
as protests spread to the two states.
The protest in Gombe which started on Sunday night and continued yesterday was
believed to have been sparked off by the alleged torturing to death of a suspect
who was in police custody. The protesters stormed the streets at about 7.00p.m.
on Sunday, unleashing terror on residents, burning, looting and harassing people
in what many initially thought was a spill-over of the crisis in Maiduguri,
Borno State.
About three houses were razed and property looted by the protesters as
they battled anti-riot policemen drafted to restore normalcy. Although the state
Commissioner of Police, Mr Atiku Kafur, appealed for calm in a television
broadcast to the people on Sunday night, the protesters again took to the
streets yesterday, creating panic among the people.
Businesses were hurriedly shut and people troopped to the barracks for
safety. However, the police fired teargas canisters to disperse the crowd and
security men were deployed to churches and other strategic buildings to secure
them from arsonists.
Addressing journalists on the disturbance yesterday, the police
commissioner said the suspect who died in police custody, identified as Aba
Hamidu was a suspected rapist and believed there was more to the protest than
what was claimed by the protesters. He confirmed that 43 arrests had been made
while the police were intensifying efforts to nip the demonstration in the bud.
He appealed for calm, assuring that normalcy would be restored soon.
Vanguard learnt that the posting of policemen to guard churches was to prevent
miscreants from invading them.
In Bauchi, the protest against the cartooning of Prophet Mohammed was said to
have started from a government secondary school yesterday morning and gradually
spilled into the town, creating pandemonium. People ran helter-skelter with
parents rushing to schools to pick their children while business places were
hurriedly shut. The prompt intervention of the police was said to have contained
the protesters, leading to a quick restoration of normalcy. It was not clear if
arrests had been made at press time.
In Maiduguri where the riot started, a Reverend Father, Mr. Mike Gajere
of Saint Rita’s Catholic Church was among the victims as he was attacked by
the hoodlums and set ablaze with petrol, according to eye witnesses at the scene
of the incident. Not fewer than 30 churches and shops belonging to Christians
were burnt down alongside vehicles.
Governor Ali Modu Sheriff has, however, promised to compensate all the victims
of the mayhem while constituting an administrative committee of inquiry to
assess the extent of damage.
CAN rejects panel
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) Borno State, however, said it
had no confidence on the 13-man committee.
Speaking with newsmen yesterday in Maiduguri, the Vice Chairman, CAN, Borno
State, the Reverend Father Joel Billi and Bishop of Maiduguri Saint Patrick
Catholic Church, the Reverend Father Mathew Man-Ngoso of the Maiduguri Catholic
Diocese said “50 Christians lost their lives in the mayhem, hundreds wounded,
over 30 churches either burnt or destroyed, and several Christians business
premises or outfits, properties and homes/houses burnt or vandalised. We
the Christians in Borno State have lost confidence in the government and the
security agencies in the state to protect our lives and properties.”
CAN Vice Chairman further stated that, “consequently, the incident of
Saturday, 18th February 2006 is the culmination of the outburst to eliminate
Christians in the state. This is because there is no connection to a cartoon
published in Denmark more than a month ago with Christians in Borno State as at
18th February 2006."
CAN in the state was the only body that came out openly to condemn the
cartoon in the state on Tuesday, 14th February 2006. It also observed that the
state-owned media house, BRTV does not air Christians programmes in spite of
continuous request by the Christians body
Arewa condemns attacks
Meanwhile, Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has described the mayhem in
Maiduguri, the Borno State as most despicable, thoroughly condemnable and
totally unacceptable.
The body said with these events happening in the usually tolerant Maiduguri,
there was the urgent need for an investigation team that would comprise mature,
honest, experienced people who will not tolerate any kind of arm twisting nor
succumb to any form of intimidation, inducements or cover-ups to be put in
place geared towards unfolding the truth.
According to the body, “the lessons from such an investigation must be
rigorously and expeditiously applied to save this country from such tragedies in
the future”.
http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/default.aspx?a=6985&template=print-article.htm
Ngige Imposes Curfew on Onitsha
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - From Charles
Onyekamuo in Awka
Governor
Chris Ngige of Anambra State, has imposed a dusk-to- dawn-curfew on Onitsha, the
state's commercial nerve centre.
This
follows the outbreak of violence in the town yesterday, in which some people
launched reprisal attacks on the Muslim settlers over the alleged killings
of Christians in Maiduguri, last Saturday.
In a
statement personally signed by him last night, Ngige directed law enforcement
agencies to deal decisively with anybody who flout the curfew order.
.Ngige
condemned yesterday’s attack, describing it as "both regrettable,
reprehensible and detest-able."
No fewer
than 500 men of the police mobile force 29, Awka, have been deployed to Onitsha,
to forestall a total breakdown of law and order.
The reprisal attack left some people dead, but no official figure could be
obtained as at the time of this report.
Law
enforcement agents in the state have also been put on alert to deal
decisively with anyone engaging in acts of recklessness, unconscionable
brigandage and revenge at known flash-points in the state.
The
tense situation in the state yesterday forced an emergency meeting of the
state security council in Awka, attended by the Commander 302 Artillery
Regiment, Onitsha, Colonel Lukas Chollampam Logag-woma, Director of the state
security service in Anambra State, Ahmad Saleh, Governor Chris Ngige and the
state commissioner of police.
In a
Press statement by Mr. Fred Chukwuelobe, the Governor’s Special Assistant on
Media and Publicity, the state government urged Anambra people to refrain
from molesting people and stop all attacks on places of religious worship,
adding that the incident was both regrettable, reprehensible and detestable, and
urged the people to go about their lawful businesses.
The
statement added “The Government deeply regrets this unfortunate incident and
while commiserating with the families of the deceased and injured hereby warns
all those involved in the attacks to stop forthwith.
“All
Anambrarians are hereby urged to refrain from molesting people and stop all
attacks on either churches or mosques. Both Christianity and Islam preach peace
and love and as peace-loving and law-abiding citizens, the good people of
Anambra state are enjoined to be their brothers’ keepers, especially our
brothers from the North who have been residing with us for years.
“Meanwhile,
Law enforcement agents have been put on notice to deal ruthlessly and decisively
with anyone engaging in such reckless and unconscionable brigandage and revenge.
“Anybody
caught molesting innocent citizens or either burning or looting property will be
arrested and prosecuted. People are also enjoined to seek resolution to their
grievances through appropriate channels. Resort to rioting, killing, burning and
looting is primitive and belongs to the animal kingdom and should be jettisoned.
“All
citizens of Anambra state are enjoined to go about their legitimate businesses
without fear as the Governor, His Excellency, Dr. Chris Nwabueze Ngige has
directed law enforcement agents to deploy more men to Onitsha and parts of the
state to arrest the ugly development and to ensure the rioting does not escalate”,
he said
http://www.lactualite.com/nouvelles/monde/article.jsp?content=M022135AU
Au
moins 24 morts dans de nouveaux affrontements au Nigeria
21 - février -
2006
LAGOS (AP)
- Après les premières manifestations sanglantes liées à la publication des
caricatures du prophète Mahomet ce week-end, des bandes armées, chrétiennes
et musulmanes, ont mis à feu et à sang deux villes du Nigeria, des émeutes
violentes qui ont causé la mort d'au moins 24 personnes.
Les
violences de mardi portent à 49 morts le bilan des affrontements
inter-religieux depuis samedi, lorsqu'une manifestation contre les caricatures
publiées en Europe a dégénéré, faisant 18 morts à Maiduguri, dans le nord.
A Bauchi,
dans le nord à majorité musulmane, ce sont les foules musulmanes qui s'en sont
prises à la minorité chrétienne, faisant au moins 18 morts, selon la
Croix-Rouge nigériane.
Dans le
même temps, à Onitsha, dans le sud chrétien, des témoins ont fait état de
six musulmans battus à mort par des chrétiens qui ont également brûlé deux
mosquées. Dans cette ville, la violence semble avoir été déclenchée par
celle qui s'est emparée de Maiduguri.
A Bauchi,
selon le responsable local de la Croix-Rouge Adamu Abubakar, la foule est
descendue dans la rue armée de machettes et de bâtons, des émeutes qui ont
déjà fait sept morts lundi. Deux des membres de la Croix-Rouge ont été
attaqués et grièvement blessés, a-t-il ajouté. Parmi les victimes ramassées
par ses services figuraient six personnes tellement brûlées qu'elles ont été
impossibles à identifier, et deux autres gravement mutilées, a-t-il raconté.
Le Nigeria,
pays le plus peuplé d'Afrique avec 130 millions d'habitants, est souvent la
proie de violents affrontements entre les chrétiens, majoritaires au sud, et
les musulmans qui prédominent au nord, faisant des milliers de morts depuis
2000.
Les
violences de samedi étaient les premières liées à l'affaire des caricatures
dans le pays. Selon l'Association chrétienne du pays, les victimes seraient au
moins 50, la police parlant de 18. Et l'archevêque du pays Peter Akinola a
jugé que cette réaction violente faisait partie d'un complot visant à faire
du Nigeria une nation islamique.
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-libya-prophet-drawings,0,1362945.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines
Witnesses:
Anti-Gadhafi Forces in Protest
By
STEVEN R. HURST
Associated
Press Writer
February
21, 2006, 5:10 PM EST
CAIRO,
Egypt -- Witness accounts reaching Egypt's capital Tuesday confirmed a report by
Italy's envoy, who said the violence that killed 11 people in Benghazi last week
was the work of both Islamic radicals and anti-government forces.
In an
interview with the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa published Tuesday,
Ambassador Francesco Trupiano said domestic opposition to Col. Moammar Gadhafi
had joined forces with religious extremists in a protest that began over
caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
"Benghazi
is still out of control," said Trupiano, who was speaking from Tripoli.
"The situation can precipitate any minute.
"In
Benghazi, Islamic radicalism has joined forces with domestic opposition."
The
accounts from Libyan witnesses, who refused to be named fearing retribution,
said Libyan anger over the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad had been
conflated with widespread outrage about the political and economic neglect of
Benghazi residents.
Gadhafi
rules Libya with an iron hand, and security forces take tough measures to
contain information unfavorable to the regime.
The
witnesses also said the killings during the Friday riot, in which the Italian
consulate in Benghazi was burned, had fueled anger and prompted continuing
violence over the weekend.
The
witnesses said anti-government demonstrators attacked the headquarters of the
state security service in the coastal city as well as government buildings and
police stations. A Catholic church was burned, the witnesses said.
Those
accounts closely matched that of Trupiano, who said there was "disorder,
looting, attacks on public buildings" Sunday night in Benghazi.
"The
headquarters of police forces were besieged by an enraged crowd, which demanded
the release of inmates," he was quoted as saying. "The police gave in,
freeing the prisoners."
The
riots in front of the Italian consulate produced the second-highest reported
death toll in any of the recent protests over the prophet drawings. The
caricatures originally were published by a Danish newspaper in September and
subsequently reprinted in many newspapers, mainly in Europe, to display
solidarity for a free press.
The
demonstrations in Benghazi had been widely seen as instigated by an Italian
minister, who wore a T-shirt featuring one of the caricatures while appearing on
Italian television. The reforms minister, Roberto Calderoli, has since resigned.
Diplomatic
sources in Rome, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the
situation, said 40 people -- or about half the Italian population in Benghazi --
were flown to Tripoli. The remaining half decided to stay in the city.
A total
of about 1,400 Italians live in Libya, a former Italian colony where Italy has
major oil and natural gas interests.
Calderoli
drew more criticism Tuesday from Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the
57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference.
Speaking
in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Ihsanoglu did not mention Calderoli by
name, but quoted the minister who wore the shirt as saying "that the pope
should wage a crusade against the Muslim world."
"After
two days, he made T-shirts with these cartoons, these stupid cartoons and he
wore this shirt and said, 'I am going to salute them.' Then what happened in
Benghazi, happened," Ihsanoglu said.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200602220382.html
Mob
On Rampage in Onitsha
Daily Trust (Abuja)
NEWS
February 22, 2006
Posted to the web February 22, 2006
By
Isa Sanusi, Abubakar Haruna & Beatrice Onuchukwu
Angry
mob on yesterday attacked two mosques and Northerners resident in Onitsha,
Anambra State, in what is feared to be reprisal attacks of the violent riots
that took place over the weekend in some parts of the North.
Agency
reports said that: "the whole town is in frenzy and people are running in
all directions as at yesterday evening."
When
contacted on phone yesterday, the Commissioner of Police, Anambra State, Mr.
Moses Anegbode confirmed the incident. He told Daily Trust "as at now, we
are preoccupied with giving coverage to Hausas who are going into hiding. So
many of the Hausa's have taken refuge in barracks."
The
Commissioner of Police however, could not confirm the reported death of five
people.
The
mob is said to have torched two mosques located at the Hausa quarters, leaving
behind ashes and burnt out properties. Also destroyed were kiosks and residences
belonging to the Hausa community around Bide, Sokoto, Haruna and Ifejika Roads,
with their properties looted by the rampaging mob.
The
attacks began when a luxury bus conveying corpses of Igbo's allegedly killed in
the weekend riots arrived Upper Iweka, Onitsha.
A
witness account said as soon as commuters in the park got wind of the arrival of
the corpses, a mob gathered and after lamenting on the situation took up arms in
revenge.
The
violent youths in their hundreds armed with clubs and stones, marched to the
Hausa community destroying houses, shops and properties, the witness said.
When
the Northerners got wind of the riot, they ran to 32 Army Artillery Regiment,
Onitsha for safety.
Anti-riot
police squads are already manning different locations in Onitcha to restore
calm.
Meanwhile,
Bauchi State Secretary of the Red Cross Society of Nigeria, Alhaji Adamu
Abubakar, yesterday confirmed the death of 16 persons in the crisis that
engulfed Bauchi metropolis on Monday.
Abubakar
told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Hausa service monitored in
Abuja, yesterday. Many people have fled their houses and are in need of prompt
attention in Bauchi hospitals."
"But
we had a difficult time mobilising logistics and vehicles to transport injured
victims to the hospital." Many sustained bullets wounds and knife cuts.
Reports
say there were skirmishes around the metropolis as some irate youths are still
launching attacks in some nooks and crannies of Bauchi town.
BBC
described some places in Bauchi town as no-go- areas where the dead bodies and
injured people are still being discovered in the areas.
It
added that the crisis that spread to Tafawa Balewa town was controlled by
securitymen, and that normalcy has since restored to the place.
Sources
said the crisis was ignited following an alleged mutilation of a portion of the
Holy Qur'an by a female teacher at Government Day Secondary School located
within the army barracks in Bauchi.
A
peaceful protest by students of the Government Day Secondary School at the army
barracks was hijacked by hoodlums.
In
a related development, the Emir of Bauchi, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, has directed
District and Village Heads to monitor people's movements and prevent a further
breakdown of law and order in their domains.
He
charged the chiefs to ensure the continued peaceful co-existence among residents
in their domains.
Adamu
described the incident as unfortunate and assured that adequate measures are
being taken to safeguard lives and property.
He
blamed the riot on the "evil machinations of some undesirable elements, who
manipulated a peaceful students protest to cause mayhem". The emir appealed
to christians not to panic, assuring that the crisis has no religious
undertones.
Meanwhile,
the Gombe state government has imposed an 11-hour curfew on Gombe metropolis
following two days of riots.
The
Secretary to the state government, Alhaji Bala Magaji, said that the curfew will
last between 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. daily.
He
said the measure became necessary to ensure the protection of lives and
property. The rioters burnt down at least three houses and a place of worship on
Sunday and Monday.
The
youths were protesting the alleged torture of their colleague 18-year old Abba
Lamido, by the police.
Magaji
assured the people that the perpetrators of the act would be brought to book and
also promised that those who suffered loss as a result of the violence will be
compensated.
http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=528596
Posted: 2006/02/22
From: Washington Post
Witness
accounts reaching Egypt's capital Tuesday confirmed a report by Italy's envoy,
who said the violence that killed 11 people in Benghazi last week was the work
of both Islamic radicals and anti-government forces.
In an interview with the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa published Tuesday,
Ambassador Francesco Trupiano said domestic opposition to Col. Moammar Gadhafi
had joined forces with religious extremists in a protest that began over
caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
"Benghazi is still out of control," said Trupiano, who was speaking
from Tripoli. "The situation can precipitate any minute.
"In Benghazi, Islamic radicalism has joined forces with domestic
opposition."
The accounts from Libyan witnesses, who refused to be named fearing retribution,
said Libyan anger over the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad had been
conflated with widespread outrage about the political and economic neglect of
Benghazi residents.
Gadhafi rules Libya with an iron hand, and security forces take tough measures
to contain information unfavorable to the regime.
The witnesses also said the killings during the Friday riot, in which the
Italian consulate in Benghazi was burned, had fueled anger and prompted
continuing violence over the weekend.
The witnesses said anti-government demonstrators attacked the headquarters of
the state security service in the coastal city as well as government buildings
and police stations. A Catholic church was burned, the witnesses said.
Those accounts closely matched that of Trupiano, who said there was
"disorder, looting, attacks on public buildings" Sunday night in
Benghazi.
"The headquarters of police forces were besieged by an enraged crowd, which
demanded the release of inmates," he was quoted as saying. "The police
gave in, freeing the prisoners."
The riots in front of the Italian consulate produced the second-highest reported
death toll in any of the recent protests over the prophet drawings. The
caricatures originally were published by a Danish newspaper in September and
subsequently reprinted in many newspapers, mainly in Europe, to display
solidarity for a free press.
The demonstrations in Benghazi had been widely seen as instigated by an Italian
minister, who wore a T-shirt featuring one of the caricatures while appearing on
Italian television. The reforms minister, Roberto Calderoli, has since resigned.
Diplomatic sources in Rome, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity
of the situation, said 40 people _ or about half the Italian population in
Benghazi _ were flown to Tripoli. The remaining half decided to stay in the
city.
A total of about 1,400 Italians live in Libya, a former Italian colony where
Italy has major oil and natural gas interests.
Calderoli drew more criticism Tuesday from Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu,
secretary-general of the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference.'
Speaking in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Ihsanoglu did not mention
Calderoli by name, but quoted the minister who wore the shirt as saying
"that the pope should wage a crusade against the Muslim world."
"After two days, he made T-shirts with these cartoons, these stupid
cartoons and he wore this shirt and said, 'I am going to salute them.' Then
what happened in Benghazi, happened," Ihsanoglu said.
http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=6980&z=12
Cartoon: 22 feared killed in Onitsha reprisal riots
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 - John Ameh and Olamilekan
Lartey
Reprisal riots on Tuesday erupted in Onitsha, Anamba State,
over the controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoons.
About 22 persons were feared dead.
The riots erupted in the wake
of similar riots in Bauchi on Monday, in which at least 10 persons were killed.
Earlier, on Saturday, hostilities flared in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital,
and in Katsina, leaving at least 18 persons dead.
Our correspondents learnt that Tuesday’s riots in Onitsha was triggered by the
arrival of a luxury bus from Maiduguri, which brought corpses of Igbo residents
who had died in the earlier riots.
Angry youths at Upper Iweka, where the bus stopped at about 7am, were said to
have immediately gone on the rampage, attacking shops and buildings either owned
or occupied by Muslims in the commercial city.
Riot policemen dispatched from Awka, the Anambra capital, took over major
streets and roads in Onitsha in a bid to contain the situation.
The youths, who blocked the Niger Bridge for several hours, also torched the two
main mosques in Onitsha – one at the Bridgehead Market and the second at Bida
Road, near the Onitsha Main Market.
They also reportedly burnt some buildings at the famous Hausa Quarters, on
Sokoto Road, and many vehicles.
The attack on the Bida road mosque reportedly forced the closure of the main
market, which the youths tried to enter forcefully in search of suspected
targets.
Many Hausa-owned shops on the popular Old Market Road and Upper New Market Road
were also looted, forcing many shop owners to abandon their wares and seek for
safety at the Army Barracks.
The Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Command, Mr. Moses Anegbode, confirmed
the violence in Onitsha, but told our correspondents that he had no official
confirmation of the casualty figure.
He said, “I cannot confirm whether anybody died for now because I don’t have
the exact picture of the situation yet.
“All I can say is that several policemen have been deployed in Onitsha and we
are trying everything possible to contain the situation. I don’t have
statistics on the deaths.”
The Governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chris Ngige, said security agencies had been
directed to deal with those behind the riots.
He deplored the killings in Onitsha and commiserated with the families of the
victims.
He said those behind the riots were “unidentified,” warning however that the
people of Anambra should “refrain from molesting people and stop all attacks
on either churches or mosques.”
Speaking with newsmen shortly after he convened an emergency security meeting in
Awka, Ngige said additional riot policemen had been deployed in Onitsha to
contain the situation.
The Obi of Onitsha, His Royal Majesty, Igwe Nnaemeka Alfred Achebe, told our
correspondents on telephone that his cabinet would not condone any act of
lawlessness.
Achebe observed that there were legally-recognised means of resolving disputes.
He expressed shock that the youths chose violence.
“What has happened in Onitsha is condemnable, not because it happened in
Onitsha, but wherever violence is chosen above established methods to resolve
disagreements,” he added.
The monarch said efforts were on to bring the crisis under control and expressed
confidence in the ability of security agents to do their job.
Later on Tuesday, the Delta State Police Command beefed up security on its side
of the Niger Bridge in Asaba.
The Police Public Relations Officer in Delta State, Olabisi Okuwobi, an
assistant superintendent of police, said the command would ensure that the riots
did not spread to Asaba.
Meanwhile, some Onitsha residents who fled the city in the wake of Tuesday’s
riots thronged the Niger Bridge, en route Asaba.
The Hausa community in the Delta State capital is in the Cable Point area, which
is separated from Onitsha by the River Niger.
Reports on Tuesday said that the Bauchi State Government had imposed a curfew on
the capital city.
The Agence France Presse quoted a spokesman for the government as saying a
dawn-to-dusk curfew had been imposed to pre-empt further clashes.
“A joint police military patrol has been going on since yesterday (Monday) and
will continue until order is fully restored,” the spokesman, Mohammed
Abdullahi, also told AFP.
A spokesman for the Borno government, Naomi Moses, also told the AFP that the
state government had imposed a curfew.
“Soldiers have been drafted to keep order and prevent any violence,” she
said.
THE PUNCH, Wednesday, February 22, 2006
http://qe.catholique.org/imprimer.php?id_article=7754
22 février 2006
ROME (ZENIT.org)
- Selon l’agence vaticane Fides, la situation est calme pour l’instant et
les forces de l’ordre patrouillent dans les rues : c’est ce que
rapporte Mgr Matthew Manoso Ndagoso, évêque de Maiduguri, capitale de l’Etat
de Borno dans le Nord-Est du Nigeria.
