Insults to Islam Ignite Violence in Pakistan, Six Killed

REUTERS.COM: Muslim protests against insults to the Prophet Mohammad turned violent in Pakistan, where six people were killed on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, but remained mostly peaceful in Islamic countries elsewhere.

In France, where the publication of cartoons denigrating the Prophet stoked anger over an anti-Islam video made in California, the authorities banned all protests over the issue.

"There will be strictly no exceptions. Demonstrations will be banned and broken up," said Interior Minister Manuel Valls.

Tunisia's Islamist-led government also banned protests against the images published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Four people were killed and almost 30 wounded last week when the U.S. embassy was stormed in a protest over the film.

Many Western and Muslim politicians and clerics have appealed for calm, denouncing those behind the mockery of the Prophet, but also condemning violent reactions to it.

At street level, Muslims enraged by attacks on their faith spoke of a culture war with those in the West who put rights to freedom of expression above any religious offence caused.

"They hate him (the Prophet Mohammad) and show this through their continued works in the West, through their writings, cartoons, films and the way they launch war against him in schools," said Abdessalam Abdullah, a preacher at a mosque in Beirut's Palestinian refugee camp of Bourj al-Barajneh.

Muslims generally consider any depiction of the Prophet blasphemous. » | Aisha Chowdhry | ISLAMABAD | Friday, Sep 21, 2012

Ahmadinejad: Anti-Islam Film an Israeli Ploy

THE JERUSALEM POST: Iranian president slams Israel as military parade displays Shahab 3 missile, which it claims can reach Tel Aviv.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Israel of being behind the anti-Islam film that has sparked violent protests in the Muslim world, AFP reported on Friday.

Speaking at a military parade in Tehran, Ahmadinejad called the film an Israeli plot "to divide (Muslims) and spark sectarian conflict."

The parade, displaying military hardware, marked the anniversary of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. According to Iranian state media, the military displayed Shahab 3, Sejjil, Qadr, Sahab and Zelzal missiles during the parade.

Iran has claimed the Shahab 3 has a range that can reach Israel and they have reportedly experimented with integrating a nuclear warhead onto the missile.

Ahmadinejad's comments on the anti-Islam film came after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier this week that the American-made video is tied to "Islamophobic policies of arrogant powers and Zionists."

Khamenei added that it is incumbent upon Western governments to prove to the Muslim world that they are against attacks against Islam. "Leaders of [the US and European countries] must prove that they were not accomplices in this big crime in practice by preventing such crazy measures,” he said. » | JPost.com Staff | Friday, September 21, 2012

Wie aus einer Rolle ein Albtraum wurde

Islamic Protests Sweep Pakistan Over Anti-Mohammed Video and Cartoon
Protesters took to the streets of several Muslim countries as demonstrations gathered pace over a low-budget anti-Islamic video and cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published by a French magazine.

Read the article here | Rob Crilly, in Islamabad and Devorah Lauter in Paris | Thursday, September 20, 2012

Protesters Target France Over Prophet Cartoons, Anti-Islam Film

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: Anti-France protesters marched in countries ranging from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sri Lanka, after a satirical magazine published cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed. In anticipation of potential protests on Friday, Paris planned to shut its diplomatic missions, cultural centres and French schools in around 20 Muslim countries.

France was swept up Thursday in the wave of anger washing over the Muslim world as protesters in Afghanistan and Iran denounced a magazine's publication of obscene cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

Chanting "Death to France! Death to America!", hundreds demonstrated in the Afghan capital Kabul against the cartoons and a US-made anti-Islam film that has sparked widespread outrage.

In Tehran, up to 100 people protested in front of France's embassy, chanting "Death to France!" as dozens of police deployed around the compound prevented the crowd from approaching.

France has been bracing for a backlash following Wednesday's publication of the cartoons -- two of which show the founder of Islam naked -- by satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.

In anticipation of potential protests on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, Paris said it would shutter its diplomatic missions, cultural centres and French schools in around 20 Muslim countries.

