Fri 30 October 2020:
Tens of thousands of protesters, from Pakistan to Lebanon to the Palestinian territories, vented out their fury at France on Friday as the French president’s vow to protect the right to caricature the Prophet Muhammad continues to roil the Muslim world.
A crowd in Bangladesh burned an effigy of President Emmanuel Macron while a rally in Pakistan’s Islamabad grew rowdy, with stones thrown at police and tear gas fired to control the crowds.
Macron defended freedom of expression and condemned Islamist violence earlier this month after the beheading of a teacher in Paris who showed pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, prompting a backlash across the Muslim world.
Germany – Berlin
Some 150 people gathered in Berlin for a rally denouncing France’s President Emmanuel Macron’s anti-Islamist crackdown, carrying banners and chanting “Allahu akbar.” It took place in the aftermath of the terrorist attack in Nice.
The crowd held a roughly 30-minute demonstration in the city’s Hermannplatz, to protest against the showing of caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed across France, as well as Macron’s ongoing crackdown on Islamism.
Bangladesh
Huge crowds took to the streets of Dhaka to condemn the French leader after Friday prayers – the Bangladeshi capital’s second anti-France protest in five days.
“We are all soldiers of Prophet Mohammed,” chanted the crowd at the city’s main protest site, where demonstrators called for a boycott of French goods and some burned an effigy of the leader.
Police said 12,000 people took part in the Dhaka rally, though independent observers and organisers claimed more than 40,000 marched in the city. Smaller crowds gathered outside hundreds of mosques elsewhere in the capital and around the country.
“France is insulting the world’s two billion Muslims. President Macron must apologise for his crimes,” said Gazi Ataur Rahman, a senior leader of Islami Andolan Bangladesh, one of the political parties which called the protests.
Pakistan – Islamabad
In Pakistan’s capital city Islamabad, around 2,000 protesters marched towards the French embassy, pushing aside shipping containers that had been placed to block their path.
The crowed shouted “expel the French dog” and “behead the blasphemous” but were prevented from reaching the embassy by further guarded barricades.
“How dare they disrespect our prophet? As a Muslim I am ready to sacrifice my head for the prophet’s honour. A Muslim can sacrifice his head and can also cut the head of the blasphemous,” said Rasheed Akbar, a 34 year-old trader who joined the crowd.
Another 10,000 people marched through Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city, after Friday prayers in what was organised as a procession to mark the Prophet’s birthday but which was charged with anti-France anger.
Pakistan – Lahore
In the eastern city of Lahore, thousands of worshippers celebrating the Mawlid, the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, took to the streets, chanting anti-France slogans, raising banners and clogging major roads en route to a Sufi shrine. In Multan, thousands more torched an effigy of Macron and called on Pakistan to sever ties with France and boycott French goods.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused Macron of attacking the Muslim faith and called on Islamic countries to work together to counter what he called growing Islamophobia in European countries.
Lebanon
A few hundred demonstrators in Lebanon’s capital Beirut flocked toward the Palais des Pins, the official residence of the French ambassador to Lebanon, but found their way blocked by lines of police officers in riot gear. Waving black and white flags with Islamist insignia, the Sunni Islamist activists cried, “At your service, oh prophet of God.” Some flung stones at police who responded with smoke and tear gas.
Jerusalem
In Jerusalem, hundreds of Palestinians protested against Macron outside the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, chanting, “With our souls and with our blood we sacrifice for our prophet, Muhammad.” Some youths scuffled with Israeli police as they exited the esplanade into the Old City. Israeli police said they dispersed the gathering and detained three people.
Gaza
Scores more turned out in the Gaza Strip, where the militant Hamas group organized anti-France rallies at mosques across the territory that it controls.
Fathi Hammad, a Hamas official, addressed a demonstration at the Jabaliya refugee camp, vowing “to stand together to confront this criminal offensive that harms the faith of about 2 billion Muslims,” referring to depictions of the Muslim prophet. He reiterated Hamas authorities’ appeal for Palestinians to boycott all French products.
Afghanistan – Kabul
Cries of “Death to France” also rang out in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul and several other provinces as thousands filled the streets.
Demonstrators trampled on portraits of Macron and called on Afghan leaders to shut down the French embassy, halt French imports and ban French citizens from visiting the country. In the country’s western Herat province, protesters hoisted an effigy of Macron on a crane and set it alight.
India -Mumbai
Even in India, Muslim leaders called for a boycott of French goods. In Mumbai, some 100 posters showing Macron with a boot on his face and calling him a “demon” were pasted on pavements and roads. The posters were later removed by the police.
France raises security alert
France has raised its security alert to the highest level on Thursday after a knife-wielding man shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) beheaded an elderly woman in a church and killed two more people before being shot and taken away by police.
“We will not give any ground,” Macron said outside the church in the French Riviera city of Nice, promising to deploy thousands more soldiers to guard sites such as places of worship and schools.
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