C’est en effet
dans cet Etat que, samedi dernier, 18 février les graves violences ont
provoqué, selon l’évêque, « au moins 15 morts, parmi lesquelles don
Michael Gajere, un prêtre local ».
Quatre églises
catholiques ont été brûlées, ainsi que la résidence de l’évêque, et des
structures d’autres confessions chrétiennes et d’autres habitations de
fidèles chrétiens.
L’évêque,
qui n’était pas présent chez lui au moment de l’attaque, affirme :
« Ma maison a été complètement détruite, mais ce qui m’attriste le
plus, ce sont les morts parmi lesquels don Michael, un prêtre ordonné voici 14
ans et qui était arrivé dans notre diocèse depuis peu ».
« C’est
la première fois que des incidents aussi graves arrivent. Jusqu’à présent
la zone a été tranquille : les rencontres qui ont eu lieu par le passé s’étaient
produites dans d’autres zones du pays », rapportent les sources de
Fides.
« Dans la
matinée du 18 février, une manifestation pacifique de protestation se
déroulait contre les fameuses vignettes danoises, à laquelle participait aussi
le gouverneur local. Mais à l’improviste la manifestation a dégénéré avec
violence contre les églises et les habitations des chrétiens. Seule la
cathédrale a été protégée grâce à l’esprit d’initiative d’un
policier catholique qui a réussi à rassembler des forces suffisantes pour
empêcher que la foule ne la brûle », expliquent ces mêmes sources.
« La
religion, comme il est arrivé dans un passé récent, est instrumentalisée
pour des raisons politiques. Ceux qui fomentent ces désordres sont des
extrémistes qui ne représentent pas la majorité des fidèles musulmans qui au
contraire désirent vivre en paix. Il y a aussi des éléments criminels qui s’insèrent
pour voler les habitations et qui mettent le feu pour effacer ensuite les traces
de leur crimes », ajoutent toujours ces informations de l’Eglise locale.
Les journaux
nigérians n’ont pas accordé une grande importance aux affrontements de
Maiduguri, afin de chercher à calmer les esprits et éviter de nouvelles
violences dans d’autres zones du pays, commente Fides.
Fides précise
également que les violences ont été condamnées par le secrétaire général
du Conseil suprême nigérian pour les Affaires islamiques, Lateef Adegbite, qui
a déclaré : « Ce n’est pas aux musulmans de prendre la vie de
personnes innocentes et de se laisser aller à des destructions matérielles.
Les non musulmans du Nigeria n’ont rien à voir avec la publication des
caricatures. Nous demandons aux chrétiens de maintenir le calme et d’éviter
les rétorsions pour ce fait malheureux. En le considérant comme une initiative
mal avisée des musulmans qui ont agi contre les principes de l’islam ».
© Catholique.org
2004 - 2006 - Tous droits réservés
http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/default.aspx?a=6996&template=print-article.htm
Riot
spreads to Onitsha, 35 killed
Wednesday, February 22, 2006 - By NWABUEZE OKONKWO,
Onitsha, DAVID ONWUCHEKWA, Nnewi, MARIAM ALESHINLOYE, Jos, CHRISTOPHER OJI,
GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka and PAUL ORUDE, Bauchi
Security formations nationwide were Tuesday put on red
alert to check possible spill-over of violent retaliation against killings of
Christians in religious riots which began weekend in northern cities of
Maiduguri and Katsina.
But it was a measure that came a bit late, as it could not stop reprisals in
Onitsha, Anambra State, which claimed over 35 lives, with mosques, homesteads
and property of people believed to be of predominantly Islamic northern origin
destroyed.
At least about 58 people, believed to be Christians were killed in an outbreak
of deadly protest by Muslims in Maiduguri, Borno State, at the weekend, angered
by the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish and other European
publications.
The toll was notched up by 16 Monday, following another violent demonstration by
Muslims in Bauchi, incensed by alleged seizure and desecration of the Holy Quran
by a female teacher rebuking her listless pupil in a secondary school.
Properties, including about 40 churches were reportedly burnt by the rampaging
rioters, which provoked the Onitsha action.
No fewer than 35 persons were confirmed dead Tuesday by the Nigerian Red Cross
Society in the commercial city of Onitsha, in what appeared to be spontaneous
reprisal attack on Moslems residing in the commercial city and its environs.
Also, the Red Cross Society rescued over 2,000 injured victims and evacuated
them to Onitsha Army Barracks and various police stations, even as mosques
scattered in various parts of Onitsha were set ablaze, the same time mini-shops
belonging to the Muslims were being looted and destroyed by the mob.
Daily Sun gathered that the incident sparked off at about 11 a.m. from the
Bridge-head end of the commercial city when the mob allegedly pounced on the
Hausas and started clubbing some of them to death, and at the same time pushing
others into the nearby River Niger.
Sources told Daily Sun that the mob was allegedly provoked by the sight of
corpses of victims of religious riots in the Northern parts of the country which
affected mainly Christians and Igbo indigenes whose bodies were allegedly
brought down to Onitsha early morning Tuesday in a luxury bus belonging to
prominent transporters from the Eastern part of the country.
Eye-witnesses confirmed that the incident later attracted the presence of
anti-riot policemen who arrived the scenes and used teargas to disperse the mob,
a situation which led to a stampede and temporary closure of the Onitsha main
market and other markets in the adjoining streets.
As at the time of filing this report, it was not yet clear the actual number of
lives lost in the mayhem and how many Mosques burnt, but sources hinted that the
Central Mosque located at Bida Road, near the main market and other mini-Mosques
at Haruna Street, Pam Pam Lane, Sokoto Road and others were already in flames.
All efforts to get in touch with the police Area Commander for Onitsha, Mr.
Dennis Anyagafu (ACP), proved abortive as his telephone line rang without
response, but the state police public relations officer (PPRO), Mr. Fidelis Agbo
(DSP) and the state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Moses Anegbode, who confirmed
the burning down of the Mosques to newsmen over the telephone, said they had not
yet obtained detailed information on the mayhem.
The Divisional police officer at Fegge, Mr. Bright Kakada (CSP), could not be
reached as he was said to have rushed to the scene on a rescue mission, but the
state chairman of the Nigerian Red Cross Society, Dr. Peter Emeka Katchy, told
newsmen at the police station that he and his team had rescued more than 2,000
victims, just as he personally counted over 35 bodies lying dead in various
parts of the city.
Katchy who noted that he was still receiving distress calls from his team
scattered all over, said he was also going out to source for food and mattresses
for the rescued victims who were seen gathered at the station, while the injured
ones were being given first aid treatment by the Red Cross medical team.
According to a traveller from Lagos who was delayed for hours on the bridge as a
result of the clash, “bodies just littered everywhere, especially at the
Onitsha end of the bridge where you have the ram/chicken market. The whole
market is razed. I counted more than 60 bodies.”
Tension went up in many states in the country with the authorities moving to
check the spread of the violence.
About 2000 mobile policemen were quickly drafted to quell the disturbances even
as the state government imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on Onitsha. The curfew
which took effect Tuesday is to last between the hours of 7p.m and 7a.m. A
personally signed statement by the Governor, Dr Chris Ngige, warned that law
enforcement agencies have been directed to deal decisively with anyone who
flouted the order.
Ngige, who was with the Commander 302 Artillery Regiment Onitsha, Col. Lukas
Chollompam Logagwoma and State Director of State Security Service (SSS), Ahmed
Saleh noted that reports reaching the government have it that some lives have
been lost and properties destroyed, adding that the situation was being taken
care of.
Reports from Nnewi, Anambra State said members of the Hausawa community in the
town disappeared into thin air with some of them seeking refuge in army barracks
for fear of reprisal attack by their Igbo host communities.
Their mosque near DCC and residential places including Hundred Foot Road and
Amauko Nnewichi were all deserted but for the heavy presence of armed policemen.
The new Nnewi Area Commander, Mr Godwin O. Obi (ACP) said he ordered police
vigilance within the areas to avoid a breakdown of law and order after receiving
reports from leaders of the Hausa community that their members were fleeing.
Tension still mounts in the town.
Also, normalcy is yet to return to the streets of Bauchi as violent protest
which erupted Monday brought commercial activities to a standstill just as the
death toll increased to 16 with over 100 people receiving various degrees of
injuries.
The Red Cross Society of Nigeria gave the latest figure in an interview with
Daily Sun Tuesday.
Troops were deployed to quell the situation, which mostly affected Kofar Wambe
along Gombe Road, Jahun, Nassarwa and Kobi with possible fears that there might
be reprisal attacks on Muslims in the Christian-dominated area of Yelwa and
Tafawa Balewa Local Government of the state.
The state Commissioner of Police, Richard Chime met with religious leaders and
stakeholders urging them to appeal to their followers not to take laws into
their hands in the name of protecting their religions or their political beliefs
to avoid an innocent protest being hijacked by hooligans.
Also in Lagos, the state Police Commissioner, (CP) Emmanuel Adebayo placed his
men and officers on red alert.
Adebayo ordered the officer in charge of Security and Criminal Investigation
Bureau (SCIB), Chief Superintendent of Police, Kenneth Ebrison and the officer
in charge of Surveillance, Gabriel Amadi, to get intelligence report on possible
plan to foment trouble and nip it in the bud.
http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-f.asp?ID=419064
Manifestations contre les caricatures du Prophète au Nigeria
Lagos,
Nigeria, 22/02 - Les manifestations contre les caricatures du Prophète Mohamed
(PSL) semblent se répandre dans le Nord du Nigeria suite à des affrontements
opposant jeunes musulmans et la police ce lundi dans la ville de Bauchi, selon
des témoins.
Les jeunes qui étaient, dit-on, armés de batons et d`autres armes, ont
fracassé des véhicules et pillé plusieurs boutiques appartenant à l`ethnie
Igbo, des commerçants originaires du sud chrétien, dans ce qui ressemble à
une répétition des émeutes mortelles qui ont coûté la vie ce week-end à
plus d`une dizaine de personnes dans l`Etat de Borno, également dans le nord du
Nigeria.
La police a tiré des gaz lacrymogènes pour disperser les manifestants en
colère qui ont marché dans les rues de la capitale de l`Etat de Bauchi à
dominance musulmane.
"La situation est vraiement tendue", a déclaré à la PANA au
téléphone un journaliste basé dans la ville. "Je roulais droit sur les
manifestants et j`ai eu de la chance de m`en être sorti".
Le porte-parole du commandement de la police de l`Etat, Umar Abdullahi a, pour
sa part, dit qu`il ne pouvait pas s`exprimer immédiatement sur les
manifestations du fait qu`il était en pleine "mission".
Les chiffres des victimes ne sont pas immédiateemnt disponibles, mais d`après
certaines informations, au moins une personne serait morte et plusieurs autres
blessées dans ces violences, tandis que la police a procédé à plusieurs
arrestations.
La cause immédiate de ces violences n`est pas claire, mais certains habitants
racontent que les troubles ont commencé quand un professeur du lycée
Government Day Secondary School d`une caserne militaire de Bauchi a déchiré un
Coran lu par un de ses étudiants en classe.
Des manifestations similaires organisées à Bauchi il y a deux semaines à
propos des caricatures publiées d`abord au Danemark et plus tard dans plusieurs
pays d`Europe et ailleurs dans le monde, étaient non violentes.
http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-f.asp?ID=419068
Les affrontements inter-religieuses gagnent le sud du Nigeria
Lagos,
Nigeria, 22/02 - Les affrontements interconfessionnelles qui ont éclaté lundi
dans le nord du Nigeria se sont répandues mardi dans le sud du pays, rapporte
une radio locale.
La même source indique que mardi matin une foule en colère a lancé à
Onitsha, une ville du sud-est, des attaques contre les originaires du nord du
pays, faisant au moins 15 morts.
Selon un habitant de la ville contacté par la PANA, des mosquées et des
boutiques appartenant à des "Nordistes" ont été incendiées durant
ces attaques qui auraient éclaté quand un véhicule transportant les corps de
"Sudistes" tués dans les émeutes de lundi est arrivé à Onitsha en
provenance du nord du pays.
Des sources indépendantes affirment que la foule en colère, armée de
différentes sortes d`armes, a pillé les commerces appartenant à des
"Nordistes" et allumé des feux à différents endroits stratégiques
de la ville
De jeunes musulmans protestant contre les caricatures du prophète Mohamed dans
certains journaux européens ont attaqué le week-end dernier des chrétiennes
à Maiduguri, la capitale de l`Etat de nord de Borno.
La violence s`est depuis répandue dans le nord du pays, notamment à Bauchi où
elle a fait 16 morts et 62 blessés, selon la Croix rouge nigériane.
L`Association des chrétiens du Nigeria (CAN) affirme que le bilan des émeutes
de Maiduguri est d`au moins 50 morts, soulignant que des églises ont également
été incendiées
http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-f.asp?ID=419042
Des émeutes ont fait 16 morts lundi dans le nord du Nigeria
Bauchi, Nigeria, 22/02 - Les
violences interconfessionnelles de lundi à Bauchi, dans le nord du Nigeria, ont
fait 16 morts et 62 blessés, indique mardi la Croix Rouge nigériane (NRC).
Le secrétaire de la NRC à Bauchi, Adamu Abdullahi, a déclaré que 16 corps
ont été récupérés dans différents endroits de la ville.
Le gouvernement de l`Etat de Bauchi a imposé le couvre-feu et déployé des
soldats aux endroits stratégiques de la ville après que de jeunes musulmans
armés de différentes sortes d`armes ont tout saccagé sur leur passage,
brûlant des églises, détruisant des voitures et pillant des échoppes.
Mardi matin, les écoles et les commerces sont restés fermées tandis que des
accrochages ont été signalés dans quelques quartiers de la ville dont Dutsin-
Tamshi où des mosquées auraient été incendiées en signe de représailles.
Cette violence fait suite aux émeutes à Maidiguri, la capitale de l`Etat de
Borno, contre la publication de caricatures du prophète Mohamed, qui avaient
fait au moins 50 morts au cours du week-end.
La violence à Bauchi aurait éclaté après qu`un professeur a déchiré un
exemplaire du Coran que lisait un élève en classe.
La nouvelle, selon laquelle un professeur avait profané le Livre saint des
musulmans, s`est vite répandue dans la ville, déclenchant des mouvements de
violence.
Selon certaines sources, la tension était déjà forte à Bauchi après les
émeutes à Maiduguri contre les caricatures du prophète publiés dans certains
journaux européens.
Dans un communiqué, l`Association des chrétiens nigérians (CAN) a condamné
ce qu`elle qualifie de destruction à grande échelle de vies et de biens,
particulièrement des églises à Maiduguri.
La CAN se demande comment "un incident survenu au Danemark, un pays
lointain qui n`est même pas une nation chrétienne, puisse provoquer une
réaction aussi malheureuse au Nigeria".
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_depeche.asp?art_cle=PAN60026unetasesuei0
Un
Etat nigérian impose le couvre-feu après des émeutes inter-religieuses
NIGERIA - 22 février 2006 - PANAPRESS
Le
gouvernement de l'Etat d'Anambra, dans le sud-est du Nigeria, a imposé un
couvre-feu sur la ville d'Onitsha suite aux violences qui ont secoué la ville
mardi dont le bilan fait état de plusieurs morts et des millions de dégâts
matériels.
Le gouverneur de l'Etat, Chris
Ngige, a condamné mardi soir les émeutes qu'il qualifie "regrettables,
répréhensibles et détestables", ordonnant à la police de rester ferme
pour faire respecter le couvre feu. Plus de 500 policiers
anti-émeutes ont été dépêchés à Onitsha, le centre économique de l'Etat
d'Anambra, pour restaurer l'ordre. Bien qu'aucun chiffre officiel
n'ait été publié, la presse locale fait état mercredi de 15 et 22
morts. Le week-end dernier, une manifestation contre les caricatures
du prophète Mohamed a fait 18 morts, dans l'Etat de Borno, selon un décompte
officiel, mais l'Association des chrétiens du Nigeria (CAN) estime le bilan à
plus de 50 tués. Lundi, d'autres violences religieuses ont éclaté
dans l'Etat de Bauchi, faisant 18 morts et plus de 100 blessés.
http://www.armees.com/+Au-moins-80-morts-dans-des-emeutes-religieuses-dans-le-sud,3968+.html
Au moins 80 morts dans
des émeutes religieuses dans le sud du Nigeria
Publié le jeudi 23 février
2006, à 22h13
LAGOS, 23 février
"60
personnes ont été tuées mardi ; mercredi, 20 autres ont trouvé la mort.
Certains d’entre eux sont des chrétiens, la majorité sont des
musulmans", a déclaré par téléphone Emeka Umeh, directeur de l’Organisation
ds libertés civiles (CLO, basée à Lagos), depuis l’état d’Anambra.
M. Umeh a
déclaré que deux policiers musulmans avaient été au nombre des victimes,
alors qu’ils tentaient d’aider les gens de leur tribu. Selon certaines
rumeurs, des hommes de ce village s’étaient mobilisés pour attaquer et tuer
des enfants, ce qui a déclenché cette attaque.
Le bilan
pourrait être en réalité bien plus lourd, certains corps ayant été
incinérés, indique M. Umeh, précisant que la situation s’est calmée
jeudi après l’arrivée des forces de l’ordre. Samedi, des manifestations
massives contre les caricatures danoises représentant Mahomet avaient causé la
mort de 16 chrétiens dans le nord du pays. L’Association des chrétiens du
Nigeria fait état pour sa part de plus de 50 morts. Le gouverneur d’Anambra a
décrété un couvre-feu et incité les gens à ne pas répandre des rumeurs,
qui peuvent causer une escalade de la violence.
Les
affrontements religieux sont fréquents dans ce pays d’Afrique de l’ouest,
où vivent 130 millions de personnes. Les populations musulmanes, dominantes
dans le nord, et chrétiennes, dominantes dans le sud, sont réparties de
manière à peu près équitables.
Une vague de
protestations a secoué le monde musulman récemment, en réaction à des
caricatures publiées en septembre dans un journal danois et reprises depuis en
Norvège et dans d’autres pays européens.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/22/AR2006022200876_pf.html
Christians Turn on Muslims In Nigeria; More Than 30 Die
By Craig Timberg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, February 23, 2006; A01
ONITSHA, Nigeria, Feb. 22 -- Christian mobs in this southern city
attacked Muslim motorists and traders Wednesday, leaving more than 30 people
dead, according to witnesses, as religious riots sparked by the publishing of
cartoons of the prophet Muhammad continued into a fifth day in Nigeria.
Nationwide, the death toll reached at least 80.
Hordes of angry men marauded through Onitsha armed with machetes, guns
and boards with nails pounded into their ends, witnesses said. The mobs burned
two mosques and looted and destroyed Muslim-owned shops as they sought vengeance
for similar attacks against Christians in two predominantly Muslim cities in
northern part of the country.
"They've been killing our brothers and sisters in the north,"
men shouted Wednesday morning, according to Afoma Clara Adique, 40, a motorist
who had driven through Onitsha. She escaped the mobs, she said, but only after
speaking to the men in a regional language used by Christians.
Before she could get away, Adique said, she saw burned and dismembered
bodies along the side of the road.
"Horrible," she said. "I just closed my eyes. It's so
horrible."
Her traveling companion, Tony Iweka, 45, a magazine editor, said a man in
the mob raised his right hand to display what appeared to be a freshly
decapitated head.
The attacks in Nigeria began this weekend, almost six months after the
cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper and weeks after they ignited
a wave of unrest in Muslim countries from Egypt to Indonesia that left about 28
people dead -- almost all of them shot by security forces -- in Pakistan,
Afghanistan and Libya. But the clashes in Nigeria, this continent's most
populous country, have been the deadliest, and the first involving
counterattacks by Christians.
Religious violence has flared in recent years in this West African
nation, which is split roughly in half between a Muslim north and a Christian
and animist south, but with most areas containing a mixture of all three
religious groups. More than 1,000 people were killed in fighting between
Christians and Muslims in 2004.
Abdul Arwa, 25, a Muslim from the north, who for the past two years sold
tomatoes at a roadside stall in Onitsha, said men stole about $60 from him
Wednesday afternoon and tried to stab him before he fled across the Niger River
with only the tattered clothes he was wearing.
The mob, he said, made clear that the attacks were reprisals for the
killings of Muslims in previous days.
"They killed our brothers," one attacker said, according to
Arwa. "So we are going to kill you."
Initial Nigerian news reports put Wednesday's death toll at 22, but
witnesses placed the count at more than 30.
Truckloads of heavily armed police sought to regain control of the city,
but by early afternoon the officers could maintain peace on only part of the
roadway into Onitsha, where the massive steel girders of the Head Bridge deliver
motorists from the west.
At least 19 bodies were visible along that short stretch of road. They
appeared to have been beaten, stripped of some of their clothing and, in several
cases, burned beyond recognition.
Discarded sandals and the round, decorative hats favored by northern
Muslims were left behind in the dirt, and the road bore burn marks.
Adique and other witnesses said at least 14 other bodies, including
several that had been decapitated and mutilated, were visible on the same road
but farther from the bridge, in an area where mobs remained in control. Others
said there were more bodies in other sections of Onitsha, including near the
main bus terminal.
Muslim refugees gathered at a police station in the neighboring city of
Asaba said they saw dozens of other victims tossed alive into the Niger River,
where most were presumed to have drowned.
"I saw many people" in the river, said Musa Dayyabu Kumurya,
28, a tailor from the northern state of Kano.
Nigeria is home to more than 200 distinct ethnic groups drawn together in
a volatile mix by European colonial mapmakers in the 19th century. Onitsha,
alongside the historic trading route of the Niger River, has long been a
commercial center. Though the city is considered part of the homeland of the
heavily Catholic Ibo ethnic group, thousands of northern Muslims, mostly members
of the Hausa ethnic group, have moved here in search of work.
The recent rioting began when Muslim mobs -- consisting mostly of Hausa
men -- destroyed 30 Christian churches and killed 18 people Saturday in the
northeastern city of Maiduguri. Those attacks were followed on Monday by rioting
in Bauchi, another northern and mostly Muslim city, where 25 died over two days.
The rioting in Onitsha began Tuesday, according to news reports, after a
bus carrying bodies of victims from the Maiduguri riots arrived at the city's
main bus terminal. On Wednesday, according to the Reuters news agency, the
violence spread to Enugu, a nearby, predominantly Christian city, where seven
died.
A few miles from Onitsha, in a Asaba, northern Muslim refugees plotted
their return home. Few had any money, clothes or other possessions for the
journey. Some also had bandages on their heads and legs covering wounds from the
attack.
Sale Garba, 40, said he was selling kola nuts at a market when the
rioting began Tuesday. Attackers stole $23 from him and sliced his chin with a
machete before he escaped, he said. On Wednesday, as darkness fell on the
crowded grounds of a police station, he wondered how he would return to his
northern home of Bauchi. After two years in Onitsha, he said, he was done.