More than 30 people have been killed in attacks and violent protests linked to the film "Innocence of Muslims", including 12 people who died in an attack by a female suicide bomber in Afghanistan and four Americans, among them the US ambassador, killed at the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Afghan demonstrators block a road during a protest against an anti-Islam movie in Kabul on September 20. » | AFP | Thursday, September 20, 2012

France Says It Will Not Authorize Protests Over Anti-Muslim Video

Al-Qaida Threatens Attacks on US Diplomats
THE SEATTLE TIMES: Al-Qaida's branch in North Africa is calling for attacks on U.S. diplomats and an escalation of protests against an anti-Islam video that triggered a wave of demonstrations in Muslim countries.

CAIRO — Al-Qaida's branch in North Africa is calling for attacks on U.S. diplomats and an escalation of protests against an anti-Islam video that triggered a wave of demonstrations in Muslim countries. » | The Associated Press | Monday, September 17/18, 2012

Protests Spread Over Anti-Islam Film
VOICE OF AMERICA: Hundreds of protesters rioting against an anti-Islam film torched a press club and a government building Monday in northwest Pakistan, sparking clashes with police that left at least one person dead.

Demonstrations also turned violent outside a U.S. military base in Afghanistan and at the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia. Meanwhile, the leader of the Shi'ite militant group Hezbollah called for sustained protests in a rare public appearance before thousands of supporters at a rally in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah accused U.S. spy agencies of being behind events that have unleashed a wave of anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim and Arab world. » | VOA News | Monday, September 17, 2012

VOICE OF AMERICA: California's Coptic Christians Condemn Anti-Islam Film: LOS ANGELES — California Coptic Christians say they are shocked that an Egyptian Coptic immigrant appears to be the producer of an inflammatory film that has sparked violent protests across the Muslim world. They say the film violates the tenets of their faith. » | Mike O'Sullivan | Monday, September 17, 2012

Family of Anti-Islam Filmmaker Joins Him in Hiding
ABC NEWS: Family members of the California man who wrote and produced the controversial anti-Islam film "Innocence of Muslims" fled their home early Monday morning to join the filmmaker in hiding.

Nakoula Basseley Nakoula has not returned to his Cerritos, California home since being interviewed late Friday night by federal probation officers about his role in the creation of the film, excerpts of which have ignited violent anti-American protests across the Muslim world.

Shortly before 4 a.m. Monday, officers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department escorted members of Nakoula's family, who had their faces covered, out of the house and into police vehicles so they could rejoin Nakoula at an undisclosed location.

"They decided they would be safer where they could move about and live a normal life," said Steve Whitmore, a spokesman for the Sheriff's Department. "All we did was pick them up and reunite them with Mr. Nakoula."

Whitmore said the family's current whereabouts are unknown to him, and it was his understanding that they won't ever return to their Cerritos house, though that decision was "entirely up to the family." (+ video) » | Frank Elaridi and Randy Kreider | Monday, September 17, 2012

Iran to Target Makers of Anti-Islamic Film

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran vowed to track down and punish the makers of a video mocking the Prophet Mohammad in the first state-sponsored threat to the people behind the inflamatory [sic] footage.

The video made in California and posted on YouTube portrayed the Prophet Mohammad as a womaniser and a fool. It has ignited a week of violent protests across the Muslim world.

"The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns ... this inappropriate and offensive action," First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said, according to the Mehr news agency.

"Certainly it will search for, track, and pursue this guilty person who ... has insulted 1.5 billion Muslims in the world."

The Islamic Republic's founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, condemned to death the Indian-born British novelist Salman Rushdie in 1989 for his novel "The Satanic Verses," saying its depiction of the Prophet Mohammad was blasphemous.

Iranian officials have demanded that the United States apologise to Muslims for the movie, saying it is only the latest in a series of Western insults aimed at Islam's holy figures. » | Monday, September 17, 2012

Karachi ‘Anti-Islam Film’ Protest Turns Violent
DAWN.COM: KARACHI: A rally in Karachi in protest of an anti-Islam film met with shelling from police personnel on Monday as the demonstrators tried to march on the US Consulate, DawnNews reported.

The rally was being led by the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT), the student wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI). The atmosphere turned tense when the protestors, demonstrating near the city’s MT Khan road, tried to march towards the US Consulate located a small distance from the scene of the protest.

A large contingent of Rangers and police personnel was guarding the area, and roads had been blocked in anticipation of the protests.

