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Sunday, Feb 05, 2006

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International

Wide protests over cartoons

Owen Bowcott

Demonstrators in London call for revenge against "offenders"

London: Protests against the publication of Danish cartoons depicting Muhammad erupted into calls for revenge in several countries on Friday. Attempts to calm political passions mingled with defences of freedom of expression and appeals to religious authorities.

Demonstrators marched from Regent's Park mosque, London, to the Danish embassy, with banners reading: ``Kill the one who insults the Prophet'' and ``The only way this will be resolved is if those who are responsible are turned over so they can be punished by Islamic law, so that they can be executed''.

The Irish Daily Star joined other European papers in publishing the cartoons. ``We wanted to give our half a million readers a chance to actually see this infamous cartoon,'' said columnist Joe O'Shea. ``We thought it would be a good idea to make a stand for freedom of the press and democratic rights.''

In Denmark, Egypt's Ambassador, Mona Omar Attia, said the Danish Prime Minister's response to drawings controversy was inadequate and the country should do more to ``appease the whole Muslim world''. More than 70 Ambassadors attended a meeting with the Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who warned: ``If the protests in the streets escalate further, we may be faced with unpredictable repercussions in all the affected countries. We have a common interest in calming down feelings and in settling this affair.''

The editor of the Magazinet newspaper in Norway, which reprinted the cartoons, confessed that after receiving 25 death threats and thousands of hate emails he regretted publication. Vebjoen Selbekk, editor of the publication, reproduced them as an expression of free speech. ``If I had dreamt something like this happening I would not have done it. It's out of control,'' he said.

German Home Minister Wolfgang Schauble defended the decision by four German newspapers to publish the cartoons, declaring: ``Why should the German Government apologise? This is an expression of press freedom.''

In the Vatican, Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, a retired diplomat of the Holy See, said: ``Freedom is a great virtue but it must be shared and it must not be unilateral. Freedom of satire that offends the feelings of others becomes an abuse, and here we are talking about nothing less than the feelings of entire peoples who have seen their supreme symbols affected.''

The Pakistan's Parliament passed a resolution condemning the cartoons as ``blasphemous and derogatory'', as protesters chanted ``death to France'' and ``death to Denmark''. The resolution said: ``This vicious, outrageous and provocative campaign cannot be justified in the name of freedom of expression or of the press.''

In Jakarta, up to 300 persons invaded the lobby of a building housing the Danish embassy. Shouting ``Allahu akbar'' (God is great), they smashed lamps, ripped up a Danish flag and hurled rotten eggs and tomatoes. No one was hurt.

— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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