"I will not go back," Garba said.
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3655
LAGOS:
Revenge attacks kill 20 Nigerian Muslims
by
Andrew Meldrum in Pretoria and Agencies in Lagos
The
Guardian
February
23, 2006
At least
20 people were killed in revenge attacks on Muslims in Nigeria yesterday as
religious riots intensified a day after the country's leading Anglican
archbishop warned Muslims that they did not have a "monopoly on
violence".
Christian
mobs with machetes and guns roamed the streets of the mainly Christian city of
Onitsha, in the south-east, in retaliation for Muslim violence in the north
earlier this week which killed dozens of people, destroyed churches and left
thousands homeless.
Troops
were powerless to resist the mobs. Revenge attacks were also reported in another
south-eastern city, Enugu, where the Red Cross said at least seven people were
killed and 150 injured. At least 73 people have been killed in the past five
days.
The
Christian retaliation came after a widely publicised statement by the powerful
Anglican primate, Peter Akinola, who warned that community leaders may not be
able to contain "restive youth".
"May
we at this stage remind our Muslim brothers that they do not have the monopoly
on violence in this nation," he said.
He said
the Muslim riots, which broke out at the weekend in response to the cartoons of
the prophet Muhammad that have generated fury across the Muslim world, were part
of a plot to make Nigeria an Islamic country.
"It
is no longer a hidden fact that a long-standing agenda to make this Nigeria an
Islamic nation is being surreptitiously pursued," he said.
Mr
Akinola is also known for his opposition to allowing gays to be priests in the
Anglican church. He could not be reached for comment on the outbreak of the
violence in Onitsha.
The
violence erupted on Saturday in the northern city of Maiduguri. Thirty Christian
churches were razed and 18 people were killed, mostly Christians. There was also
violence on Monday and Tuesday in the northern city of Bauchi, where witnesses
and Red Cross officials said 25 people were killed when Muslim mobs attacked
Christians. Bauchi was tense but calm yesterday as police and soldiers patrolled
the city. But the focus quickly turned to Onitsha where retaliation flared.
"There
are thousands of boys with cutlasses and sticks on the rampage," said
George Esiri, a Reuters photographer. "I've counted at least 20 bodies here
by the Onitsha bridge."
He said
the dead were Hausas. "Some of them are burnt and some have their stomachs
cut open," he said.
Mr
Akinola blamed "influential Muslims" for supporting the religious
extremists behind the attacks.
Nigeria is roughly divided between the mainly Muslim north and the Christian south. Thousands of people have died in religious violence since 2000.
http://www.independentng.com/news/nnfeb230602.htm
Thursday
23rd, February, 2006
Onitsha Riots: More Killed, Prisoners Freed, Businesses Shut
By
Chukwujekwu Ilozue (Onitsha) and Chesa Chesa (Abuja)
A more
widespread riot broke out in Onitsha on Wednesday morning, triggered by a rumour
that Northerners taking refuge in Army barracks in the city sneaked out and
killed school children.
They
were said to have colluded with uniformed men to murder pupils in Awada Primary
School.
The
rioters reportedly killed five persons in revenge.
Our
reporter, who was nearly trapped at the Bridgehead area, counted three fresh
bodies.
The
Anambra State Government has extended the curfew in Onitsha to Awka and Nnewi,
and Abuja says the riots in the state and elsewhere have been brought under
control.
However,
as the rumour of the killing of school children spread in Onitsha, schools,
markets, and business premises were shut. Parents and guardians raced to schools
to fetch their wards.
The
streets were so flooded with protesters that pandemonium snow-balled into
rioting. There were no security personnel in sight.
Youths
with machetes, clubs and other dangerous weapons headed towards the Army
barracks and Awada but were barred
by soldiers.
Early in
the morning, soldiers took position at the Bridgehead and escorted vehicles
suspected to be conveying Northerners.
There,
burnt trailers were seen smouldering with their contents.
At least
10 trailers with livestock parked in the Hausa Market had been burnt to ashes
the previous day. An 18-seater bus was torched as well.
It
became obvious by Wednesday morning that the casualty figure of
about 20 is an under-estimate. Up to 60 must have been killed over the
two days.
However,
neither the Commander of the Artillery Brigade, Colonel Lucas Logagwoma, nor
Police Commissioner, Moses Anegbode, could confirm the
killing of school children.
Logagwoma
said “I have no reaction for now” because
the picture of what was happening was not clear
yet.
Anegbode
described the story as a rumour.
Yet, the
rioters made their way to Onitsha prisons, forcing some criminals to escape.
The
protesters moved about in trucks forcefully seized, and their number overwhelmed
prison guards.
Anegbode
told the press that he is satisfied with the conduct of policemen in containing
the riot.
But
policemen were not seen during the riot on Wednesday. They were said to be in
the barracks to protect their own people.
All
through the day, youths paraded the streets chanting war songs and brandishing
machetes.
The
Anambra State chapter of Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs (SCIA) has condemned
the killing of Christians in Maiduguri and Katsina over the cartoon on Prophet
Muhammed published in far away Denmark – which led to the reprisal attacks in
Onitsha.
A
statement issued by SCIA Vice President, Dauda Ajagu, urged Northern Muslim
leaders to caution the faithful on the likelihood of “being used by the
enemies of progress of this nation” to cause trouble.
The
Federal Government on Wednesday assured Nigerians that the disturbances have
been brought under control following the intervention of governors of the
affected states.
Information
and National Orientation Minister, Frank Nweke, who stated the position in
Abuja, gave an update on the riots in Borno, Katsina, Bauchi and Anambra States.
His
words: “Information available to
us is that the states where these disturbances occurred are quiet at the moment.
The Borno State governor has shown tremendous leadership there and he has calmed
the situation significantly. The same thing with Bauchi and Katsina. Only
yesterday (Tuesday) it was Onitsha where the situation has been calmed.
“The
security agencies have of course brought the situation under control and we do
not expect any further skirmishes from these places. We should not allow matters
which could be discussed amicably to move into violence and panic”.
Nweke
appealed “to our people, our compatriots, that the Government of Nigeria has
great respect for the faiths professed by different religious groups. However,
the government’s position is that even as you profess your faith, you should
shun violence and rather embrace peaceful co-existence.
“We
believe that this is the way that it should be done. It is not in anybody’s
interest that this violence should take place because it is being attended by
the loss of lives, by destruction of property and it has socio-economic
implications. Let us not forget who we are.
“We
are members of one family and in the course of our lives today, we have made
friends and built relationships that transcend our various and individual
ethnic, cultural and language groups.
“A lot
of people have spoken up and we expect that more people should speak up, that
there is no faith that preaches religious violence, that encourages you to kill
your fellow citizen or fellow human being”.
Anambra
State Governor, Chris Ngige, has extended the dusk to dawn curfew in Onitsha to
Awka and Nnewi.
A
statement he issued through his Special Assistant, Fred Chukwuelobe, warned the
public to desist from rumour mongering that is capable of escalating the
violence.
He said
the rumour of the killing of school children has been investigated and found to
be false.
He
warned those involved in the jail break that they will be doing themselves a lot
of good if they report to the nearest police station or to the controller of
prisons.
Ngige
confirmed that more law enforcement agents have been deployed in Onitsha and
other parts of the state.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C02%5C23%5Cstory_23-2-2006_pg7_8
Thursday,
February 23, 2006
27
dead in new religious riot in Nigeria
ONITSHA:
Revenge attacks against Muslims killed at least 27 people in Nigeria on
Wednesday after days of anti-Christian violence killed dozens in the mainly
Muslim north.
The slaughter raised the death toll from five days of religious riots fuelled by
political tensions in Africa’s most populous country to at least 66, and
possibly many more.
“There are thousands of boys with cutlasses and sticks on the rampage. I’ve
counted at least 20 bodies here by the Onitsha bridge. They are Hausas. Some of
them are burnt and some have their stomachs cut open,” said photographer
George Esiri. The Hausa are the main ethnic group in the north, while Onitsha is
located in the ethnic Ibo heartland.
Rioting started in Onitsha on Tuesday after news of the northern riots emerged.
Nigeria’s 140 million people are split roughly equally between Muslims in the
north and Christians in the south, though sizeable religious and ethnic
minorities live in both regions.
Religious violence is often stoked by political leaders seeking to bolster their
own power bases. Fighting in one part of the country usually sparks reprisal
killings elsewhere.
A doctor at the Onitsha general hospital said more than 50 newly injured people
had been brought in on Wednesday, while the Red Cross said 325 people were
injured and 2,000 displaced on Tuesday. Many were hiding in barracks and police
stations. There was no official death toll from Tuesday’s fighting in Onitsha
but a security source said at least a dozen people, possibly many more, were
killed.
The catalysts were different in the three northern cities hit by violence, but
observers say their underlying cause was uncertainty over Nigeria’s political
future and particularly suspicions President Olusegun Obasanjo, a Christian
southerner, plans a third term.
The revenge violence spread on Wednesday to Enugu, another southeastern city,
where the Red Cross said at least seven people were killed and 150 injured.
In Onitsha, troops and police were unable to contain the violence. A group of
soldiers prevented the mob from crossing the Niger River bridge into
neighbouring Delta state, but did not attempt to stop the killing.
“We are evacuating some internally displaced people to Asaba for temporary
sheltering because they were being overcome and attacked in places where they
were initially camped, such as police stations,” said a Red Cross official in
Lagos.
A doctor at Onitsha general hospital said police carried in 20 corpses, but it
was impossible to verify if these were the same people as the doctor did not
know where the corpses had come from. The local police commissioner declined to
comment.
Oliver Onah, an Onitsha resident, said he saw an enraged mob burn two policemen
to death at a roundabout in the city. Reuters
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/headline/f123022006.html
38
killed as Onitsha riot spreads
By
Anayo Okoli, Enyim Enyim, Charles Ozoemena & Olasunkanmi Akoni
Posted to the Web: Thursday, February 23, 2006
ONITSHA—
RIOTS raged for the second day running in Onitsha, yesterday, with the death
toll rising to 38. The riots also spread to Nnewi.
The situation in Onitsha triggered a pandemonium in neighbouring Asaba where
parents rushed to collect their children from schools while business activities
were hurriedly suspended.
The
Lagos State Government alleged plot by unnamed people to “exploit the recent
religious tension in parts of the country to cause disaffection between
religious groups and instigate violence in the state.”
However,
the Federal Government reacted yesterday to the spate of violence in parts of
the country and asked religious leaders to “counsel their followers... to
live peacefully in the way that we have always done.”
Fresh
trouble began in Onitsha yesterday morning following an alarm that some people
had invaded the Awada Primary School and killed pupils. Parents rushed to
the school to collect their children and wards.
Traders
were forced to close shops while schools and most markets in Onitsha were shut.
But the Anambra State Police Commissioner, Mr. Moses Anagbode, dismissed the
purported attack on Awada Primary School children. He said it was all rumour
to “aggravate an already tense situation.”
The
Police Commissioner who was in Onitsha to access the situation said he was
informed that soldiers at the nearby Army Barracks were told of a planned
attack on the school and the military authorities alerted the police at
Awada who in conjunction with the military went to the school to protect the
children. However, the pupils on siting the men in uniform fled, causing
stampede that attracted their parents.
Contacted, the Commander 302 Artilary Regiment, Col. Lucas Chollampam Logagwoma
said: “I don’t have any reaction or comment for now, because the
picture of what is happening is not clear to me.”
Meanwhile,
miscreants cashed in on the confusion and broke into the Onitsha prison and
released an unidentified number of inmates at the prison yard.
Governor Chris Ngige of Anambra State consequently extended the dusk to dawn
curfew imposed on Onitsha to Awka and Nnewi. The curfew starts from 7pm to
7am.
In
a statement issued by Gov. Ngige’s Media Adviser, Mr. Fred Chukwuelobe, he
warned the public to desist from rumour-mongering, The statement said the
attack on Awada Primary School children had been investigated and found to
be rumour.
The governor also warned those involved in the jail-break at Onitsha Prisons,
saying it would pay them more to report themselves to the nearest police station
or the comptroller of prisons.
Gov.
Ngige also warned the citizens of the state to desist from molesting
anybody, adding that his government was working with the Federal
Government to assuage the pains of the victims of both the Onitsha mayhem
and Maiduguri crisis.
LASG alleges plot to instigate riots in Lagos
The
Lagos State Government alleged yesterday plot by some people to exploit the
religious tension in parts of the country to instigate violence in the state. In
a statement, the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Dele Alake said: “The
Lagos State Government hereby alerts the general public on the sinister plan by
some unscrupulous and unpatriotic elements to exploit the recent religious
tension in parts of the country to cause disaffection between religious groups
and instigate violence in the state.
“Security
reports reveal that these characters intend to aggravate the strong emotions
generated by the negative cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in a Danish
newspaper to further provoke religious groups and set them against each other.
“It is important to note that even the Danish government has apologised for
the offending cartoon and there is thus no need to fight each other on the
unfortunate incident.
“Contrary
to their pretence of fighting for any religious cause, the evil minds behind
this plot are only pursuing selfish political and economic interests. They
believe that the best way to cause instability on a national scale in the
country is to provoke communal and religious violence in a heterogeneous mega
city state like Lagos where every faith and ethnicity in Nigeria is
represented.
“Once
again, we call on the good people of Lagos State to continue to maintain the
peace and harmony we enjoy in Lagos State. The public should disregard
inciting insinuations or rumors deliberately calculated to generate
tension or create bad blood. Mischievous elements who engage in suspicious
activities like advocating reprisal action by any religious group against
others should be reported to the law enforcement agencies.
“All
Lagosians are enjoined to go about their legitimate business without fear. The
State Government is determined to continue to maintain a peaceful and
secure environment conducive for inflow of foreign investment and rapid
socio-economic growth. Accordingly, all security agencies have been put on alert
to apprehend disturbers of the peace and protect lives and property.
“Meanwhile,
in order to further strengthen the existing inter religious harmony and
understanding in Lagos State, the Governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, will
meet with religious leaders of all persuasions from all local governments
of the state at the State Auditorium, Alausa, today at 11am.”
Situation under control—FG
The
Federal Government deplored yesterday disturbances in some parts of the country,
and assured that the situation was under the full control of security agencies.
Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Frank Nweke, speaking for
governors admonished Nigerians not to allow matters which could ordinarily
be resolved amicably to degenerate to violent killings.
“Government
would like to call on religious leaders, a lot of people have spoken up and we
expect that more people should speak up, that there is no faith that
preaches religious violence, that encourages you to kill your fellow citizen or
fellow human being. So, we would like to call on the Ulama, senior citizens
and individuals alike to speak up and counsel their followers, the
religious groups and live peacefully in the way that we have always done.
“We should not allow matters which could be discussed amicably to move into
violence and panic,” he said and singled out the Borno State Governor for
arresting the violence in his state.
“Information
available to us is that the states where these disturbances occurred are quiet
at the moment. Borno State Governor has shown tremendous leadership there
and he has calmed the situation significantly. The same thing with Bauchi and
Katsina. Only yesterday (Tuesday) it was Onitsha where the situation has
been calmed. The security agencies have of course brought the situation
under control and we do not expect any further skirmishes from these places.
“To
our people, our compatriots, that the Government of Nigeria has great respect
for the faiths professed by different religious groups. However, government’s
position is that even as you profess your faith, you should shun violence and
rather embrace peaceful co-existence.
“We
believe that this is the way that it should be done. It is not in anybody’s
interest that this violence should take place because it is being attended by
loss of lives, by destruction of property and it has socio-economic
implications. Let us not forget who we are. We are members of one family and in
the course of our lives today, we have made friends and built
relationships that transcends our various and individual ethnic, cultural and
language groups,” he said.
On
the restiveness of the Niger Delta area, Nweke said President Obasanjo had more
than past leaders attended to the problems of the oil producing areas. He
said: “When you see the details of Federal Government intervention in
the Niger Delta area from 1958, you will see that from 1999, everything that has
been done in the last six years, has increased to about 300 per cent more
above everything the government did in the preceding 40 years.
“Frankly
speaking, one believes that a lot has been done in this area, a lot still needs
to be done. The President acknowledges this and that is why he has shown
the political will. He has provided the political leadership and the
support needed to bring these things about.”
http://www.localnewsleader.com/elytimes/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=148296
Bodies burned in open after Nigeria riots kill 146
Staff and agencies
23 February, 2006
By George Esiri 17 minutes ago
ONITSHA,
Nigeria - Christian youths burned the corpses of Muslims on Thursday on the
streets of Onitsha in southeastern Nigeria, the city worst hit by religious
riots that have killed at least 146 people across the country in five days.
Christian
mobs, seeking revenge for the killings of Christians in the north, attacked
Muslims with machetes, set fire to them, destroyed their houses and torched
mosques in two days of violence in Onitsha, where 93 people died.
"We
are very happy that this thing is happening so that the north will learn their
lesson," said Anthony Umai, a motorcycle taxi rider, standing close to
where Christian youths had piled up the corpses of 10 Muslims and were burning
them.
Dozens
more corpses had been thrown into the back of pick-up trucks by security
services overnight, residents said.
Uncertainty
over Nigeria‘s political future is aggravating regional, ethnic and religious
rivalries in Africa‘s most populous nation and top oil exporter.
Elections
are due next year and many Nigerians believe President Olusegun Obasanjo and
some state governors will try to stay on after eight years in power. The
prospect angers those who want their own ethnic or regional blocs to have their
turn.
Militants
in the oil-producing Niger Delta have waged a three-month campaign of attacks
and kidnappings, which has cut exports and driven up world oil prices. One of
their demands is greater control over their region and its resources.
There
was no fighting in Onitsha on Thursday but Emeka Umeh, of human rights group the
Civil Liberties Organization, called it "the peace of the graveyard."
Some
charred corpses were still lying on the streets and hundreds of Muslim men,
women and children fled the city crammed into open-top trucks for fear of more
killings. Thousands more were hiding in army barracks and police stations.
Umeh
said most of the bodies his group counted were Hausa, but some Ibo were killed
too. The Hausa are the main ethnic group in northern Nigeria and most are
Muslim, while the Ibo are dominant in the southeast and almost all are
Christian.
It
is impossible to verify the exact number of deaths but Red Cross figures from
all the different cities give a toll of 146. Local authorities decline to give
death tolls.
In
northern Maiduguri, where the Christian Association of Nigeria says 50
Christians were killed in a weekend riot that began as a protest against
cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, tensions were high during several Christian
funeral masses.
The
Red Cross said at least 21 people died in Maiduguri and 9,000 were driven from
their homes.
A
crowd of Christian youths broke away from the burial of one of the victims, a
Catholic priest, and ran shouting through the streets before police dispersed
them.
At
the funeral of 13 children from two families who were burned in their houses,
mourners wailed as police stood by.
News
of the Maiduguri killings set off the bloodletting in Onitsha, and tit-for-tat
violence spread on Wednesday to Enugu, another southeastern city, where seven
people were killed.
Nigeria‘s
140 million people are divided about equally between Muslims in the north and
Christians in the south, but sizeable religious minorities live in both regions.
Thousands
of people have been killed in religious violence since the restoration of
democracy in 1999. Killings in one part of the country often spark reprisals
elsewhere.
The
triggers for riots that killed at least at least 46 people, mostly Christians,
in northern Maiduguri, Bauchi and Katsina, were different, but religious and
secular leaders have linked them to political tensions.
In
Bauchi, an alleged blasphemy started the trouble, while in Katsina it was a
constitutional review that many see as an attempt to keep Obasanjo in power.
The
constitution bars Obasanjo, a Christian from the southwest, from seeking a third
term in 2007 and he says he will uphold the charter. But he has declined to
comment on a powerful movement to amend the constitution to allow him to stay.
Maiduguri
and Katsina are both hosting public hearings on constitutional reform this week
which many Nigerians believe are geared toward furthering the so-called third
term agenda.
(Additional
reporting by Estelle Shirbon in Abuja, Ibrahim Mshelizza in Maiduguri and Tume
Ahemba in Lagos)
http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:qk5T_176KH8J:english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A9958547-2CE3-484E-8678-F7DDADF58D59.htm+benghazi+riot&hl=fr&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=fr
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2006
18:47 MECCA TIME, 15:47 GMT
Heads
roll after Libya's cartoon riots
Libya
has suspended its security minister and other officials, a day after at least 10
people were killed during a demonstration at the Italian consulate in the north
eastern city of Benghazi.
In Rome,
meanwhile, Roberto Calderoli, the Italian reform minister, has resigned, bowing
to pressure from government colleagues after Libya blamed his anti-Islamic
insults for igniting the demonstration, the most deadly yet of a continuing
international wave of protests against cartoons of Prophet Muhammad.
A
statement from the general secretariat of Libya's parliament on Saturday read:
"Security Minister Nasr Mabrouk has been suspended from his duties and
taken before an investigating magistrate."
The
statement added that a national day of mourning would be observed on Sunday to
honour "our martyrs".
Calderoli,
of the xenophobic Northern League party, had appeared on a prime time news
programme on Thursday wearing a T-shirt printed with the provocative cartoons,
which first appeared in a Danish newspaper last year and which have recently
been widely re-published in Europe.
"Security
Minister Nasr Mabrouk has been suspended from his duties and taken before an
investigating magistrate"
A Libyan
government statement
The
Libyan deaths took place after about 1000 people gathered to protest outside the
Roman consulate.
Calderoli,
who has frequently attacked Islam in recent weeks and once called Muslim
immigrants in Italy "Ali Babas", seemed defiant to the last, showing
no signs of contrition in a series of newspaper interviews published on
Saturday.
"I
can be sorry for the victims, but what happened in Libya has nothing to do with
my T-shirt. The question is different. What's at stake is Western
civilisation," the daily La Repubblica quoted him as saying.
Berlusconi-al-Qadhafi
talk
The
al-Qadhafi foundation, headed by the reform-minded son of Muammar al-Qadhafi,
the Libyan leader, issued a statement blaming the riot on Calderoli's
"provocative and outrageous" actions.
Meanwhile,
in a telephone conversation Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, and
the Libyan leader agreed that the anti-Italian violence should have no
"negative repercussions" for bilateral relations, Berlusconi's office
said.
Calderoli's
brazen stand embarrassed Italy's centre-right government, which is campaigning
for April general elections. On Saturday, several ministers, as well as leaders
of the centre-left opposition, urged Calderoli to step down.
The two
leaders had a "long and amicable" discussion focusing on Friday's
violence in Benghazi.
Minister
visits mosque
Gianfranco
Fini, the Italian foreign minister, quickly scheduled a visit to Rome's main
mosque for later Saturday, saying he wanted "to reaffirm that we respect
every religion, and we expect identical respect," according to the ANSA and
Apcom news agencies.