Security personnel opened aerial fire to stop the protestors from marching towards the high security area where the consulate is located. Clashes ensued as demonstrators pelted security personnel with stones, damaging one of their vehicles.

A senior police official said 30 students were arrested at the demonstration organised by the religious party. » | DawnNews | Monday, September 17, 2012

Rushdie: Video Protests 'An Ugly Reaction'
BBC – AUDIO: The author Sir Salman Rushdie has said that the protests in Arab capitals against a film which some Muslims say insults Islam is "an ugly reaction that needs to be named as such".

Sir Salman spent more than a decade in hiding under armed protection following a Fatwa in 1989 over his novel The Satanic Verses.

He told Today presenter James Naughtie that the film at the centre of the protests was an "idiotic video... A piece of garbage".

And he added "respect is a code for fear" which is "something we need to overcome".

There is, he explained "no trick to defend stuff you agree with. It's when you have to defend something that you despise and loathe that you realise you believe in freedom of speech.

"We need to insist that the culture of this country is one of open discourse."

At least seven people have died in demonstrations across the Middle East and North Africa over the US-produced film. Listen to the audio here » | Saturday, September 15, 2012

Middle East Protests: Meet the Hardline 'Tele-Islamist' Who Brought Anti-Islam Film to Muslim World's Attention

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The violent protests over a new film insulting Islam has highlighted two conflicting new visions emerging in the post-Arab Spring world

His inflammatory chat show on satellite television has long prided itself on baiting liberals, Christians and Jews, but last week saw Sheikh Khalid Abdullah stage the broadcasting controversy of a lifetime.

The rabble-rousing Egyptian tele-Islamist knew he had found a ratings-grabber when he found an obscure, badly-made film on the internet called the Innocence of Muslims.

It had actually been online since July, but nobody had paid attention to its crude libels against the Prophet Mohammed until Mr Abdullah's show broadcast clips from it last weekend, calling for the film-makers to be executed.

Within hours the hardline Salafi Islamists who watch his programme, and who have been growing in strength since last year's revolution, were demonstrating in Cairo's Tahrir Square and outside the US embassy, which they stormed on Tuesday, burning the US flag.

Thus came the spark to a week of violent protests against the film, leading to the killing of the US ambassador to Libya on Tuesday evening and assaults on Western embassies across the Middle East, leaving at least nine dead and hundreds injured.

Also taking a battering are hopes that the democratic processes unleashed by the Arab Spring might mean that violent, anti-Western feeling was becoming a thing of the past. » | Nick Meo, Cairo and Colin Freeman, additional reporting by Richard Spencer in Cairo and Ruth Sherlock in Beirut | Saturday, September 15, 2012

My comment:

If anyone should be executed, it is he! Islam is totally and utterly incompatible with Western values. All these Muslims should NEVER have been allowed into the West in the first place. Now that they are here, any Muslim/Muslimah who is unwilling to reject this barbaric 'religion' should be sent packing forthwith. Enough already! – © Mark

This comment also appears here

Film anti-islam: manifestation en israël [sic]
LE FIGARO: Des centaines d'Arabes israéliens ont manifesté aujourd'hui dans le nord du pays contre un film islamophobe ayant provoqué des manifestations et des violences à travers le monde musulman, a annoncé la police israélienne. Sa porte-parole Louba Samri a indiqué à l'AFP qu'environ 150 personnes avaient également manifesté à Jérusalem-Est "quasiment sans incident", un manifestant ayant toutefois été arrêté pour avoir causé des troubles à proximité du bâtiment du consulat américain. Selon elle, une centaine de manifestants ont manifesté pacifiquement à Nazareth, la plus grande ville arabe israélienne, et quelque 250 autres dans d'autres villes et villages. » | AFP | samedi 15 septembre 2012

Paris : manifestation devant l'ambassade américaine
LE FIGARO: Une centaines de personnes, présentées comme proches des salafistes et soupçonnées d'avoir pris part à un rassemblement non-déclaré, ont été interpellées. Quelques policiers ont été légèrement blessés.