Carlo
Azeglio Ciampi, the Italian president and a highly respected voice in the
country, issued a statement saying that in Italy, "there is a clear,
undisputed policy that reflects the dominant feeling of Italians: the respect of
religious creeds and of the faiths of all peoples.
"Above
all, those who have a responsibility in government have to show responsible
behaviour," Ciampi said, adding that he was "deeply saddened" by
the clashes at Benghazi.
Calderoli
defies PM
In an
interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Calderoli said he had declined a
previous plea to resign from Berlusconi last week, after he threatened to wear
the T-shirt. "I'm certainly not changing my mind," he told the paper.
Under
the Italian constitution, the premier does not have the power to sack ministers.
In
comments reported by another newspaper, Corriere della Sera, Calderoli said he
would resign only if Umberto Bossi, the Northern League leader, asked him to do
so, and "after receiving a signal from the Islamic world that such a
gesture would be useful".
Calderoli
travelled to Bossi's house in northern Italy on Saturday to meet him and Fini.
Fini,
who had earlier appealed to Calderoli to avoid provoking Muslims, blamed his
fellow minister for the violence in Libya.
"It
was predictable that Calderoli's display would trigger reactions in the Arab
world," Fini told La Repubblica.
The
front pages of Italian papers were dominated by the story on Saturday.
http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/?a=7003&z=12
Obasanjo
Orders Soldiers To Quell Riots
Friday,
February 24, 2006 - By Kingsley Omonobi, Anayo Okoli & Sam Eyoboka
* Civil Liberties Organisation puts death toll at 80
* Southerners invade barracks for cover in Katsina
* Onitsha calm, business, social activities resume
* 20 prison inmates return;Abuja police forestall riot
ABUJA - THE Federal
Government, yesterday, directed the General Officers Commanding the Army
divisions to team up with the police immediately to stop the wave of religious
attacks and/or reprisals in parts of the country. Already, soldiers have been
deployed on the streets of Onitsha, which was the scene of two days of reprisals
against northerners, to check further violence.
The human rights group, Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), said yesterday that
over 80 people died in the attacks. However, the commercial city was generally
calm yesterday.
Meanwhile, hundreds of southerners were still taking refuge in army barracks in
Katsina, Maiduguri, Bauchi and Gombe, fearing reprisals after the Onitsha
attacks.
Vanguard gathered that the Presidency fearing that the attacks might spread to
other parts of the country directed the Chief of Defence Staff, General
Alexander Ogomudia, to activate the internal security apparatus of the military
for the purpose of quelling the sectarian/religious violence.
Consequently, the Service Chiefs were told to deploy troops to flash points at
the slightest hint of possible confrontation.
Army divisions in the North-East and the South-East are particularly to ensure
that the violence and killings are brought to an end forthwith.
Explaining why it took long for security agencies to move to quell the religious
attacks in Maiduguri and Bauchi which led to the killing of some Christians
which led to a reprisal attacks in other parts of the country, the source said:
"The truth is that the Police which is the first line of defence reacted
slowly to the outbreak of the attacks and this was because they (policemen on
ground) were still wondering if their so-called strike would hold or not.
"So, while they were contemplating, the miscreants took advantage of the
situation to wreak havoc. What I am telling you started very early and in just
about five minutes a lot of damage had been done."
Onitsha Calm
However, after two days of the mayhem in Onitsha, the commercial city of Anambra
State that left in its trail no fewer than 80 persons dead and properties worth
millions of Naira destroyed, normalcy has returned to the commercial city.
Commercial and social activities resumed yesterday. Markets in Onitsha which
were hurriedly shut on Tuesday and Wednesday opened for business yesterday.
Commercial vehicles which were withdrawn from the roads at the peak of the
mayhem resumed operations as residents and visitors to the commercial city
freely went about their normal businesses.
However, schools in the city remained closed just as the dusk to dawn curfew
imposed on the major cities of the state remained.
But the debris left behind by the mayhem were still seen all over the town.
There were at least three burnt bodies on the Onitsha-Enugu Expressway between
the Zik’s Roundabout and the New Motor spare parts market. One of the charred
bodies was said to be that of a mobile policeman. He was said to have been
lynched and burnt by miscreants after he allegedly shot at them.
Security in and around the city is still tight. Battle-ready soldiers were
yesterday seen patrolling the city to ensure that nobody caused further trouble.
Meanwhile, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe, yesterday visited the victims
of the mayhem at the Onitsha Army Barracks to commiserate with them. Achebe
sympathised with them and urged them to be calm, assuring them that help would
soon come their way.
80 killed, says CLO
The CLO in Onitsha said no fewer than 80 people died in the Onitsha riots.
"We counted 60 bodies on Tuesday and 20 on Wednesday and there could be
more," said Emeka Umeh, head of the local chapter of the Lagos-based Civil
Liberties Organisation (CLO).
"It was a great massacre that should be condemned by any right-thinking
person. Human bodies littered the streets in Onitsha. Even now, bodies can still
be found on Upper Iweka road," in the city.
He said the victims had been slaughtered "with machetes, knives, metal
objects, clubs and in some instance, even guns." Umeh said two policemen
were among the victims, adding that he thought they had died "while trying
to save the lives of the Muslims."
20 Inmates Return
Besides, 20 inmates of the Onitsha prisons who were freed by the angry mob that
invaded the prison on Tuesday have voluntarily returned to the prison. Acting
Comptroller-General of Prisons, Mr. Uche Kalu, who paid a visit to the state to
see for himself what happened commended the freed inmates who voluntary returned
to the prison. He described the attack on the prison as devastating and a
colossal damage. According to him, the property destroyed were estimated at
millions of Naira and will be very difficulty for government to put in place.
Expressing fears and danger of releasing the inmates, Kalu said: "Those who
came there and released the inmates were not patriotic. Who were they helping?
Armed robbers and murderers and suspects have been released to the society. I
can assured you that since yesterday some of them have started operation. Those
who released them could be their first victims."
Southerners Invade Barracks For Refuge
Hundreds of southerners sought refuge yesterday in army barracks in Katsina,
Maiduguri, Bauchi and Gombe, fearing reprisals following the Onitsha riots. Some
7,000 people were holed up in police stations and military barracks in Katsina
alone.
They also feared possible riots over on-going public hearings in Katsina on a
possible constitutional amendment seeking to allow President Olusegun Obasanjo a
third term.
The Onitsha riots on Tuesday and Wednesday were in response to an earlier
attacks on southerners in the north following protests over cartoons of Islam’s
Prophet Mohammed published in European newspapers.
The barracks presented a chaotic sight with men, women and children sitting
under trees as vendors milled around vending food, soft drinks and water.
Police were yesterday also deployed across Katsina’s neighbouring towns,
including Kano, Kaduna and Zaria.
"We are on red alert. All state commissioners of police are under
instructions to monitor developments and prevent any violence," federal
police spokesman Haz Iwendi said.
Abuja Police Forestall Riot
Meanwhile, the Police in Abuja yesterday moved to forestall attempts by some
religious groups to cause crisis in the Federal Capital City over what a Moslem
cleric described as the circulation of a book written by a Lebanese Christian
from Lebanon, containing some derogatory remarks about the holy Prophet
Mohammed.
Commissioner of Police in charge of the Federal Capital, Mr Lawrence Alobi, who
summoned a meeting with over 100 religious, traditional and community leaders
including leaders of thought in Abuja, warned the leaders against inciting any
religious or ethnic crisis in the city, pointing out that Police were alert to
deal with anybody who takes the law into his hands.
"The purpose of our gathering is to call on residents of Abuja not to be
part of the crisis that is happening in other parts of the country. We won’t
allow that to happen here. I want to enjoin all FCT residents especially
religious and community leaders to preach and ensure peace and tranquillity.
"We will not tolerate anybody bringing hoodlums from any where to come and
cause problems here," Alobi said.
PFN Tasks Obasanjo On Riots
And reacting to the riots, the umbrella body of Pentecostal Christians in
Nigeria, yesterday, held an emergency national executive meeting, at the end of
which it asked President Olusegun Obasanjo to invoke the powers bestowed upon
him to restore peace to the nation.
The PFN which said at least 36 churches were burnt in Maiduguri alone, condemned
the reprisal action taken by youths in Onitsha, saying that as Christians, our
faith does not accept such retaliatory actions, adding, however, that the said
reprisal moves were precipitated by frustration on the part of the people.
It enjoined Christians in the country to remain calm and law-abiding, pointing
out that "we cannot in the face of continued provocation guarantee that
Christians will not be compelled to take their destiny in their own hands."
http://www.lalibre.be/article.phtml?id=10&subid=83&art_id=270851
Vendetta anti-musulmane: 138 morts
MARIE-FRANCE CROS
Mis en ligne le 24/02/2006
Des bandes de jeunes ont attaqué les musulmans dans plusieurs villes du sud. Il s'agit de représailles contre les émeutes anti-chrétiennes au nord.
|
AP |
Une nouvelle fois, le Nigeria est
le théâtre de massacres religieux. Après que des musulmans eurent incendié
32 églises et tué 46 personnes lors d'émeutes anti-chrétiennes -
«justifiées» par la publication de caricatures de Mahomet en Europe - il y a
deux semaines, des sudistes (chrétiens et animistes) ont attaqué des musulmans
dans plusieurs villes du sud après une intervention du primat anglican, Mgr
Peter Akinola, prévenant les musulmans qu'ils n' «avaient pas le monopole
de la violence». On déplorait 138 morts jeudi matin.
La majorité des victimes sont enregistrées à Onitsha, ville majoritairement d'ethnie ibo; les Ibos, souvent commerçants, sont très présents parmi les minorités chrétiennes vivant au nord (musulman) du Nigeria.
Régulièrement
Cet immense pays est
régulièrement le théâtre de tueries interreligieuses. Celles-ci ont surtout
lieu au nord et au centre du pays.
Au nord, majoritairement musulman,
en particulier depuis qu'à la faveur de la fin de la dictature militaire
(1999), les islamistes ont fait une percée importante, aboutissant à
l'imposition de la loi islamique dans 12 Etats fédérés. Des chrétiennes
vendant de la bière, une éclipse, une rumeur, un concours de beauté - les
prétextes à émeutes anti-chrétiennes sont multiples et ont fait des milliers
de morts depuis 1999.
Au centre, parce que c'est la zone
de rencontre entre islam et christianisme et qu'il y a de nombreux cas d'ethnies
appartenant à des religions différentes qui se disputent des terres fertiles
en brandissant l'étendard, bien commode, de la foi.
Depuis quelques années,
cependant, on note qu'à chaque massacre de chrétiens au nord répond, en
représailles, un massacre de musulmans au sud ou au centre; l'inverse s'est
également produit.
Manipulations
Dans tous les cas, des intérêts
locaux manipulent à l'envi les angoisses identitaires, liées à
l'appauvrissement des citoyens (le revenu par habitant a diminué de 25pc depuis
1975 alors que, sur la même période, le pétrole, extrait au sud, a rapporté
300 milliards de dollars).
A la mi-février, le gouvernement
fédéral a ainsi accusé les autorités de l'Etat fédéré islamiste de Kano
(nord) d'avoir entraîné au djihad, «avec l'aide d'une puissance
étrangère», une trentaine de membres de sa police religieuse. Les
manifestations anti-chrétiennes de ce mois à Kano semblent avoir été
noyautées par une milice chiite portant chemise noire. Les musulmans nigérians
sont très majoritairement sunnites.
Plus radicaux encore
Plus généralement, on remarque
que les autorités des Etats islamistes du nord doivent, de plus en plus, faire
face à de plus radicaux qu'elles. C'est que les promesses qu'elles avaient
faites lors de l'imposition de la loi islamique - fin de la corruption et de
l'immoralité - ne sont pas suivies d'effet; curieusement, d'ailleurs, la loi
islamique coupe la main des petits voleurs et fait la vie dure aux femmes
-surtout celles qui n'ont pas de mari-, mais est bien moins sévère à l'égard
des auteurs de détournement d'argent public ou des policiers qui rackettent les
citoyens. Des groupes plus radicaux tentent donc de se faire une clientèle en
accusant les autorités islamistes au pouvoir de n'avoir décrété la charia
que par populisme et non par foi.
Le sud, lui, est marqué par le
retour en force des mouvements ethnistes, parfois porteurs de revendications
sécessionnistes.
© La Libre Belgique 2006
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_depeche.asp?art_cle=PAN60026lesvitsedus0
Les
violences font 100 morts dans le sud-est
NIGERIA - 23 février 2006 - PANAPRESS
Le bilan
de deux jours de violences à Onitsha, dans le sud-est du Nigeria, se chiffre
désormais à 100 morts alors que des bandes d'emeutiers ont pris d'assaut
mercredi une prison et libéré l'ensemble des 585 détenus, a rapporté jeudi
la presse locale. Des milliers de musulmans nordistes résidant dans
la ville ont été contraints de quitter leurs maisons, et plusieurs d'entre eux
se sont réfugiés au 32ème Régiment d'artillerie de la ville, tandis que des
centaines d'autres ont fui dans l'Etat du Delta qui se trouve à proximité.
On redoutait, jeudi, que ces
violences qui ont débuté le week-end dernier quand de jeunes musulmans
protestant contre les caricatures du Prophète Mohamed (PSL) à Maiduguri ont
tué des dizaines de chrétiens, se répandent dans les autres Etats du Sud à
majorité chrétienne, y compris à Lagos, la capitale économique du
Nigeria.
Les émeutes d'Onitsha, le poumon
économique de l'Etat d'Anambra, ont commencé mardi en réponse directe aux
violences qui ont éclaté dans au moins quatre Etats du nord
musulman.
Les violences dans les Etats de
Maiduguri, Bauchi, Gombe et Katsina, tous dans le Nord, ont fait de nombreux
morts et suscité des avertissements sévères de la part de l'Association des
chrétiens du Nigeria (CAN).
Bien que le gouvernement de l'Etat
ait déployé des policiers et des soldats armés et imposé un couvre-feu, des
jeunes armés, au nombre de 3.000 ont défié les mesures de sécurité pour
semer le chaos. Ils ont pris d'assaut la prison d'Onitsha aux environ de 13h
(heure locale), apparemment à la recherche de Nordistes, et pillé les biens de
la prison. "Tous les jeunes étaient armés. Ils ont sauté sur
le toit de la prison qui s'est effondré sous leur poids", a raconté le
contrôleur adjoint de la prison, Columbus Omeneko. "Ils nous
accusent d'accueillir des Hausas musulmans, mais nous leur avons dit que tous
les détenus étaient originaires du sud-est", a poursuivi M. Omeneko,
ajoutant que seuls neuf des 585 prisonniers libérés sont rentrés de leur
plein gré.
Les corps des victimes jonchaient
littéralement les principales rues dans la journée de mercredi tandis que les
éocles et les commerces étaient restés fermés.
Le gouvernement de l'Etat a annoncé
qu'il avait étendu le couvre- feu à la ville voisine de Nnewi pour prévenir
toute autre violence dans l'Etat.
"Le gouverneur souhaite aussi
avertir tous ceux qui sont impliqués dans l'évasion de la prison d'onitsha
aujourd'hui (mercredi) suite à la crise à Onitsha qu'ils feraient mieux de se
présenter au commissariat le plus proche ou au contrôleur des prisons",
prévient le gouvernement.
Face à la crainte que les émeutes
se propagent, les gouverneurs des Etats d'Imo, dans le sud-est, Kaduna dans le
nord et Lagos, la capitale économique, ont annoncé des mesures pour prévenir
les violences interconfessionnelles.
A Imo, des centaines de Nordistes
apeurés se sont réfugiés dans les casernes de la police et de l'armée à
Owerri, la capitale de l'Etat, mais le porte-parole de la police Bala Mohammed a
affirmé que des mesures avaient été prises pour assurer la sécurité.
A Lagos, le gouverneur de l'Etat,
Bola Tinubu, a convoqué une réunion des responsables religieux pour discuter
des mesures visant à prévenir la violence.
Les émeutes ethniques et
religieuses ont tué des milliers de personnes au Nigeria, un pays multiethnique
presque équitablement divisé entre chrétiens et musulmans.
Dans l’actualité
Libye
Nouvelles émeutes à Benghazi Après les
émeutes qui ont provoqué la mort de douze manifestants devant le consulat
italien, les protestations ont continué tout le week-end à Benghazi,
conduisant les résidents italiens à quitter la ville. Hier matin, c’est l’église
qui a été incendiée. Bien que les émeutes aient été déclenchées à la
suite de la présentation par Roberto Calderoli d’un tee-shirt présentant les
caricatures du Prophète, le président du Sénat italien, Marcello Pera, a
accusé hier le chef d’État libyen, le colonel Muammar Kadhafi, d’être à
l’initiative des manifestations. Pologne Une exposition de tee-shirts
provocateurs interdite L’université de Lublin, en Pologne, a interdit une
exposition en faveur de la liberté d’expression. Devaient y être présentés
des tee-shirts aux inscriptions provocatrices telles que « Je n’ai pas
pleuré après la mort du pape », « Je suis gay » ou
« Je suis juif ». « L’exposition et les textes imprimés sur
les tee-shirts risquaient d’offenser les sentiments et les convictions de
nombre de gens », a expliqué le directeur de l’université Wieslaw
Kaminski. L’évêque de la ville, Mgr Jozef Zycinski, a quant à lui estimé
qu’« il faut avoir perdu tout sentiment humain pour inscrire sur un
tee-shirt "Je suis malade du sida" ou "J’ai
avorté" ».
Palestine Ismaïl Hanieyh chargé
de former le gouvernement C’est hier que le président de l’Autorité
palestinienne, Mahmoud Abbas, a reçu Ismaïl Hanieyh pour lui remettre une
lettre d’accréditation le chargeant officiellement de former le gouvernement
palestinien. Cette lettre, a indiqué le dirigeant palestinien, Ismaïl Hanieyh,
contient « plusieurs points qui devront faire l’objet d’une discussion
et d’un accord ». En outre, le président palestinien a appelé le Hamas
à reconnaître les accords conclus par ses prédécesseurs avec Israël et à s’engager
à rechercher l’établissement d’un État palestinien par la voie de la
négociation. Algérie La grève dans l’éducation largement suivie L’appel
à une grève de trois jours, qui avait débuté, lundi, par l’intersyndicale
des travailleurs de l’éducation nationale algérienne, a été largement
suivi. Hier, tous les établissements scolaires algériens étaient fermés.
Plus de 90 % des personnels de l’éducation ont adhéré à l’appel lancé
par l’intersyndicale, qui regroupe trois syndicats autonomes. Les syndicats,
non reconnus par les pouvoirs publics, exigent la revalorisation des salaires et
une redéfinition du statut de l’enseignant. Autriche Le négationniste David
Irving condamné à trois ans de prison David Irving, l’Anglais qui a perdu sa
réputation d’historien sérieux en niant la réalité de l’Holocauste, a
été condamné à Vienne à trois ans de prison, au titre de la loi
autrichienne « contre la réactivation » du nazisme (datant de 1947
et complétée en 1992). Il a indiqué qu’il ferait appel du verdict, après
avoir affirmé qu’il s’était « trompé », il y a dix-sept ans,
en qualifiant de « contes de fées » le génocide des juifs et les
chambres à gaz d’Auschwitz. La presse britannique a condamné hier cet ami de
l’extrême droite. Mais elle se demandait si une telle peine infligée à un
homme complètement discrédité ne risquait pas d’en faire un martyr tout en
portant atteinte à la liberté d’expression. L’écrivain avait été
arrêté en novembre 2005 en vertu d’un mandat d’arrêt émis en 1989,
après qu’il eut nié l’existence des chambres à gaz lors de réunions
tenues en Autriche.
http://www.irinnews.org/FrenchReport.asp?ReportID=6752&SelectRegion=Afrique_de_l'ouest&SelectCountry=Nigeria
Mosquée incendiée au cours des violences
interconfessionnelles dans le sud d'Onitsha |
ONITSHA, le 24 février (IRIN) - Au moins 123 personnes ont été
tuées au cours des récents affrontements ethno-religieux survenus au Nigeria
à la suite des violentes manifestations organisées par de jeunes Musulmans qui
protestaient contre les caricatures du Prophète Mahomet.
C’est à Onitsha, une ville du sud-est majoritairement chrétienne qu’on
compte le plus grand nombre de victimes. En représailles aux attaques
perpétrées le week-end dernier contre les Chrétiens dans le nord, des groupes
de jeunes en colère s’en sont pris aux Musulmans de la ville.
Au moins 80 personnes ont trouvé la mort au cours des deux journées d’émeutes
à Onitsha, a indiqué jeudi la Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), une
association nigériane de défense des droits de l’homme.
« Nous avons dénombré au moins 60 morts mardi et une vingtaine mercredi », a
confié à IRIN Emeka Umeh, le délégué de la CLO dans l’Etat d’Anambra.
Les émeutes ont éclaté mardi lorsqu’il a été état de l’arrivée à
Onitsha des dépouilles de chrétiens Igbos tués dans le nord. Des jeunes en
colère sont alors descendus dans les rues de la ville pour en découdre avec
les Musulmans Haoussas, originaires du nord.
Mais le nombre de victimes serait bien plus important, si l’on tient compte
des attaques perpétrées contre les Musulmans dans les villes voisines d'Awka
et de Nnewi. Mercredi, Chris Ngige, gouverneur de l’Etat d’Anambra a
décrété le couvre-feu dans les deux villes, alors qu’il était déjà en
vigueur à Onitsha.
De nombreuses autres victimes musulmanes ont également été signalées
mercredi à Enugu, la capitale de l’Etat d’Enugu, à environ 100 kilomètres
au nord d’Onitsha.
Les manifestations organisées dans le nord-est du Nigeria contre les
caricatures du Prophète Mahomet avaient dégénéré en émeutes le week-end
dernier, faisant 18 morts dans la ville de Maiduguri. Lundi et mardi, au moins
25 personnes ont été tuées au cours d’attaques perpétrées contre des
chrétiens dans la ville septentrionale de Bauchi.
Avec une population de près de 126 millions d’habitants, le Nigeria est
peuplé au nord par des ethnies majoritairement musulmanes et au sud, par des
ethnies essentiellement chrétiennes. Pour certains analystes, la controverse
autour de la caricature a simplement servi d’élément déclencheur dans les
récents affrontements interconfessionnels.
« Il y a trop d’animosités contenues et, plus grave encore, il y a beaucoup
de jeunes gens oisifs qui guettent la moindre occasion pour exprimer leur
colère », a expliqué Okey Nwiwu, professeur de sciences politiques, qui
compare le Nigeria à une poudrière prête à exploser.