Alors que des manifestations anti-américaines, parfois meurtrières, se multiplient à travers le monde musulman, une centaine de personnes ont été interpellées à Paris, soupçonnées d'avoir participées à un rassemblement non déclaré près de l'ambassade américaine et du ministère de l'Intérieur. L'un des manifestants, disant simplement s'appeler Mohamed, a affirmé sur BFM-TV que les manifestants dénonçaient, comme dans le monde arabe, le film américain «Innocence of Muslims» (»L'innocence des musulmans»), qui tourne en ridicule Mahomet, le prophète de l'islam.

Selon nos informations, plusieurs dizaines de personnes ont commencé à se réunir vers 15h30 place de la Concorde, a proximité de l'ambassade des États-Unis. Selon une source policière citée par l'AFP, ces hommes, femmes et enfants qui semblent «proches des salafistes» ont «manifesté de manière sauvage aux alentours de l'ambassade des États-Unis et se sont heurtées aux forces de police». «Ils ont été maintenus au niveau des Tuileries. Des petits groupes se sont ensuite éclatés», a indiqué une autre source policière. » | Par lefigaro.fr, AFP, AP, Reuters Agences | samedi 15 septembre 2012

Australian Police Tear Gas Anti-US Demonstrators in Sydney

New Dark Age Alert! Anti-Islam Film Sparks Protests and Violence across the Muslim World
Protests and violence breaks-out across the Middle East, Africa and Asia, as demonstrators take to the streets, enraged by a US-made film that demeaned the Prophet Mohammad. In the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, the German embassy is burned and the British embassy attacked

Auch in Sydney musste bei einer Demonstration von Muslimen die Polizei einschreiten
Die anti-westliche Gewalt radikaler Muslime wegen eines islamfeindlichen Internetvideos hat weltweit Besorgnis ausgelöst. Während die Gewalt in den arabischen Ländern etwas abflaute, brachen in Australien neue Proteste aus.

Zorn von Muslimen kennt keine Grenzen mehr
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Die Anti-USA-Proteste in der arabischen Welt wegen eines islamfeindlichen Videos eskalieren weiter. Auch Einrichtungen von anderen westlichen Ländern werden zur Zielscheibe der Gewalt. Westliche Journalisten getrauen sich oft nicht mehr auf die Strasse.

Nach den Freitagsgebeten kam es in islamischen Ländern von Bangladesch bis Tunesien zu Ausschreitungen. Bei den Zusammenstössen mit Sicherheitskräften gab es vielerorts Tote und Verletzte.

Bei dem Sturm der US-Botschaft in Tunis wurden mindestens drei Menschen getötet. Mindestens 28 Menschen wurden verletzt. Demonstranten hatten aus Wut über einen in den USA produzierten islamfeindlichen Film die Vertretung in der tunesischen Hauptstadt angegriffen.

In der sudanesischen Hauptstadt Khartum stürmten aufgebrachte Demonstranten die deutsche Botschaft. Die Demonstranten warfen bei der Botschaft Fensterscheiben ein und legten vor dem Haupttor Feuer. Bei Protesten vor der US-Botschaft wurden zwei Menschen getötet, als die Polizei die wütende Menge zurückdrängte. » | agenturen/fref;koua | Freitag, 14. September 2012

Florida Muslim Group Wants to Educate Community about Prophet Mohammed
WUFT NEWS: One of the largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organizations in the United States launched an online education program this week to shine a more accurate light on the Prophet Mohammed.

This program is in response to the recent global backlash of the controversial and anti-Muslim film, “Innocence of Muslims.”

“We are taught in Islam to meet evil with good; the makers of this barbaric film, ‘Innocence of Muslims,’ may have intended to insult Muslims and degrade our beliefs, but they failed miserably,” said Nezar Hamze, the executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations located in South Florida, in a press release on Thursday. “Interesting enough, hundreds of people in Florida have reached out and they want to know about the Prophet Mohammed now. We will provide educational materials and credible academia sources.”

Such resources include the 1977 film “The Message.”

“The film is old; however, the producers and directors respected the limits of the Islamic faith and still educated the viewing audience,” the press release stated.

CAIR-FL, the Florida branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also released an audio narration of the “Prophetic Timeline,” an interactive timeline of the Prophet Mohammed’s life.

Their goal is to educate the American community on the history of the Prophet Mohammed. » | Sami Main | Friday, September 14, 2012