Après plusieurs décennies de mauvaise gouvernance imputable à des régimes
militaires et civils corrompus qui ont dilapidé la manne pétrolière fournie
par la région du delta du Niger, la situation économique de la majorité de la
population est déplorable et les tensions ethno-religieuses sont encore plus
vivaces.
Et ces tensions se sont accrues en 2000, lorsque 12 Etats musulmans du Nord ont
décidé d’appliquer la Charia, la loi coranique stricte. Cette loi interdit
la vente d’alcool, prescrit l’amputation des membres aux auteurs de vols, la
lapidation et la peine de mort en cas d’adultère.
Et comme dans la plupart de ces Etats, cette loi s’applique sans discernement
aux non Musulmans, beaucoup de chrétiens pensent que la Charia s’inscrit dans
un plan d’islamisation du Nigeria.
Peter Akinola, chef de l’Eglise anglicane du Nigeria et Président de l’Association
des chrétiens nigérians (CAN), a évoqué ce problème dans une déclaration
rendue publique après les attaques perpétrées contre les Chrétiens dans le
nord.
« Il ne fait plus de doute qu’ils poursuivent un objectif à long terme qui
est de faire du Nigeria un Etat islamique », a-t-il déclaré au nom de la CAN,
une association qui regroupe tous les mouvements de confession chrétienne. M.
Akinola a également souligné que les leaders chrétiens ne seraient peut être
plus capables de contenir le désir de vengeance des jeunes gens.
Aucune autorité musulmane n’a pour l’instant commenté les récentes
émeutes.
Avec plus de 250 ethnies et groupes de langue, le Nigeria, pays le plus peuplé
d’Afrique, est fréquemment en proie à des crises politico-ethniques.
Et avec les prochaines échéances électorales, les divergences politiques
régionales ne font qu’exacerber les tensions, d’autant que l’opposition
et certains détracteurs du gouvernement prêtent au Président Obasanjo l’intention
de modifier la constitution pour supprimer la clause de la limitation des
mandats et se maintenir au pouvoir.
Quant aux leaders politiques haoussas-foulanis du Nord, région majoritairement
musulmane qui a fourni la plupart des chefs d’Etat du Nigeria depuis l’indépendance
du pays en 1960, ils pensent qu’ils leur revient maintenant de donner au pays
un président originaire de leur région, après les deux mandats successifs d’Obasanjo,
un chrétien yoruba originaire du sud-ouest.
Entre temps, les chrétiens Igbos du sud-est, qui ont vainement tenté de faire
sécession pendant la guerre civile du Biafra, à la fin des années 1960, se
plaignent d’être persécutés plus de 35 ans après la fin du conflit.
Les ethnies Igbos, Haoussas-Foulanis et Yorubas comptent chacune plus de 40
millions de personnes. Ce sont les trois plus importantes composantes ethniques
du pays et elles représentent plus de 60 pour cent de la population nigériane.
Le reste de la population se compose de minorités ethniques, dont la plus
importante est celle des Ijaws, majoritaires dans la région du delta du Niger
qui fournit une grande partie des revenus pétroliers du Nigeria.
Des miliciens ijaws ont récemment perpétré des attaques contre des
installations pétrolières et des prises d’otages afin d'appuyer leurs
revendications pour un meilleur partage des revenus pétroliers avec les
populations pauvres de la région.
« La survie politique d’Obasanjo passe par une gestion intelligente de tous
ces intérêts et tendances politiques divergents », a indiqué Ike Onyekwere,
analyste politique et journaliste nigérian.
« Et cela ne semble pas être une tâche facile ».
http://www.independentng.com/news/nnfeb240604.htm
Friday
24th, February, 2006
Calm Returns To Onitsha
By Chris Agbambu
(Abuja)
Chukwujekwu
Ilozue (Onitsha) Segun Adeleye (Abeokuta) and
Sade
Ayodele (Lagos)
Normalcy
has returned to Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of Anambra State, after two
days of violence that left several persons dead.
Lagos
and Ogun State Governments as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) drew
on the lessons on Thursday as they took measures to avoid such needless pain.
It was
the day Onitsha monarch, Alfred Achebe, visited and commiserated with about
5,000 Northerners taking refuge at the 302 Artillery Regiment, the Army barracks
in the city.
He said
the people now suffering did not even know the origin of the cartoon of Prophet
Muhammed, published in a Danish newspaper, which led to killings in the North
that spread to Onitsha.
Corpses
still litter the Benin-Onitsha-Enugu Expressway.
Achebe
urged residents to heed the advice of President Olusegun Obasanjo and religious
leaders who appealed for calm.
"Differences
should be addressed through dialogue and not violence. All sections of Onitsha
metropolis should live together as they have always done in the past, despite
differences in language, race and religions", he added.
According
to him, the people of Onitsha believe in the right of citizens to live together,
and that the burning down of houses is alien.
Achebe
urged the law enforcement agencies to re-enforce security in the city and
implored the inspector general of police and others to end the killings.
An
investigation panel should be instituted to determine the cause of the riot, he
advised, adding that people should go back to their businesses and shun rumour.
The
commander of the regiment, Col. Lucas Logagwoma, had given him a run down of the
situation, saying 5,000 people are taking refuge in the barracks.
He said
the 70 of them who are wounded were sent to the hospital but returned for fear
of their lives.
The
victims are taking refuge in the mosque and church in the barracks.
According
to Logagwoma, the Army barely feeds them and provides medicaments but Governor
Chris Ngige has promised to send more doctors and relief materials.
He
denied that soldiers joined Muslims to kill school children and appealed to
Achebe to urge the people to go back to their homes and stop rioting.
State
Comptroller of Prisons, Sule A. Danyaya, inspected the burnt prison offices on
Thursday and described the act as "very, very bad".
His
Deputy, Columbus Omenuko, took him round the premises and narrated the event of
Wednesday to him.
Omenuko
said 20 inmates who escaped had returned, following radio and television
announcements that they return.
He
stressed that those who failed to return after Thursday would be declared wanted
and a search party raised to fish them out.
The
Lagos State Government and religious leaders met and mapped out strategies on
how to prevent the religious crisis from spreading to the state.
A
committee was inaugurated by Governor Bola Tinubu to start work on the
management of religious matters.
The
meeting called on the adherents of the two main religions, Islam and
Christianity, to shun any one who may want to use them to initiate conflict.
Tinubu
noted that though the rights of the people to protest unpleasant situations
cannot be taken away from them, it should be done peacefully.
His
words: “We should not allow evil to set us against one another. These
perpetrators, who have lost politically, are only using this medium to gain
popularity. We should think beyond the surface and know that they are only out
there to cause confusion in the polity.
By
ignoring them, we would have taken away the victory they want to achieve”.
Ansa-Ud-deen
Society National Missioner, Abdurahman Ahmad, noted that the protest is legal
but that the violence accompanying it is illegal.
He
called for accommodation of one another’s religions.
Catholic
Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Cardinal Olubunmi Okogie, urged Lagosians to
continue to make Lagos the peaceful state others have emulated for years.
Speaking
through his representative, John Aniagwu, he said those fomenting trouble
with the cartoon do no have any religion to claim, as those who professes
God will allow Him to judge any circumstance.
Police
in Ogun State have taken measures to forestall
the sort of reprisal killings seen in Onitsha.
It was
learnt that Commissioner of Police, Joseph Apapa, has ordered that a full unit
of the anti-riot mobile police squad be on standby
in Abeokuta.
In the
same vein, an inter-religious meeting was held by Christian and Muslim leaders
where it was agreed that the various groups should urge their followers to
eschew violence.
The
communique signed by 2O leaders of both faiths condemned the killings,
describing them as being perpetrated under political guise.
They
praised the people of the state for living in peaceful co-existence, "more
so as there is no family in the state without a mixture of both religions in
abundance".
In
Abuja, FCT Police Commissioner, Lawrence Alobi, informed a meeting of all
religious and community leaders that intelligence report shows that some people
are planning mayhem in the FCT, and warned such people to desist as the command
will deal with trouble makers.
He
reminded them that both Christianity and Islam teach peace and love, and
wondered why people who profess such teachings would kill others.
“Abuja
is the centre of unity of this country and we should be conscious of and
sensitive to what is happing in other places. We should not allow such to happen
here”, Alobi said.
All the
religious and community leaders pledged that they will do everything within
their power to ensure that peace reigns in Abuja.
http://www.localnewsleader.com/brocktown/stories/index.php?action=fullnews&id=149033
Mobs kill 11 in new religious clashes in Nigeria
Staff and agencies
24 February, 2006
By Ijeoma Ezekwere 1 hour, 2 minutes ago
ENUGU,
Nigeria - Muslim and Christian mobs killed 11 people in three Nigerian cities on
Friday, extending a week of tit-for-tat religious riots that have claimed at
least 157 lives and injured more than 900.
Uncertainty
over Nigeria‘s political future is aggravating regional, ethnic and religious
rivalries ahead of elections next year. Rioting began in the mainly Muslim north
and revenge attacks followed in the Christian south.
In
the northern town of Kontagora, machete-wielding Muslim mobs killed nine people
and torched four Christian churches, a Nigerian Red Cross official in Lagos told
Reuters. They also looted shops owned by minority Christians, police said.
In
the city of Enugu in the southeast, Christian youths armed with machetes and
clubs attacked Muslims, beating one motorcycle taxi driver to death and burning
a mosque.
A
stray bullet also killed an 8-year-old Christian girl and rioters blocked off
the area with burning barricades.
Nigeria‘s
Red Cross said that in addition to the killings, the week of violence had
injured 930 people and displaced about 16,000 across the multi-ethnic country.
James
Obi, a market trader who was part of the mob in Enugu, said they killed the taxi
driver, known locally as an Okada, after a rumor that a Muslim policeman killed
a Christian boy.
"We
got angry and we killed one of them on Okada. His corpse has been set
ablaze," he said.
In
northeastern Potiskum, Muslim youths burned shops, churches and houses belonging
to minority Christians early on Friday. Police said 65 rioters were arrested.
The
religious violence first broke out last Saturday in the northeastern city of
Maiduguri, when a Muslim protest against Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad
ran out of control and 28 people were killed, most of them Christians.
But
the violence has taken on a logic of its own in Africa‘s most populous
country, divided roughly equally between Muslims in the north and Christians in
the south. Thousands have died in religious violence over the past six years.
Authorities
are afraid the fighting could spiral into a bigger bloodbath and hundreds of
armed riot police patrolled major cities across the north.
Many
Nigerians believe President Olusegun Obasanjo and some state governors will try
to stay in office for a third term after eight years in power. The prospect
angers those who want their own ethnic or regional blocs to have their turn.
"If
the north has a problem with the third term, that is no reason to attack
ordinary people and destroy houses," said Joseph Hayab of the Christian
Association of Nigeria.
In
the far south of the country, militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta have
waged a three-month campaign of attacks and kidnappings, which has cut supplies
from the world‘s eighth largest oil exporter and driven up world prices.
They
issued pictures on Thursday of nine foreign oil worker hostages -- three
Americans, one Briton, two Thais, two Egyptians and one Filipino. One photograph
showed them sitting on a bench in a forest with militants in army fatigues
pointing assault rifles at their heads.
Diplomats
said they were preparing for a long wait and the militants denied government
statements that talks were under way to secure their release.
They
threatened more attacks on oil installations and workers in the next few days.
Analysts
say the violence in the south is also linked to the electoral tension because
many groups from the southern delta also want a stab at the presidency next year
and oppose any extension of Obasanjo‘s tenure.
(Additional reporting by Tume Ahemba and Tom Ashby in
Lagos, Ibrahim Mshelizza in Maiduguri, Estelle Shirbon in Abuja)
http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-f.asp?ID=419960
Le
calme revient dans le sud-est du Nigeria après les violences
Lagos,
Nigeria, 25/02 - La situation était redevenue calme vendredi matin à Onitsha,
ville du sud-est du Nigeria, après des violences inter-religieuses qui ont fait
plus de 100 morts selon le bilan officiel.
Les responsables du ministère de la Santé, assistés de la Police et de la
Croix-rouge, ont fini de récupérer des corps des rues de la ville à majorité
chrétienne.
Les affrontements ont éclaté après l`arrivée de dépouilles de
ressortissants de la ville tués lundi, dans le nord du pays, dans des émeutes
déclenchées par des manifestations de protestation contre la publication dans
dês journaux européens de caricature du prophète Mohamed.
Les banques, les commerces et les écoles ont rouvert vendredi matin, tandis que
de nombreux habitants ont repris leurs activités pour vaquer à leurs
occupations, tandis que le couvre-feu imposé (de 19h à 7h du matin) sur
Onitsha et quelques villes voisines reste maintenu.
"La situation est presque revenue à la normale", a déclaré un
habitant de la ville, Emma Okolo.
Quelque 25.000 personnes, essentiellement des musulmans du nord du pays, sont
refugiés dans la caserne du 32ème Régiment d`artillerie d`Onitsha pour
échapper aux émeutiers.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/headline/f125022006.html
PROTESTS:
From Maiduguri to Onitsha, victims wail
By Emeka Mamah, Sam Eyoboka, Anayo Okoli, Ben Agande and Chidi Nkwopara
Posted to the Web: Saturday, February 25, 2006
FOR Nigeria, these are, indeed, troubled times. It started in Maiduguri,
Borno State and Katsina State when some religious fundamentalists last
Saturday protested over the publication of offensive caricatures of
Prophet Mohammed by some European newspapers. A newspaper in Denmark actually
published the cartoon in September 2005.
But by the time the protests in Maiduguri were over, no less than 30
lives were said to have been lost, including that of a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr.
Mathew Gajere. Many churches were also torched, forcing the Borno
governor, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to impose a dusk to dawn curfew on the
ancient city.
The worst hit areas were Babban Layi in Hausari area and Customs-Bama
Road where many Igbo dwellers have their shops, most of which were damaged.
In the moment of anomie, it was everyone to himself. Or so Rev. Fr. Felix Usman,
the parish priest of St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Maiduguri was to
learn. His church was under threat from the rampaging protesters. He
called the Gwanye Police Station for help. But the police complained that they
did not have enough men to cope.
“We lost everything except the priory (priest’s living quarters),”
he lamented. “It was so bad but there was nothing we could do.”
In similar fashion, the same sectarian riots in Katsina led to massive
destructions, necessitating non-muslims to take to their heels.
Quite dramatically and unexpectedly, hell was let loose in Onitsha, Tuesday,
when the corpses of those killed in Maiduguri were brought home. In reprisal
attacks, the enraged Igbo headed to the Head Bridge populated by
Northerners and pounced on the people. The crisis continued Wednesday, leading
to the death of about 40 lives.
Like his Borno counterpart, Governor Chris Ngige imposed a dusk to dawn
curfew on the commercial city as well as Awka and Nnewi where the protests
had spread to.
And nowhere can the true pictures of the protests in the North and East
be appreciated like the army and police barracks where the non-indigenes had
taken refuge. In the case of Onitsha, the muslims had taken over every
available space at the army barracks and have said that they are not in a haste
to leave.
“Look at us,” Malam Saidu Bichi told Saturday Vanguard. “We are all
Nigerians. Why we go kill ourselves? It’s not good. We (used to) live in peace
here until that riot in Maiduguri. It’s not good to kill ourselves.
“It’s Allah that brought me here. Wallahi, I for die! We have to live
as brothers. We have no problems with Igbo. It’s not good. Both Hausa and Igbo
are one. I have many Igbo friends. One of them (has) come to see me here.
Imagine!”
That, indeed, has been the lamentation of many of the displaced persons
who see no sense in the bloodshed over what happened in far-away Denmark.
Unfortunately, those eho now suffer as a result of the riots in Borno and
Katsina are mere victims of circumstances.
At both the army and the police barracks, there is communal life in
practice. Because of the scarcity of essential facilities, most of the affected
persons have been sharing things in common. But these things never go
round.
It has been most traumatic for mothers who have been moving from one
place to the other in search of food and water for their little kids. As the
children wail, the mothers are moved to tears.
But such situation is not restricted to Onitsha. Saturday Vanguard
visited some army and police barracks in Katsina, Wednesday and came
face-to-face with some Igbo refugees who have sworn not to return to their
homes in the city, no thanks to the tension in the entire state. It was such
that the venue of the constitutional review was more like a war zone, with
battle-ready soldiers wielding their guns menacingly. It did not surprise few of
those who managed to come out that not even the state governor, Alhaji Yar’Adua
attended the conference.
Chief Damian Ezenwa is a prominent Igbo in Katsina. According to him, “what
happened here was unfortunate. What was the reason for killing and destroying
things in Maiduguri and here (Katsina)? The cartoon was published in
Denmark. Are Igbo traders from Denmark? Are the churches in Denmark?
“We’re still taking head-count to know those who are missing. But I want to
say that between the Northerners and Igbos, we have a lot in common. I don’t
know why we should be killing each other for no just cause.”
Maiduguri appeared relatively calm, Thursday, but the tension too has
been particularly overwhelming since the reprisal attacks in Onitsha. Except
those who live in Sabongari, other Igbos have now moved in with their
friends and relatives in the area while others spend their nights at the
military barracks.
The hitherto quiet Onitsha Army Barracks is now overflowing with victims
of the two-day Onitsha mayhem which displaced hundreds of residents. The
Barracks currently houses hundreds of displaced victims. Similarly, life
has been quite difficult in the barracks since many of them ran into the place
with little or nothing.
In a show of solidarity, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe visited
the displaced persons at the barracks and urged them to be calm. Achebe told
them that help would soon come their way. He described the incident as “very
unfortunate” and expressed the readiness of Onitsha to continue to accommodate
all peace-loving people no matter their origins.
The commander of 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha, Colonel Lukas
Chollampan Logagwowa, assured the victims of their safety in the barracks. He
assured that they are doing everything possible to sustain the victims.
Meanwhile, normalcy has returned to the commercial city. Commercial and
social activities resumed, Thursday. Markets in Onitsha which were closed on
Tuesday and Wednesday opened for business while commercial vehicles which
were withdrawn from the roads at the peak of the mayhem resumed operations.
However, schools in the city remained closed just as the dusk to dawn
curfew imposed on the major cities of the state remained.
But the signs of the devastation were still seen all over the town. There
were at least three burnt bodies on the Onitsha-Enugu expressway between the Zik’s
roundabout and the New Motor spare parts market. One of the charred bodies was
said to be that of a mobile policeman. He was said to have been lynched
and burnt by the miscreants after he allegedly shot at them. Though
normalcy seems to be returning, battle-ready soldiers have been patrolling the
city to ensure that there was no further breakdown of law and order.
We saw ‘em burn down our church, says Rev. Fr. Livinus
Reverend Father Williams Livinus is the father in-charge of St. Theresa’s
Catholic Church, one of the churches burnt down during the recent religious riot
in Maiduguri, Borno state. He spoke to us in the charred remains of his
church where relics of the destruction still littered the ground.
Tell us your experience on the day your church was burnt down.
Before anything happened, we phoned the police to inform them that there
was tension in town and we needed the protection of the police. We were told
that they had no personnel. I locked the gate to the church premises and
came into the compound. Few minutes later, we heard some people shouting and
were banging on the gate for more than thirty minutes before they finally
broke down the gate and came in.
I asked the seminarian standing with me to find refuge on the other side
of the fence while I watched events from a distance. When they gained entrance
into the premises, they set fire on the store and broke the louvers on the
church windows. They went inside the church, set fire on the altar. They also
set fire on all other things that we use in celebrating mass. After that,
they came into the office, destroyed my computer and took away what they wanted
to take.
Were there any indications there would be riots?
There was an announcement over the radio that there was going to be a peaceful
demonstration in the state against the Danish cartoons. We had a feeling
that something was going to happen but we did not know to what extent.
Did the security agencies do enough to stop the destruction?
There’s no security in Borno state. We believe that there was not enough
action taken by the authorities. Some people even saw policemen when the rioters
were hitting at my gate. We did not get any support from any quarters.
Before this church was burnt down, for the past thirty years, no
Christian has been given the certificate of occupancy to build any church. The
religion is not even taught in schools here. Christianity has always been
under attack. The only difference is that it has not been to the extent of
burning churches.
We spoke with some Muslim leaders and they said what happened had no religious
connotations but that unemployed youths took cover under religion to
perpetrate crime.
If they are hoodlums, why should the attack be only on Christian churches and
business premises?
Hoodlums caused the riot — Abba Aji
Sheik Mohammed Abba Aji, a muslim leader spoke on the genesis of the
crisis in Maiduguri.
How did the protest happen after these years of relative peace in Maiduguri?
The last time something like this happened was during the civil war, either in
1967 or 1968. Anybody who witnessed it would not like such a thing to
repeat itself. What I find surprising is that if the cartoon in the Danish
newspaper was the motive, people should know that we are in Africa while Denmark
is in Europe. It is not the same government. Why would people
manifest their anger against the newspapers through innocent people? I think
they were propelled by the desire to steal.
The victims of the riots were not idle people. They were people who had one
profession or handiwork or the other. You could see that most of the places
attacked were business premises. The perpetrators of this were motivated
by no other motive but to steal.
Who were these people that carried out these actions?
I am very sure that they are not indigenes of this state. There is no way you
would find a Kanuri man doing that kind of thing. We are worried by the
development. Each day, you find trailer load of people being brought into
this town from other parts of the country. You will find one Mallam with over
fifty pupils under his care. It is like that in every town in this state.
Unfortunately, some of these mallams do not know the dictates of Islam. The
children under them are made to suffer while the parents of these children
are never told the true condition of their children.
It is better to take action against such practice or else it would be
more disastrous in the future. Every idle person in this town should be
interviewed and closely watched. Anyone that cannot discharge himself
satisfactorily should be sent out of the town. No under-aged child should be
taken from the custody of his parents and brought to this place in the
name of studying under one mallam. When they bring them like that, they miss out
in parental training and care. The end result is that they have no respect
for anything or person. There is no gain.
Are you saying that anybody who professes to be a ‘mallam’ should be
licensed so that they can be monitored?
Not exactly. As far as I am aware, no mallam took part in the riot. What the
government should do is to set up a committee of the indigenes of this state to
examine the people in the state. If the committee confirms that you are a
genuine mallam, then you would be spared. If you are not genuine but hiding
under the guise to bring in people of dubious characters to cause crisis
in this state, then you should be forced to pack your things and leave with your
pupils.
You find many Nigerians being deported from other parts of the world
because they committed one crime or the other. We too should start deporting
people who are not from this state but are causing trouble.
What in your opinion should the government do to the victims of the
crisis?
Government should apologize to them and mitigate their loss because they have no
fault in the whole crisis. Their only fault is that they refused to be idle.
They are doing something to survive and they became targets. The
perpetrators of these crimes have no human feelings.
Islam tells us to respect three things in every human being. The Koran
says we should respect three things about any human being: the sacredness of his
blood, his good behaviour and his heart. Any good Muslim would not do the
things that the perpetrators of the riot did. Those who caused that destruction
are not Muslims. They were motivated by the envy of the success of the
traders.
Islam does not encourage the destruction of other people’s places of
worship. Islam says if you have respect for your religion, you must also respect
another person’s religion. Prophet Mohammed says you should not insult
anything that somebody worships so that the person would not insult yours.
Those who did that are not Muslims, they were hoodlums.
My heart bleeds for the bereaved — Bishop Obinna
The Catholic Archbishop of Owerri ecclesiastical province, Most Rev (Dr) Anthony
Obinna insists that government has not done enough to reassure the citizenry
of their safety.
I attribute this problem to the recklessness of the secular media of the
West, particularly of Denmark. They should have realized the sensitivity of
abusing, even in image form, major religious leaders of the world, no
matter what the individual may think of the religious leaders. The media in
Denmark really trivialized a very important religious factor for many
people. Unfortunately, the issue was mishandled in Nigeria.
So, the government must recognize the urgent need to restrain the
religious elite because I have not seen where Christians have insinuated and
instigated any crisis, unless in a place I do not know in Nigeria.
Generally, Christians have not instigated their members to attack anybody. As a
religious leader, I have never instigated anybody, any group of Christians
to attack fellow religious believers, even if from a different religious
group.
What the attacks portend
The Igbo people have been in the forefront of building up this nation because
they accepted the fact, right from the beginning, that we can all live as one
people under God in this country. That is why the Igbos have migrated to
different parts of the country and by their tradition and custom, we also
welcome our guests an settlers. As long as there is element of peace,
fruitful exchange, the Igbo man is very ready to live side by side with all
ethnic groups in Nigeria and elsewhere, including Muslims.
Igbos themselves are asserting that we still belong to Nigeria,
irrespective of the fact that we lost the civil war, that we would like to build
up Nigeria and we would like to express our presence across Nigeria. In
fact, the Igbos should be congratulated for seeking to make Nigeria one nation.
That was what late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and others championed. So, not
firmly protecting the lives of the Igbos continues to make a statement that
well, these people are not particularly wanted. It also means that the
rehabilitation, the reconstruction and the reconciliation trumped up at the end
of the war by Gowon, have not been really taken seriously these days.
Until this nation takes every citizen and every ethnic community seriously and
we respect their lives, this kind of bizarre thing would continue to happen.
This is, of course, making the Igbos to say that if the federal government
cannot defend us, we will defend ourselves. That is not the normal reasoning of
the Igbos because they believe in live and let’s live, abide and let us
abide, room for the kite and room for the eagle.
However, when they see that there isn’t that respect for their own
lives, they are prone to react and take the law into their own hands, which is
what exactly happened at Onitsha. As unfortunate as it is, it would not
have happened if the Igbos, who are also generally Christians, were not attacked
in Maiduguri or elsewhere.
Nigerian leaders are fiddling with the pursuit of power and money while the more
serious issues of uniting the people, making everybody become a member of
the Nigerian family is kept as secondary. What is more important to our
leaders is their own quest for power, position and for money but the more
important thing that makes for a nation is friendship, love and care that
you can touch and feel wherever you go if there is a sense of seriousness in our
country. So, I just believe that we are fiddling while Nigeria is burning.
These people that are burning at the lower level are not part of the power and
money establishment. They are just people going about their normal
businesses, trying to meet their daily needs but unfortunately, the elitist
absenteeism and manipulation of the poor people trigger these crises.
Now, you realize that people cannot travel as freely as they used to, and do
their normal business. It is a challenge to the elite, even the religious elite
on the one hand to direct their people aright, to restrain the brutal,
wicked passion that is fuelled. It is the utmost blasphemy to say you are
killing somebody in the name of God or for God, what God Himself has
forbidden. On the other hand, the political and economic elite needs to look
beyond politics and economics to find ways, more dialogical ways, of
bringing peace just as now.
In the Niger Delta area, government is now forced to enter into more
meaningful dialogue instead of using gunboat diplomacy to solve the problems in
the Niger Delta Region. But prevention is better than cure. The sad thing
is that Nigeria does not believe in prevention. It always waits for fallouts
before taking action. And it is because of too much emphasis on the
political and economic sphere in the narrow sense that the main issue of
humanizing Nigerians and making them recognize and treat one another as
dignified human beings has failed. That has been left as secondary. So, I do
hope that this present blow-up would have to be taken care of. I almost
thought that there should be a Bill in the National Assembly, against religious
and ritual murder in this country. I say this because killing for the sake of
God and killing to make money are outrageous. I hope I should find an
opportunity to speak again on this matter so that people can be restrained from
attempting to kill, to murder anybody either in the name of God or in the
name of money. That is the bottom line.
Your final word to the bereaved families
Naturally, I am very much touched at the sadness, the sudden sadness that has
prevailed in the various places in our land. Only yesterday (Wednesday) evening,
I was worried because we have some of these our Hausa brothers working
even for us (Owerri Catholic Archdiocese). We have thought about them and said
well, we pray that they will not be exposed to the same kind of brutality
around here (Owerri). Luckily, I have not heard anything happening in Owerri and
indeed the whole of Imo State, because we know that to kill somebody’s
brother or sister causes a lot of heartache and heartbreak that could trigger
these sorts of negative reactions.
I definitely extend my hand of compassion, my spirit of comfort to all those who
have been bereaved by the mayhem that has taken place first in Maiduguri and
then in a reactionary way, in Onitsha. We pray for the repose of the souls
of all those who have been so brutally murdered. I just hope that enough should
be enough and that government should help to restrain such things for the
future, instead of coming back after each one and then we wait for another
period and then the blowout and we begin to blame and apologize. This
is the time to act.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/articles/2002/headline/f125022006.html
PROTESTS:
From Maiduguri to Onitsha, victims wail
By
Emeka Mamah, Sam Eyoboka, Anayo Okoli, Ben Agande and Chidi Nkwopara
Posted to the Web: Saturday, February 25, 2006
FOR
Nigeria, these are, indeed, troubled times. It started in Maiduguri, Borno
State and Katsina State when some religious fundamentalists last Saturday
protested over the publication of offensive caricatures of Prophet
Mohammed by some European newspapers. A newspaper in Denmark actually published
the cartoon in September 2005.
But
by the time the protests in Maiduguri were over, no less than 30 lives were said
to have been lost, including that of a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Mathew
Gajere. Many churches were also torched, forcing the Borno governor,
Senator Ali Modu Sheriff to impose a dusk to dawn curfew on the ancient city.
The
worst hit areas were Babban Layi in Hausari area and Customs-Bama Road where
many Igbo dwellers have their shops, most of which were damaged.
In the moment of anomie, it was everyone to himself. Or so Rev. Fr. Felix Usman,
the parish priest of St. Augustine’s Catholic Church in Maiduguri was to
learn. His church was under threat from the rampaging protesters. He
called the Gwanye Police Station for help. But the police complained that they
did not have enough men to cope.
“We
lost everything except the priory (priest’s living quarters),” he lamented.
“It was so bad but there was nothing we could do.”
In similar fashion, the same sectarian riots in Katsina led to massive
destructions, necessitating non-muslims to take to their heels.
Quite dramatically and unexpectedly, hell was let loose in Onitsha, Tuesday,
when the corpses of those killed in Maiduguri were brought home. In reprisal
attacks, the enraged Igbo headed to the Head Bridge populated by
Northerners and pounced on the people. The crisis continued Wednesday, leading
to the death of about 40 lives.
Like
his Borno counterpart, Governor Chris Ngige imposed a dusk to dawn curfew on the
commercial city as well as Awka and Nnewi where the protests had spread
to.
And
nowhere can the true pictures of the protests in the North and East be
appreciated like the army and police barracks where the non-indigenes had taken
refuge. In the case of Onitsha, the muslims had taken over every available
space at the army barracks and have said that they are not in a haste to leave.
“Look at us,” Malam Saidu Bichi told Saturday Vanguard. “We are all
Nigerians. Why we go kill ourselves? It’s not good. We (used to) live in peace
here until that riot in Maiduguri. It’s not good to kill ourselves.
“It’s
Allah that brought me here. Wallahi, I for die! We have to live as brothers. We
have no problems with Igbo. It’s not good. Both Hausa and Igbo are one. I
have many Igbo friends. One of them (has) come to see me here. Imagine!”
That,
indeed, has been the lamentation of many of the displaced persons who see no
sense in the bloodshed over what happened in far-away Denmark.
Unfortunately, those eho now suffer as a result of the riots in Borno and
Katsina are mere victims of circumstances.
At
both the army and the police barracks, there is communal life in practice.
Because of the scarcity of essential facilities, most of the affected persons
have been sharing things in common. But these things never go round.
It
has been most traumatic for mothers who have been moving from one place to the
other in search of food and water for their little kids. As the children wail,
the mothers are moved to tears.
But
such situation is not restricted to Onitsha. Saturday Vanguard visited some army
and police barracks in Katsina, Wednesday and came face-to-face with some
Igbo refugees who have sworn not to return to their homes in the city, no thanks
to the tension in the entire state. It was such that the venue of the
constitutional review was more like a war zone, with battle-ready soldiers
wielding their guns menacingly. It did not surprise few of those who managed to
come out that not even the state governor, Alhaji Yar’Adua attended the
conference.
Chief
Damian Ezenwa is a prominent Igbo in Katsina. According to him, “what happened
here was unfortunate. What was the reason for killing and destroying
things in Maiduguri and here (Katsina)? The cartoon was published in
Denmark. Are Igbo traders from Denmark? Are the churches in Denmark?
“We’re still taking head-count to know those who are missing. But I want to
say that between the Northerners and Igbos, we have a lot in common. I don’t
know why we should be killing each other for no just cause.”
Maiduguri
appeared relatively calm, Thursday, but the tension too has been particularly
overwhelming since the reprisal attacks in Onitsha. Except those who live
in Sabongari, other Igbos have now moved in with their friends and
relatives in the area while others spend their nights at the military barracks.
The
hitherto quiet Onitsha Army Barracks is now overflowing with victims of the
two-day Onitsha mayhem which displaced hundreds of residents. The Barracks
currently houses hundreds of displaced victims. Similarly, life has been quite
difficult in the barracks since many of them ran into the place with little or
nothing.
In
a show of solidarity, the Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Alfred Achebe visited the
displaced persons at the barracks and urged them to be calm. Achebe told them
that help would soon come their way. He described the incident as “very
unfortunate” and expressed the readiness of Onitsha to continue to accommodate
all peace-loving people no matter their origins.
The
commander of 302 Artillery Regiment, Onitsha, Colonel Lukas Chollampan
Logagwowa, assured the victims of their safety in the barracks. He assured that
they are doing everything possible to sustain the victims.
Meanwhile,
normalcy has returned to the commercial city. Commercial and social activities
resumed, Thursday. Markets in Onitsha which were closed on Tuesday and
Wednesday opened for business while commercial vehicles which were withdrawn
from the roads at the peak of the mayhem resumed operations. However,
schools in the city remained closed just as the dusk to dawn curfew imposed on
the major cities of the state remained.
But
the signs of the devastation were still seen all over the town. There were at
least three burnt bodies on the Onitsha-Enugu expressway between the Zik’s
roundabout and the New Motor spare parts market. One of the charred bodies was
said to be that of a mobile policeman. He was said to have been lynched
and burnt by the miscreants after he allegedly shot at them. Though
normalcy seems to be returning, battle-ready soldiers have been patrolling the
city to ensure that there was no further breakdown of law and order.
We
saw ‘em burn down our church, says Rev. Fr. Livinus
Reverend Father Williams Livinus is the father in-charge of St. Theresa’s
Catholic Church, one of the churches burnt down during the recent religious riot
in Maiduguri, Borno state. He spoke to us in the charred remains of his
church where relics of the destruction still littered the ground.
Tell us your experience on the day your church was burnt down.
Before
anything happened, we phoned the police to inform them that there was tension in
town and we needed the protection of the police. We were told that they
had no personnel. I locked the gate to the church premises and came into the
compound. Few minutes later, we heard some people shouting and were banging on
the gate for more than thirty minutes before they finally broke down the
gate and came in.
I
asked the seminarian standing with me to find refuge on the other side of the
fence while I watched events from a distance. When they gained entrance into
the premises, they set fire on the store and broke the louvers on the
church windows. They went inside the church, set fire on the altar. They also
set fire on all other things that we use in celebrating mass. After that,
they came into the office, destroyed my computer and took away what they wanted
to take.
Were
there any indications there would be riots?
There was an announcement over the radio that there was going to be a peaceful
demonstration in the state against the Danish cartoons. We had a feeling
that something was going to happen but we did not know to what extent.
Did the security agencies do enough to stop the destruction?
There’s no security in Borno state. We believe that there was not enough
action taken by the authorities. Some people even saw policemen when the rioters
were hitting at my gate. We did not get any support from any quarters.
Before
this church was burnt down, for the past thirty years, no Christian has been
given the certificate of occupancy to build any church. The religion is not
even taught in schools here. Christianity has always been under attack.
The only difference is that it has not been to the extent of burning churches.
We spoke with some Muslim leaders and they said what happened had no religious
connotations but that unemployed youths took cover under religion to
perpetrate crime.
If they are hoodlums, why should the attack be only on Christian churches and
business premises?
Hoodlums
caused the riot — Abba Aji
Sheik
Mohammed Abba Aji, a muslim leader spoke on the genesis of the crisis in
Maiduguri.
How did the protest happen after these years of relative peace in Maiduguri?
The last time something like this happened was during the civil war, either in
1967 or 1968. Anybody who witnessed it would not like such a thing to
repeat itself. What I find surprising is that if the cartoon in the Danish
newspaper was the motive, people should know that we are in Africa while Denmark
is in Europe. It is not the same government. Why would people
manifest their anger against the newspapers through innocent people? I think
they were propelled by the desire to steal.
The victims of the riots were not idle people. They were people who had one
profession or handiwork or the other. You could see that most of the places
attacked were business premises. The perpetrators of this were motivated
by no other motive but to steal.
Who
were these people that carried out these actions?
I am very sure that they are not indigenes of this state. There is no way you
would find a Kanuri man doing that kind of thing. We are worried by the
development. Each day, you find trailer load of people being brought into
this town from other parts of the country. You will find one Mallam with over
fifty pupils under his care. It is like that in every town in this state.
Unfortunately, some of these mallams do not know the dictates of Islam. The
children under them are made to suffer while the parents of these children
are never told the true condition of their children.
It
is better to take action against such practice or else it would be more
disastrous in the future. Every idle person in this town should be interviewed
and closely watched. Anyone that cannot discharge himself satisfactorily
should be sent out of the town. No under-aged child should be taken from the
custody of his parents and brought to this place in the name of studying
under one mallam. When they bring them like that, they miss out in parental
training and care. The end result is that they have no respect for
anything or person. There is no gain.
Are
you saying that anybody who professes to be a ‘mallam’ should be licensed so
that they can be monitored?
Not exactly. As far as I am aware, no mallam took part in the riot. What the
government should do is to set up a committee of the indigenes of this state to
examine the people in the state. If the committee confirms that you are a
genuine mallam, then you would be spared. If you are not genuine but hiding
under the guise to bring in people of dubious characters to cause crisis
in this state, then you should be forced to pack your things and leave with your
pupils.
You
find many Nigerians being deported from other parts of the world because they
committed one crime or the other. We too should start deporting people who
are not from this state but are causing trouble.
What
in your opinion should the government do to the victims of the crisis?
Government should apologize to them and mitigate their loss because they have no
fault in the whole crisis. Their only fault is that they refused to be idle.
They are doing something to survive and they became targets. The
perpetrators of these crimes have no human feelings.
Islam
tells us to respect three things in every human being. The Koran says we should
respect three things about any human being: the sacredness of his blood,
his good behaviour and his heart. Any good Muslim would not do the things
that the perpetrators of the riot did. Those who caused that destruction are not
Muslims. They were motivated by the envy of the success of the traders.
Islam
does not encourage the destruction of other people’s places of worship. Islam
says if you have respect for your religion, you must also respect another person’s
religion. Prophet Mohammed says you should not insult anything that somebody
worships so that the person would not insult yours.
Those who did that are not Muslims, they were hoodlums.
My
heart bleeds for the bereaved — Bishop Obinna
The Catholic Archbishop of Owerri ecclesiastical province, Most Rev (Dr) Anthony
Obinna insists that government has not done enough to reassure the citizenry
of their safety.
I
attribute this problem to the recklessness of the secular media of the West,
particularly of Denmark. They should have realized the sensitivity of abusing,
even in image form, major religious leaders of the world, no matter what
the individual may think of the religious leaders. The media in Denmark really
trivialized a very important religious factor for many people.
Unfortunately, the issue was mishandled in Nigeria.
So,
the government must recognize the urgent need to restrain the religious elite
because I have not seen where Christians have insinuated and instigated any
crisis, unless in a place I do not know in Nigeria. Generally, Christians
have not instigated their members to attack anybody. As a religious leader, I
have never instigated anybody, any group of Christians to attack fellow
religious believers, even if from a different religious group.
What
the attacks portend
The Igbo people have been in the forefront of building up this nation because
they accepted the fact, right from the beginning, that we can all live as one
people under God in this country. That is why the Igbos have migrated to
different parts of the country and by their tradition and custom, we also
welcome our guests an settlers. As long as there is element of peace,
fruitful exchange, the Igbo man is very ready to live side by side with all
ethnic groups in Nigeria and elsewhere, including Muslims.
Igbos
themselves are asserting that we still belong to Nigeria, irrespective of the
fact that we lost the civil war, that we would like to build up Nigeria and we
would like to express our presence across Nigeria. In fact, the Igbos
should be congratulated for seeking to make Nigeria one nation. That was what
late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and others championed. So, not firmly protecting
the lives of the Igbos continues to make a statement that well, these people are
not particularly wanted. It also means that the rehabilitation, the
reconstruction and the reconciliation trumped up at the end of the war by Gowon,
have not been really taken seriously these days. Until this nation takes
every citizen and every ethnic community seriously and we respect their lives,
this kind of bizarre thing would continue to happen. This is, of course,
making the Igbos to say that if the federal government cannot defend us, we will
defend ourselves. That is not the normal reasoning of the Igbos because
they believe in live and let’s live, abide and let us abide, room for the kite
and room for the eagle.
However,
when they see that there isn’t that respect for their own lives, they are
prone to react and take the law into their own hands, which is what exactly
happened at Onitsha. As unfortunate as it is, it would not have happened
if the Igbos, who are also generally Christians, were not attacked in Maiduguri
or elsewhere.
Nigerian leaders are fiddling with the pursuit of power and money while the more
serious issues of uniting the people, making everybody become a member of
the Nigerian family is kept as secondary. What is more important to our
leaders is their own quest for power, position and for money but the more
important thing that makes for a nation is friendship, love and care that
you can touch and feel wherever you go if there is a sense of seriousness in our
country. So, I just believe that we are fiddling while Nigeria is burning.
These people that are burning at the lower level are not part of the power and
money establishment. They are just people going about their normal
businesses, trying to meet their daily needs but unfortunately, the elitist
absenteeism and manipulation of the poor people trigger these crises.
Now, you realize that people cannot travel as freely as they used to, and do
their normal business. It is a challenge to the elite, even the religious elite
on the one hand to direct their people aright, to restrain the brutal,
wicked passion that is fuelled. It is the utmost blasphemy to say you are
killing somebody in the name of God or for God, what God Himself has
forbidden. On the other hand, the political and economic elite needs to look
beyond politics and economics to find ways, more dialogical ways, of
bringing peace just as now.
In
the Niger Delta area, government is now forced to enter into more meaningful
dialogue instead of using gunboat diplomacy to solve the problems in the Niger
Delta Region. But prevention is better than cure. The sad thing is that
Nigeria does not believe in prevention. It always waits for fallouts before
taking action. And it is because of too much emphasis on the political and
economic sphere in the narrow sense that the main issue of humanizing
Nigerians and making them recognize and treat one another as dignified
human beings has failed. That has been left as secondary. So, I do hope that
this present blow-up would have to be taken care of. I almost thought that
there should be a Bill in the National Assembly, against religious and ritual
murder in this country. I say this because killing for the sake of God and
killing to make money are outrageous. I hope I should find an opportunity to
speak again on this matter so that people can be restrained from attempting to
kill, to murder anybody either in the name of God or in the name of money.
That is the bottom line.
Your
final word to the bereaved families
Naturally, I am very much touched at the sadness, the sudden sadness that has
prevailed in the various places in our land. Only yesterday (Wednesday) evening,
I was worried because we have some of these our Hausa brothers working
even for us (Owerri Catholic Archdiocese). We have thought about them and said
well, we pray that they will not be exposed to the same kind of brutality
around here (Owerri). Luckily, I have not heard anything happening in Owerri and
indeed the whole of Imo State, because we know that to kill somebody’s
brother or sister causes a lot of heartache and heartbreak that could trigger
these sorts of negative reactions.
I definitely extend my hand of compassion, my spirit of comfort to all those who
have been bereaved by the mayhem that has taken place first in Maiduguri and
then in a reactionary way, in Onitsha. We pray for the repose of the souls
of all those who have been so brutally murdered. I just hope that enough should
be enough and that government should help to restrain such things for the
future, instead of coming back after each one and then we wait for another
period and then the blowout and we begin to blame and apologize. This is
the time to act.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-02-25T115538Z_01_L25728998_RTRUKOC_0_US-NIGERIA.xml&archived=False
Nigerian police, soldiers secure riot-hit cities
Sat Feb
25, 2006 6:55 AM ET
ABUJA
(Reuters) - Nigerian security forces patrolled cities on Saturday where
religious violence has killed at least 157 people, and despite a fresh attack on
two Muslim travelers most of the recent flashpoints were reported calm.
The
week of tit-for-tat killings by Muslim and Christian mobs has shaken Africa's
most populous country at a time when it is facing increasing militant attacks in
its oil-producing Niger Delta region and an outbreak of bird flu.
Authorities
ordered traditional rulers and religious leaders across the multi-ethnic country
to calm their followers and put an end to the violence, which began in the
mainly Muslim north and was followed by revenge attacks in the Christian south.
Analysts
say uncertainty over Nigeria's political future is aggravating regional, ethnic
and religious rivalries ahead of elections next year.
Many
Nigerians believe President Olusegun Obasanjo and some state governors will try
to stay in office for a third term after eight years in power. The prospect
angers those who want their own ethnic or regional blocs to have their turn.
In
Maiduguri and other northern cities which saw bloody anti-Christian riots that
killed dozens over the last week, police and soldiers were patrolling the
streets, residents said.
Security
forces were also deployed in the southeastern city of Enugu where at least nine
people were killed in revenge attacks on Muslims by Christian mobs.
"Police
are patrolling and the military are guarding strategic points," said a
local Red Cross official in Enugu, who asked not to be named.
But
she added police were unable to prevent a Christian mob from attacking and
seriously wounding two Muslim travelers from the north who got off a bus just
north of Enugu early on Saturday. Police took the victims to hospital.
Nigeria's
Red Cross has said that in addition to the killings, the week of violence
injured 930 people and displaced about 16,000 across the country.
In
the far south of the country, militants in the oil-producing Niger Delta have
waged a three-month campaign of attacks and kidnappings, which has cut supplies
from the world's eighth largest oil exporter and driven up world prices.
http://archquo.nouvelobs.com/cgi/articles?ad=/20060219.OBS7224.html&datebase=20060227
Les événements heure par heure
Voici heure par
heure les événements liés à la parution dans plusieurs journaux européens,
dont France Soir, de caricatures du prophète Mahomet.
DIMANCHE 26 FEVRIER
20h20 - Athènes Le chef de l'Eglise orthodoxe de Grèce, Mgr
Christodoulos, exprime son inquiétude sur l'affaire des caricatures, n'excluant
pas "le début d'une guerre des civilisations ou des religions".
16h00 - Karachi Quelque 25.000 manifestants, selon la police, ont
défilé dans la plus grande ville du Pakistan.
06h00 - Malaisie La Malaisie fait fermer pour deux semaines un troisième
quotidien qui avait publié un dessin d'une caricature de Mahomet.
SAMEDI 25 FEVRIER
15h45 – Lyon Quelque 250 musulmans, selon la police, et 600 selon les
organisateurs, manifestent samedi contre l'islamophobie et la publication des
caricatures, à l'appel du Parti des musulmans de France (PMF)
15h25 – Amsterdam Des bagarres ont éclaté lorsque des militants
d'extrême gauche s'en sont pris à une manifestation en faveur de la liberté
d'expression organisée à Amsterdam pour défendre la publication de
caricatures de Mahomet, a-t-on appris de source policière.
06h50 – Copenhague L'auteur et comédien danois Flemming Jensen
prépare, non sans appréhension, une pièce de théâtre sur le choc des
civilisations avec en toile de fond la crise des caricatures de Mahomet.
VENDREDI 24 FEVRIER
Après 18h00
22h05 – Copenhague Le ministre danois des Affaires étrangères Per
Stig Moeller dément des propos de son homologue égyptien selon lesquels
l'Egypte a offert en vain au Danemark et à la communauté internationale la
possibilité d'éviter la crise née des caricatures.
18h55 – Paris L'association de défense de la liberté de la presse
Reporters sans frontières (RSF) dénonce l'"acharnement" des
autorités du Bélarus contre l'hebdomadaire d'opposition Zgoda qui
pourrait être fermé pour avoir publié les caricatures.
18h30 – Londres Une des caricatures a été affichée brièvement sur
le panneau d'affichage d'une mairie britannique, conduisant la police à ouvrir
une enquête.
Entre 17h00 et 18h00
17h35 - Minsk Un journal bélarusse d'opposition, l'hebdomadaire Zgoda,
s'est vu signifier qu'il pourrait être fermé pour avoir publié des
caricatures du prophète Mahomet, a annoncé vendredi le ministère de
l'Information, alors que la rédaction du journal dénonçait un prétexte saisi
par les autorités.
17h30 - Helsinki Le rédacteur en chef d'un petit magazine culturel
finlandais a été licencié vendredi pour avoir publié une bande dessinée
évoquant l'affaire des caricatures de Mahomet.
Entre 15h00 et 17h00
16h30 - Copenhague L'ambassadeur danois en Syrie va retourner dimanche à
son poste à Damas dans le but de rouvrir prochainement l'ambassade, fermée à
la suite de violentes protestations contre les caricatures de Mahomet, annonce
le ministère danois des Affaires étrangères.
16h25 - Vienne Plusieurs intervenants occidentaux devant l'assemblée
parlementaire de l'OSCE ont rappelé vendredi à Vienne que, dans l'affaire des
caricatures de Mahomet, la liberté d'expression était l'un des piliers de la
démocratie.
16h10 - La Haye Une entreprise néerlandaise a annoncé vendredi la mise
en vente via internet de T-shirts portant l'une des caricatures du prophète
Mahomet.
15h30 - Copenhague Le Danemark organisera le 10 mars à Copenhague une
conférence sur le dialogue religieux et culturel, annonce le comité
d'organisation.
Entre 11h00 et 15h00
14h30 - Islamabad Le chef de l'opposition islamiste et plusieurs dizaines
de militants islamistes ont été arrêtés au Pakistan où des milliers de
personnes ont manifesté malgré d'imposants déploiements des forces de
l'ordre.
14h25 - Copenhague Le Danemark organisera le 10 mars à Copenhague une
conférence sur le dialogue religieux et culturel, annonce le comité
d'organisation.
13h20 - Copenhague Le quotidien danois Jyllands-Posten a reçu un
prix de journalisme pour son initiative, annonce un responsable du jury.
Entre 08h00 et 11h00
08h00 - Islamabad Plusieurs dizaines de militants de partis islamistes
ont été arrêtés au Pakistan en prévention de troubles avant une journée
nationale de protestation, indiquent des responsables islamistes.
JEUDI 23 FEVRIER
Après 18h00
18h40 - Rome Le président du Sénat italien, Marcello Pera, entouré de
plusieurs ministres du gouvernement de Silvio Berlusconi, lance un manifeste
pour "défendre l'Occident, traversé par une crise morale" et menacé
"par le fondamentalisme et le terrorisme islamiques".
Entre 13h00 et 18h00
16h40 - Copenhague Le ministre égyptien des Affaires étrangères
affirme dans un journal danois avoir offert en vain au Danemark et à la
communauté internationale la possibilité d'éviter la crise née des
caricatures de Mahomet.
Entre 10h00 et 13h00
10h45 - Jakarta Plusieurs centaines de musulmans indonésiens sont
rassemblés dans le calme devant l'ambassade du Danemark à Jakarta, pour
protester contre la publication des caricatures, annonce la police.
Avant 10h00
Pas d'événement à signaler.
MERCREDI 22 FEVRIER
Entre 18h00 et minuit
21h05 -Washington Le président américain George W.
Bush rappelle les gouvernements étrangers, à commencer par celui du Pakistan,
à leur "obligation" d'empêcher les foules protestant contre les
caricatures de Mahomet de dicter leur loi.
20h40 - New York Le secrétaire général de l'Onu, Kofi Annan,
présidera samedi à Doha une table ronde de haut niveau pour discuter de la
crise provoquée par la publication en Europe des caricatures, annonce son
porte-parole, Stéphane Dujarric.
Entre 15h00 et 18h00
17h25 - Madrid Le groupe espagnol d'habillement Inditex, surtout connu
pour sa marque Zara, retire de ses magasins quelques milliers d'étiquettes de
prix de vêtements de sa marque Bershka qui représentaient une mosquée.
Entre 12h00 et 15h00
13h50 - Téhéran Une centaine d'islamistes manifestent devant
l'ambassade d'Italie à Téhéran pour protester contre la publication de
caricatures de Mahomet.
12h10 - Peshawar Un imam pakistanais, qui avait déjà offert la semaine
dernière un million de dollars et une voiture pour la mort des dessinateurs des
caricatures de Mahomet, assure que des kamikazes se sont proposés pour
"tuer les blasphémateurs".
Entre 9h00 et 12h00
11h40 - Karachi Quelque 10.000 personnes manifestent contre la
publication en Europe des caricatures de Mahomet, à Larkana (300 km au nord de
Karachi, sud), fief des anciens Premiers ministres Zulfikar Ali Bhutto et sa
fille Benazir Bhutto.
11h10 - Rome Le chef du gouvernement italien Silvio Berlusconi condamne
les caricatures de Mahomet dans une interview diffusée sur la chaîne
Al-Jazira, après des manifestations anti-italiennes qui ont fait onze morts en
Libye vendredi.
10h30 - Rome Mgr Velasio De Paolis, secrétaire au Vatican du Tribunal
suprême de la signature apostolique, reproche à l'Occident ses peurs face à
un islam "fermé au point de ne pas admettre la réciprocité", dans
une interview au quotidien italien La Stampa.
Avant 9h00
6h20 - Jakarta La police indonésienne promet de renforcer la sécurité
autour du bâtiment hébergeant l'ambassade du Danemark, qui devait rouvrir
incessamment après sa fermeture causée par la colère provoquée par la
publication des caricatures de Mahomet.
MARDI 21 FEVRIER
Après 17h00
19h30 - Copenhague Le Danemark jouera un match amical le 1er mars contre
Israël à Tel-Aviv après avoir reçu des assurances sur sa sécurité, selon
la Fédération danoise de football (DBU).
17h55 - Islamabad Le secrétaire général de l'Organisation de la
conférence islamique, le Turc Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, qualifie de "très
dangereuse" la fatwa lancée lundi par des musulmans indiens.
17h35 - Amman Le roi Abdallah II de Jordanie appelle le monde musulman et
la communauté internationale à coopérer pour promouvoir un islam modéré
bannissant l'extrémisme, selon l'agence officielle Petra.
Entre 15h00 et 17h00
15h30 - Copenhague Près de 500 sites internet danois ont été attaqués
une nouvelle fois lundi par des pirates informatiques à la suite de la
publication de caricatures de Mahomet au Danemark, a annoncé mardi l'expert en
sécurité informatique Ulf Munkedal de Fort Consult.
15h24 - Copenhague Les 12 dessinateurs danois auteurs des caricatures
controversées de Mahomet publiées dans le quotidien Jyllands-Posten, sont
toujours protégés par la police, a indiqué mardi le Premier ministre danois
Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
15h14 - Peshawar Environ 5.000 habitants des zones tribales pakistanaises
ont manifesté mardi contre les caricatures du prophète Mahomet publiées dans
des journaux occidentaux et appelé le président Pervez Musharraf à
démissionner, indique des témoins.
Entre 14h00 et 15h00
14h20 - Copenhague L'ambassadeur du Danemark à Jakarta était attendu
mardi en Indonésie pour rouvrir le plus tôt possible l'ambassade du pays,
indique à Copenhague le ministère danois des Affaires étrangères.
14h20 - Lisbonne La Communauté islamique de Lisbonne condamne la
publication des caricatures du prophète Mahomet aussi bien que les réactions
violentes qu'elle a déclenchées comme "contraires à l'Islam".
Entre 13h00 et 14h00
13h15 - Kerbala Plus de 3.000 chiites manifestent dans la ville sainte de
Kerbala (110 km au sud de Bagdad) pour dénoncer la publication de caricatures
de Mahomet par un journal danois, jugées offensantes.
13h05 - Copenhague Le Premier ministre danois Anders Fogh Rasmussen met
en garde contre "une solution rapide et facile" de la crise.
Entre 12h00 et 13h00
12h20 - Paris On apprend qu'un débat organisé par SOS Racisme à Paris
XII "pour défendre la liberté d'expression dans l'affaire des caricatures
de Mahomet" et prévu mercredi a été interdit par la présidence de
l'université au motif du maintien de l'ordre public.
Entre 00h00 et 12h00
10h35 - Rome Le président du Sénat italien Marcello Pera met en cause
les autorités libyennes dans les violents incidents anti-italiens de Benghazi.
LUNDI 20 FEVRIER
Entre 22h00 et minuit
22h00 – Riyad Les autorités saoudiennes interdisent le journal Shams
qui a publié les caricatures dans le but d'accentuer la campagne contre le
Danemark.
Entre 20h00 et 21h00
20h00 – Rome Le Vatican demande aux dirigeants européens de défendre
le droit à la liberté religieuse lors des négociations et des déplacements
dans les pays musulmans.
Entre 19h00 et 20h00
19h55 – Alger Le Secrétaire général de la Ligue arabe, Amr Moussa,
plaide pour "un dialogue des civilisations".
19h55 – Lucknow (Inde) Un tribunal islamique de Lucknow, ville du nord
de l'Inde, a lancé lundi une fatwa (décret religieux), condamnant à mort les
12 auteurs des caricatures.
19h50 – Bissau Un journal indépendant bissau-guinéen, Diario de
Bissau, reprend les caricatures, et déclenche la condamnation d'un
responsable musulman du pays qui a qualifié cette démarche de
"provocation".
19h35 – New York Le secrétaire général de l'Onu, Kofi Annan,
participera ce week-end à Doha à une réunion de l'Alliance des civilisations
pour tenter de "calmer la situation" créée par la publication en
Europe de caricatures, a annoncé son porte-parole.
Entre 18h00 et 19h00
18h24 - Lagos Des manifestations samedi dans deux villes du nord du
Nigeria ont fait 24 morts et 230 blessés, selon un nouveau bilan établi par la
Croix Rouge nigériane.
18h20 - Copenhague Le ministre danois des Affaires étrangères, Per Stig
Moeller, affirme que "des forces extrémistes tentent de maintenir le
conflit en vie", se disant convaincu qu'Al-Qaïda "veut aussi
exploiter la situation pour attiser le feu".
Entre 17h00 et 18h00
17h25 - Copenhague L'opposition de gauche danoise demande une enquête
indépendante sur la gestion de la crise entraînée par la publication de
caricatures de Mahomet, estimant que le gouvernement aurait dû prêter
attention aux mises en garde diplomatiques, notamment de l'Egypte.
Entre 15h00 et 17h00
16h15 - Bruxelles Le ministre iranien des Affaires étrangères
Manouchehr Mottaki assure que son pays faisait "de son mieux" pour
empêcher les violences contre les Européens.
Entre 14h00 et 15h00
14h25 - Jalalabad Près de 2.000 étudiants afghans ont manifesté contre
les caricatures de Mahomet publiées par la presse européenne, en appelant les
pays musulmans à rompre leurs liens avec le Danemark.
14h20 - Copenhague L'opposition de centre et de gauche du parlement
danois exige une enquête indépendante sur le rôle controversé du
gouvernement dans la gestion de l'affaire des caricatures de Mahomet qui a
soulevé une tempête de protestations contre le Danemark dans le monde
musulman.
Entre 12h00 et 14h00
13h50 - Rome Le parquet de Rome annonce ouvrir une enquête pour
"outrage à la religion" muslumane contre Roberto Calderoli, le
ministre des Réformes qui a démissionné après ses attaques répétées
contre l'islam
13h20 - Islamabad Les autorités pakistanaises ont levé l'assignation à
résidence du chef de la principale alliance islamiste pakistanaise, qui a
aussitôt appelé à de nouvelles manifestations contre la publication en Europe
de caricatures de Mahomet.
12h50 - Téhéran Le chef de la diplomatie iranienne lance un appel au
clame et affirme que Téhéran ne soutient aucune violence.
12h20 - Cité du Vatican Le pape Benoît XVI a estimé lundi qu'il était
"nécessaire et urgent que les religions et leurs symboles soient
respectés" afin de "favoriser la paix et la compréhension entre les
peuples et entre les hommes".
Entre 10h00 et midi
10h55 - Tripoli Un dernier bilan officiel fait état de onze morts et 69
blessés, dont 27 grièvement, suite aux heurts qui ont opposé les forces de
l'ordre libyennes à des manifestants qui avaient attaqué le consulat d'Italie
à Benghazi.
10h25 - Kano L'Etat de Gombe, dans le nord du Nigeria, a interdit la
tenue d'une manifestation organisée par des musulmans qui souhaitaient
protester contre la publication en Europe de caricatures du prophète Mahomet.
10h15 - Rome Le silence des Etats et des organisations internationales
est "inacceptable" face aux émeutes anti-chrétiennes survenues
samedi au Nigeria, estime le recteur de l'Université Pontificale, Mgr Rino
Fisichella.
Entre minuit et 8h00
01h30 - Arabie Saoudite Une partie des médias saoudiens a publié le
texte d'excuses du Jyllands-Posten suite à la publication des
caricatures de Mahomet.
DIMANCHE 19 FEVRIER
Entre 20h00 et minuit
22h30 - Tripoli Neuf personnes tuées vendredi à Benghazi lors
d'affrontements entre les forces de l'ordre et des manifestants qui avaient
attaqué le consulat d'Italie ont été inhumées dans cette ville du nord-est
de la Libye.
Entre 18h00 et 20h00
19h45 - Nador Des dizaines de femmes islamistes ont manifesté à Nador
au Maroc, contre la publication des caricatures de Mahomet à l'appel de
l'association radicale Al Adl Wal Ihssane (Justice et bienfaisance, non
reconnue).
18h30 - Copenhague L'ambassadeur danois au Pakistan va rentrer
temporairement au Danemark, annonce le ministère danois des Affaires
étrangères.
Entre 16h00 et 18h00
17h15 - Kano (Nigeria) Le secrétaire général du Conseil suprême
nigérian des affaires islamiques, principale organisation musulmane du pays, a
condamné les émeutiers qui ont attaqué samedi des chrétiens, tuant 15
personnes,
Entre 14h00 et 16h00
15h30 – Le Caire Le ministre égyptien des Biens religieux, Mahmoud
Hamdi Zaqzouq, a estimé dimanche "normale" la réaction des musulmans
à la publication des caricatures de Mahomet, lors d'un entretien au Caire avec
une délégation de religieux danois.
14h45 – Damas Les ventes de volailles sont en chute libre en Syrie
depuis quelques mois et les pertes sont évaluées à quelque huit milliards de
SYP (160 M USD), en dépit des assurances officielles sur l'absence du virus
dans le pays, indique le journal al-Iqtissadiya.
14h15 – Istanbul Quelques dizaines de milliers de personnes se sont
réunies dimanche à Istanbul à l'appel du parti de la Félicité (SP,
islamiste) pour protester contre la publication des caricatures.
Entre 12h00 et 14h00
12h30 – Islamabad Les forces de sécurité pakistanaises ont tiré des
gaz lacrymogènes pour disperser des centaines de jeunes rassemblés à
Islamabad, malgré l'interdiction de cette manifestation, ont indiqué la police
et des témoins.
Entre 9h00 et 12h00
11h20 – Islamabad Les forces de sécurité ont bouclé la capitale
pakistanaise Islamabad après l'interdiction d'une manifestation à l'appel de
partis islamistes.
11h10 – Islamabad La police pakistanaise a procédé à des raids dans
trois villes du pays dans la nuit de samedi à dimanche, procédant à des
centaines d'interpellations et assignations à résidence pour tenter
d'empêcher la grande manifestation prévue dans la journée à Islamabad.
11h10 – Jakarta Quelque 200 membres d'un groupe musulman indonésien
militant ont fait le siège de l'ambassade américaine à Jakarta, pour
protester contre une représentation de Mahomet se trouvant dans l'enceinte de
la Cour suprême américaine.
10h55 – Dubaï Un journal pan-arabe à capitaux saoudiens, Asharq
al-Awsat, a publié une lettre d'excuses du Jyllands-Posten, le
quotidien danois qui avait publié, le premier, les caricatures.
Avant 9h00
8h40 - Djakarta Environ 400 manifestants appartenant à un groupe radical
musulman jettent des pierres, des tomates et des oeufs sur l'ambassade des
Etats-Unis, accusant Washington d'avoir organisé la récente publication de
caricatures du prophète Mahomet dans des journaux occidentaux pour tenter de
discréditer l'Islam.
8h10 - Islamabad Plusieurs responsables musulmans pakistanais ont été
arrêtés ou assignés à résidence pour tenter d'empêcher une grande
manifestation prévue dans la journée contre la publication de caricatures du
prophète Mahomet dans la presse occidentale, selon la police.
SAMEDI 18 FEVRIER
Après 17h00
20h40 - Kano Des violences ont fait 15 morts à Maiduguri, dans le nord
du Nigeria, à la suite d'une manifestation contre la publication des
caricatures.
17h40 – Montpellier Entre 1.700 et 2.000 personnes selon la police,
2.500 à 3.000 selon les organisateurs, manifestent dans le calme samedi à
Montpellier.
17h10 – Tripoli Onze personnes, dont quatre Egyptiens et Palestiniens,
ont été tuées et 35 blessées lors de la violente manifestation devant le
consulat italien de Benghazi, annonce Seïf al-Islam Kadhafi, le fils du
dirigeant libyen.
Entre 16h00 et 17h00
16h45 - Kano (Nigeria) Des violences ont éclaté à Maiduguri,
dans le nord du Nigeria, quand la police a cherché à empêcher une
manifestation contre la publication de caricatures de Mahomet en Europe,
rapportent des témoins.
16h15 – Rome Le chef du gouvernement italien, Silvio Berlusconi, s'est
entretenu avec Mouammar Kadhafi et obtenu du dirigeant libyen l'assurance que
les manifestations anti-italiennes à Benghazi n'auront pas de conséquences sur
les relations entre les deux pays.
16h10 – Duisbourg (Allemagne) Quelque 3.500 personnes manifestent à
Duisbourg contre la publication des caricatures.
16h10 – Londres Des milliers de musulmans ont participé à la
manifestation la plus importante organisée dans la capitale britannique depuis
le début de l'affaire des caricatures de Mahomet.
Entre 14h00 et 16h00
14h30 - Tripoli Le ministre libyen de la Sécurité, Nasr Mabrouk, a
été suspendu de ses fonctions et traduit devant un juge d'instruction, selon
une source officielle.
14h10 - Multan Quatre personnes ont été blessées samedi 18 février au
Pakistan quand les forces de l'ordre ont ouvert le feu contre des manifestants
qui tentaient d'incendier des banques et d'autres bâtiments à Chiniot, dans
l'est du pays, selon la police.
Entre 13h00 et 14h00
13h35 - Rome Le chef de l'Etat italien Carlo Azeglio Ciampi invite les
membres du gouvernement dirigé par Silvio Berlusconi à faire montre de
"comportements responsables" dans la crise internationale provoquée
par les caricatures de Mahomet.
13h20 - Londres Plus de 10.000 manifestants dénoncent la publication des
caricatures.
Entre 12h00 et 13h00
12h25 - Rome Le chef de la diplomatie italienne Gianfranco Fini annonce
sa décision de se rendre à la mosquée de Rome pour tenter d'apaiser les
tensions provoquées dans le monde musulman par les déclarations offensantes
pour l'islam du ministre Roberto Calderoli, dont il a demandé la démission.
Entre 11h00 et 12h00
11h20 - Lucknaw Un ministre musulman de l'Etat indien d'Uttar Pradesh
(nord) a offert 510 millions de roupies (11,5 millions de dollars) de
récompense à qui obtiendrait la tête d'un des auteurs des caricatures de
Mahomet, rapporte la presse indienne.
Entre 9h00 et 11h00
10h50 - Tripoli Un peu moins de la moitié des Néerlandais craint une
confrontation entre le monde musulman et l'Occident, après les violentes
protestations provoquées par la publication de caricatures du prophète
Mahomet, selon un sondage de l'institut néerlandais R&M Matrix.
10h30 - Téhéran Les autorités iraniennes ont ordonné aux forces de
sécurité de faire "leur possible" pour prévenir les attaques contre
les ambassades étrangères en Iran, indique le ministre de l'Intérieur Mostafa
Pour-Mohammadi cité par la presse.
10h30 - Tripoli Les déclarations "provocantes et outrageantes"
contre l'islam du ministre italien des Réformes Roberto Calderoli sont
responsables de la manifestation de contre le consulat d'Italie, affirme la
Fondation Kadhafi dans un communiqué.
09h55 - Tripoli Selon des témoins, le calme est revenu à Benghazi.
Avant 9h00
02h35 - Tripoli La manifestation et l'incendie du consulat d'Italie à
Benghazi "n'aura pas d'effet négatifs" sur les relations entre
l'Italie et la Libye, affirme le ministre libyen des Affaires étrangères Abdel
Rahman Chalguam, selon l'ambassade d'Italie à Tripoli.
02h05 - Rome Le ministre italien des Réformes Roberto Calderoli se
déclare prêt à présenter sa démission mais à condition que l'islam fasse
un geste d'apaisement.
00h50 - Tripoli Au moins dix personnes ont été tuées par la police
libyenne au cours d'une manifestation de protestation vendredi contre le
consulat d'Italie à Benghazi, déclare le premier secrétaire de l'ambassade
d'Italie à Tripoli.
http://www.temoignagechretien.fr/journal/ar_article.php?num=3195&categ=Croire
Nigeria
: des violences pas seulement religieuses
par Jérôme Anciberro
Les
faits
Des
affrontements interreligieux, qui se sont
déroulés durant la deuxième quinzaine du mois de février, ont causé au
Nigeria la mort de plus de 120 personnes. Les violences ont démarré dans la
ville de Maiduguri, dans le nord du pays, essentiellement musulman, à l’occasion
de manifestations contre la publication dans la presse européenne des
caricatures du prophète Mohammed. Au moins 34 personnes, la plupart
chrétiennes, ont été tuées et plusieurs églises brûlées. Dans le Sud,
majoritairement chrétien, à Onitsha, ce sont les chrétiens qui s’en sont
pris aux musulmans. Bilan local : au moins 80 morts et deux mosquées
détruites. Des milliers de personnes ont fui les lieux des massacres pour se
réfugier dans les casernes protégées par l’armée, ou dans d’autres
régions.
L'analyse
Ce
n’est pas la première fois que des violences
à caractère religieux ont lieu au Nigeria. Pour ne prendre qu’un exemple, la
ville de Kano, dans le nord du pays, connaissait déjà des affrontements entre
musulmans et chrétiens dans les années 50 et 60. Ces tensions se sont
multipliées à partir des années 90. On se souvient, entre autres, des
massacres de plusieurs centaines de musulmans qui ont eu lieu en mai 2004 dans
le bourg de Yelwa (État central du Plateau). En général, les violences
répondent aux violences. C’est ce qui semble s’être passé cette fois
encore. La vue des corps de chrétiens tués à Maiduguri et transportés à
Onitsha aurait été un des prétextes au déchaînement des représailles
contre les musulmans locaux. L’apparition et le développement de mouvements
religieux radicaux depuis une vingtaine d’années contribuent sans nul doute
à exacerber les tensions. Chez les chrétiens, certaines Églises
évangéliques et pentecôtistes aux discours manichéens gagnent du terrain par
rapport à d’autres (catholique, méthodiste, anglicane…), généralement
plus modérées. L’introduction de la charia (loi islamique) – qui ne
s’applique théoriquement qu’aux seuls musulmans – dans le système
juridique de douze États du nord du pays depuis 1999 illustre aussi l’intensification
du marquage identitaire de certains territoires, tout en étant parfois comprise
par les populations locales comme un moyen d’assurer un ordre public
problématique.
Pays le plus peuplé d’Afrique (130 millions d’habitants), le Nigeria est
une fédération de trente-six États. Historiquement, l’ancienne puissance
coloniale britannique a, en 1914, rassemblé en une seule entité deux
protectorats (Sud et Nord) bien distincts. Le pays, indépendant depuis 1960, se
caractérise par une grande diversité ethnique, linguistique et religieuse.
Quatre ethnies principales coexistent : au nord, les Haoussas et les Peuls, la
plupart musulmans, au sud-ouest, les Yoroubas, musulmans et chrétiens, et, au
sud-est, les Igbos, majoritairement chrétiens. Si les différentes zones
géographiques du pays sont religieusement marquées, il n’y a cependant pas
de parfaite homogénéité, particulièrement dans les villes. Le pays, qui
jouit d’un régime démocratique depuis 1999, dispose de ressources naturelles
très importantes, notamment pétrolières et gazières. Pourtant, la grande
majorité de la population vit dans des conditions de pauvreté très marquées.
Les autorités, minées par une intense corruption, se montrent incapables de
développer efficacement le pays et d’assurer leurs prérogatives
régaliennes, notamment dans le domaine de la sécurité. Les groupes armés
prospèrent, dont les couleurs politiques ou religieuses plus ou moins
affirmées cachent difficilement les motivations très terre-à-terre, liées
par exemple au contrôle de la vente de pétrole brut. « Certaines zones,
comme les États du delta du fleuve Niger, vivent ainsi dans un état de guerre
larvée » , note Laurent Fourchard, chercheur au Centre d’études sur l’Afrique
noire de l’Institut d’études politiques de Bordeaux. Dans ce contexte, l’explication
des tensions entre chrétiens et musulmans ne saurait être réduite à l’unique
facteur religieux. « Il faut dissocier la cible des violences, qui est
effectivement ici religieuse, des mobiles, qui, eux, ne le sont pas toujours, explique
Laurent Fourchard. On pille les magasins en même temps qu’on brûle les
églises ou les mosquées ; il y a aussi des règlements de comptes politiques
et, derrière la religion, la xénophobie n’est jamais loin : au-delà du
musulman, par exemple, c’est aussi le Haoussa qui est visé… »
http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-f.asp?ID=421235
Le Nigeria va poursuivre les 463 émeutiers contre les caricatures
Lagos,
Nigeria,02/03 - La Police nigériane annonce qu`elle engagera bientôt des
poursuites en justice contre 463 personnes arrêtées durant la vague d`émeutes
ayant soufflé sur certaines villes du pays contre les caricatures du prophète
Mohamed (PSL) publiées dans des journaux européens.
La violence, qui a éclaté la semaine dernière, a fait plus de 100 morts et
plusieurs églises et mosquées détruites par les émeutiers dans de nombreux
Etats, essentiellement du Nord à prédominance musulmane.
C`est ainsi que 20 personnes ont été arrêtées au Niger, 205 à Borno, 116 à
Yobe, 33 à Katsina, 48 à Bauchi, 22 à Gombe, 10 à Anambra et 9 à Enugu.
L`inspecteur général de Police, Sunday Ehindero, a déclaré à la presse, à
Abuja, la capitale fédérale, que la Police présenterait les personnes
interpellées devant les Hautes cours appropriées et a demandé aux
commissaires de Police de s`assurer qu`ils (les émeutiers) ne bénéficient pas
d`une liberté provisoire.
"L`époque où les suspects étaient présentés devant des tribunaux de
première instance qui leur accordaient des libertés provisoires imméritées,
faute d`avocats est révolu", a martelé M. Ehindero.
La violence a commencé à Maiduguri où une manifestation soi-disant pacifique
contre les caricatures par des groupes de musulmans a dégénéré en violences
massives, qui se sont rapidement répandues dans d`autres parties du Nord du
Nigeria.
Des attaques de représailles contre les meurtres de Chrétiens dans le Nord ont
par la suite éclaté dans la ville d`Onitsha, située dans le Sud à majorité
chrétienne pour enflammer Enugu.
Les caricatures publiées pour la première fois par un journal danois,
""Jyllands-Posten, puis en Europe et ailleurs, n`ont pas été
publiées dans les journaux nigérians.
Toutefois, certains journaux locaux ont publié un article de Fleming Rose,
journaliste culturel du journal danois, expliquant pourquoi il a décidé de
publier les caricatures injurieuses qui ont déclenché des protestations
massives dans le monde musulman.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200603030394.html
Killing
Ndigbo Slowly (2)
Vanguard (Lagos)
COLUMN
March 3, 2006
Posted to the web March 3, 2006
By Chidi Nkwopara
Continued from
yesterday
AS at the last count, no fewer than 16 people died and 11 Christian
churches burnt in Maiduguri and Katsina. The story is endless as we recall with
grief previous occurrences in Kano, Sokoto, Lagos, Bauchi, Kaduna, Jos, Niger,
Abuja, Kafanchan and other Northern and some Western towns. In the present case,
the Nigeria Police claim they have arrested 220 suspects, while the governments
slammed a dusk to dawn curfew in the affected towns. Similarly, many inhabitants
of the crisis-torn towns, especially the non-indigenes, have fled the areas on
account of the irrational mayhem unleashed on innocent citizens.
In Maiduguri where the riot started, a Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Mike
Gajere of Saint Rita Catholic Church, was among the first victims. He was
attacked by the fundamentalists and set ablaze after generously pouring petrol
on the cleric. Over 30 churches and shops and vehicles belonging to the
Christian faithful were completely burnt. As if this was not enough, properties
were looted in grand style. Borno State government has, in reaction to the
riots, set up an administrative committee to probe the unrest, which it
described as "unfortunate and condemnable". As rightly expected, the
aggrieved Catholic Bishop of Maiduguri, Most Rev. Dr. Matthew Ndagoso, says the
Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) has no confidence in the panel set up by
the Governor. "Over 50 Christians lost their lives in the mayhem; hundreds
wounded.
Over 30 churches either burnt or destroyed and several Christian
businesses or outfits, properties, homes or houses burnt or vandalized.
Christians have lost confidence in the government and the ability or
preparedness of the security agencies, to protect our lives and
properties", Bishop Ndagoso lamented. While saying that the current attack
"is the culmination of the outburst to completely eliminate Christians in
the state", the fiery Catholic cleric also tried to fathom the necessary
connection between a cartoon published in Denmark more than a month ago and
Christians living in Borno State. The protest in Gombe started February 19,
2006, in the night. The rampaging fundamentalists reportedly stormed the streets
at about 7.00p.m, unleashing terror on residents, burning, looting and harassing
innocent people.
Another sad side of this ugly protest was that Government Secondary
School students initiated that of Bauchi State. Is this what their teachers have
been teaching them? Is violence part of the syllabus compiled by the examination
bodies in the country? What they started in their school eventually spilled over
to the town. Parents rushed to schools to pick their children into safety. The
questions now are: For how long will Christians continue to run for cover? Has
this current riot not reinforced the call for the inclusion of state of origin,
tribe and other relevant data in the census form? Today, we are just giving a
blanket name, Christians instead of stating exactly those who were gruesomely
murdered by the irate religious fanatics. The riot has forced a good number of
Igbos to relocate to their ancestral homes in the South East. Many are still
taking refuge in barracks. Lives and properties have been lost.
When will Ndigbo learn that there is no place like home? When will Ndigbo
learn from history? When will Igbos realise that the so-called hospitability of
their host communities in other states is merely cosmetic? I would also like to
know how many Northerners have built mansions or estates outside their home
states. Why are Igbos so myopic, even as we pride ourselves as intelligent
people?
Can anybody tell Ndigbo what has become of the panel reports, which
emanated from past religious crises in Nigeria? Will promises of compensation or
its actual payments bring back lost Igbo souls? Why must we allow ourselves to
be fooled by empty and bogus promises from the federal and state governments
about the safety of Nigerians, who live in places other than their states of
origin? Have we not been fooled enough? When will Ndigbo learn to say enough is
enough and remain in their states of origin? When shall these religious
fundamentalists be told in clear terms that they do not have the patent for
violence and mayhem?
When will they be told that they equally do not have the patent for
unbridled fundamentalism? Newspaper reports have it that Arewa Consultative
Forum (ACF) has condemned the riots. Does this not mean the end of the matter?
What practical steps did ACF take in past and similar crises? Who are they
fooling? This is the time to call the bluff. Enough is enough. Not too long from
now, we will get to know if Igbos are deaf, dumb and blind. For now, Igbos are
being slowly but steadily exterminated.
Concluded
Mr. Nkwopara is a
staff of Vanguard Newspapers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5661473,00.html
Unrest Hits Nigeria at Sensitive Time
Friday
March 3, 2006 9:01 PM
AP Photo NIN103
By EDWARD HARRIS
Associated Press Writer
ONITSHA,
Nigeria (AP) - A body smolders in the road after Muslim-Christian clashes. Armed
men ply the waterways of the Niger Delta, kidnapping oil workers and attacking
pipelines.
Violence
often erupts in Nigeria, but the latest unrest comes at a particularly difficult
political time: elections are scheduled for 2007, and the transition from
military despotism to multiparty democracy is at stake.
Olusegun
Obasanjo - first elected president in 1999 - has not ruled out asking lawmakers
to change the constitution and allow him to seek a third term.
From
the Senate to the writers of splashy newspaper headlines, Nigerians are hotly
debating if Obasanjo should stay on. Speculation about his desire for a third
term ``is raising political tensions and, if proven true, threatens to unleash
major turmoil and conflict,'' U.S. National Intelligence Director John
Negroponte said Tuesday.
Chaos
in Nigeria could interrupt oil supplies, encourage secessionist moves, spur
major refugee flows and create instability elsewhere in West Africa.
With
130 million people split among 250 ethnic groups, Nigeria is Africa's
most-populous nation and among its most fractious. But as the continent's
biggest oil producer, the country also has great promise.
That
promise is threatened by violence, which can be triggered by faraway events.
As
Nigerians joined worldwide protests over publication of cartoons of the Prophet
Muhammad, a riot broke out in the heavily Muslim north that saw Muslims killing
Christians.
By
the time reprisal attacks ended in Onitsha, in the mostly Christian southeast,
more than 100 people had been killed nationwide. Muslim bodies smoked beneath
scorched tires in Onitsha. It was the deadliest religious fighting anywhere in
the world since the cartoons' publication.
One
analyst, Charles Doukubo, views the initial riots as a message by mosque leaders
in the north to Obasanjo, a southern Christian, that they also wield power and
he must heed the many northerners opposed to any third term.
``If
he (Obasanjo) wants to stay, it won't be easy,'' said Doukubo, a research fellow
at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs in Lagos.
On
Friday, authorities said they had uncovered a plot to cause a new wave of
violence. Information Minister Frank Nweke did not identify the plotters, but
said they had hoped to scuttle this month's census - the first in Nigeria in 15
years - as part of a campaign to discredit Obasanjo's government.
Obasanjo,
66, has said he misses his home in Abeokuta and has avoided further comment on
any retirement plans. He says he is focused on leading Nigeria, determined to
uphold the constitution and devoted to helping his country.
``Everything
I do now is to protect Nigeria's interest, and if that will cost me my life, so
be it,'' Obasanjo said this week.
His
main opponent in the 2003 elections, which saw Obasanjo win his second four-year
mandate since the end of military rule in 1999, frames the religious riots as an
anti-Obasanjo protest.
The
cartoons were ``not the cause of the disturbances; it was the government's mad
rush for third term,'' local media quoted Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari as saying.
Buhari, like Obasanjo, once led a military government and has said he will run
for president in 2007.
Poverty
- and the struggle for the oil riches power delivers - is at the root of
fighting in the Niger Delta, two hours drive from Onitsha.
Recent
attacks and kidnappings by militants in the Delta have cut nearly 20 percent of
Nigeria's usual 2.5 million daily barrel crude production, sending international
oil prices sharply higher.
The
federal government controls revenues from the oil pumped by international energy
companies, and the people of the south want a greater share. They also hope for
a president from their region and ethnic group.
Obasanjo
is a Yoruba from the southwest, not an Igbo or Ijaw or Ogoni from the Delta,
also in the south but to the east.
The
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta militants patrol the creeks
where the Niger River enters the Atlantic Ocean. Their numbers aren't known, but
with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, they appear better armed and
more sophisticated than past militant groups.
They
want the federal government - in the person of Obasanjo - to back out of their
affairs.
Obasanjo
has waged a public fight against graft, but the militants say his security
forces steal oil for sale on the black market. The government says the militants
are just bandits.
``The
Nigerian federal government has always oppressed us and stolen our oil,'' one
masked militant carrying an AK-47 shouted to reporters in a mid-creek meeting.
``Now we're taking the bull by the horns.''
Some
Nigerians worry the armed revolt could spread in the current political climate,
even leading to a civil war that would send untold numbers of refugees across
West Africa, undermining burgeoning regional stability.
But
Doukubo, the analyst, called that fevered speculation. Nigeria has a history of
political tumult but has remained unified despite one civil war since 1960
independence and 33 years of military dictatorships.
``Nigeria
is a country where the worst never happens and the best is yet to come,''
Doukubo said.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C06%5Cstory_6-3-2006_pg1_4
Monday,
March 06, 2006
50,000
protest against cartoons in Karachi
KARACHI:
Around 50,000 people protested against cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (peace
be upon him) in Karachi on Sunday, and many took the opportunity to criticise
the government and the United States.
The cartoons, first published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September
last year, sparked widespread protests across the Muslim world. They have since
been republished in at least 56 countries, predominantly in Europe but also in
Asia and the United States.
The protesters carrying signs with the Prophet’s (PBUH) name written on them
in Arabic shouted “Death to Denmark”, but many also chanted “Death to
America”, “Death to Israel” and “Death to Musharraf”. They also burnt
an effigy of US President George W Bush, who ended a 24-hour visit to Islamabad
on Saturday. Hundreds of riot police lined the two-kilometre stretch of a road
in central Karachi, but there was no violence. The rally had been organised by
the MMA.
Islamic tradition bars the depiction of the Prophet (PBUH), favourable or
otherwise, to prevent idolatry. One of the drawings shows him wearing a
bomb-shaped turban with an ignited fuse.
“Both Musharraf and his master Bush are killers of Muslims,” said MMA
Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rahman. “The force that has gathered for the
protection of the Prophet’s (PBUH) honour will be used to topple this
undemocratic regime, which is serving American interests.”
“This movement for the protection of the sanctity of the Prophet (PBUH) will
lead to a revolution,” MMA leader Liaquat Baloch told the rally. “Bush
should know that his puppet Musharraf has become unpopular.” A large number of
women wearing veils and girls with headbands inscribed with ‘Allahu Akbar’
also participated.
Some protests in the country have turned deadly and at least five people died in
Lahore and Peshawar in rioting last month. Many more have been killed as similar
protests have degenerated into riots in neighbouring Afghanistan. agencies
http://nm.onlinenigeria.com/templates/default.aspx?a=7222&template=print-article.htm
Days of rage in Yobe
Tuesday, April 11, 2006 - By ABU ONYELEBOCHO, Damaturu
Yobe State goes by the inspiring pet name: “The Young
Shall Grow,” but rather than live in accordance with that philosophy, through
adequate nurture, some people in the state have elected to toe the path of
destruction.
They have chosen to be
vandals rather than builders. Instead of embracing peace, they tread the path of
intolerance and war. In a way, it would appear that Yobe is growing into
violence and a culture of intolerance.
In recent times, the state has witnessed series of violent religious crises and
bloody eruptions. In February, the Prophet Mohammed cartoon riot, which spilled
over from Maiduguri, took a large toll on Damagum, Gadaka and Potiskum. While
the commission of inquiry headed by Lt. Col. Zakari Jibo (retd) was still
battling to probe the crisis, a fresh one erupted in Buni Yadi and Nguru in
March.
The toll in term of human and material loss was enormous. In Potiskum alone,
nine churches were razed. Similarly, homes, property, and shops with wares worth
millions of naira belonging to fellow citizens went up in flames.Several persons
sustained various degrees of injuries, while Mr. Vincent Nnamuka, a carpenter
with St. Paul’s Catholic Church in Potiskum, was not so lucky as he was
stabbed to death. In Gadaka town, the Redeemed Christian Church of God and the
Holy Trinity Catholic Church were destroyed, while the Anglicans lost theirs at
Damagum.
In spite of series of appeals by the state Governor, Alhaji Bukar Abba Ibrahim,
his deputy, Alhaji Aliyu Saleh Bagare, top government officials, traditional and
spiritual leaders to the people to embrace peace, deviants remained undeterred
taking the law into their hands at the slightest opportunity. Not even the stern
warnings from police and other security agencies were able to stem the ugly
tide.
Just recently in Nguru, some deviants destroyed government and public property.
Irate youths went wild and set ablaze two trucks belonging to the fire service
unit and the Lower Area Court building as well as offices of the State Security
Services (SSS) and the National Population Commission (NPC).
According to security sources, the latest riots were sparked off by what they
considered tardiness on the part of the fire brigade in responding to a distress
call on fire outbreak that gutted more than 14 shops at the Nguru central
market.
Daily Sun gathered that it was the perceived ‘negligence’ of the personnel
of the fire service unit that angered the irate youths. By the time their anger
subsided, they had caused more damages than the fire outbreak.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Hussaini Bulama, who confirmed
the incident at the Police Command headquarters in Damaturu, told Daily Sun that
some persons had been arrested in connection with the incident and were being
interrogated at the State Intelligence and Investigation Bureau (SIIB).
Few days before the Nguru incident, Buni Yadi village had a taste of the culture
of violence as some persons set ablaze a mosque and the house of the District
Head of Wagir, Alhaji Abba Mohammed. He escaped lynching by the
whiskers.He,however, sustained injuries. Some churches and the house of the
State Security Officer in the area were also burnt and vandalized.
This crisis was said to have been induced by the arrest of a known Islamic
preacher in Buni Yadi, Mallam Jibrin. Although police refused to disclose the
reason for the arrest, some of the people who escaped from Buni Yadi to take
refuge in Damaturu told Daily Sun that the preacher was overheard telling his
followers of how some atrocities committed in the area were being covered by
some influential persons and security personnel in the community.
Another version has it that the preacher, who was seen as an Islamic
fundamentalist, was encouraging his followers to rise up against government
authorities, and especially the royal throne which had prevented the
fundamentalists in the area from carrying out a planned attack on the Principal
of the Federal Government College in Buni Yadi.
Meanwhile, the Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of the Police in charge of Zone
12, Bauchi, Uba Ringim, with the Acting Commissioner of Police (DCP), Austin
Obaedo, has visited Buni Yadi to assess the situation.
The AIG, while appealing to the people of the area to shun violence and embrace
dialogue, pledged to ensure that the law takes its course in any situation
within his zone. He said the consequence of violence has always been grievous
and irreparable.
Perhaps, what he failed to add is that if the state is to grow, it must learn to
shun violence and embrace peace.