100,000 Muslims to vent anger in London at cartoon protest

By Nick Britten
(Filed: 09/02/2006)

A mass demonstration of 100,000 Muslims will take place in London next weekend as anger continues over publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The Muslim Action Committee, an umbrella group which claims to represent more than a million Muslims, said it would do as much as it could to prevent the ugly scenes seen last week when protesters carried placards issuing death threats and one man dressed as a suicide bomber.


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Members of the Muslim Action
Committee meet in Birmingham

But they said they needed to "channel" growing anger felt by communities across Britain that Muslims were being persecuted and made to feel like "second class citizens".

Faiz Saddiqi, the committee convener, said: "It is a peaceful protest. We will not let it be hijacked by the fringe elements.

"It is a way of showing the depth of anger that Muslim communities feel about being continually insulted by the publication of these images."

The march, on Feb 18, will go from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park. Mr Saddiqi said that only banners and placards issued by the committee would be allowed.

It will be the fifth demonstration in three weeks. Around 3,000 members from Britain's Shia Muslim community will congregate in London today for the Ashura Festival, while several thousand Muslims are expected in London on Saturday for a rally. The Metropolitan Police will patrol the events as normal but said they "had plans" in place should trouble break out.

The Muslim Action Committee was convened specifically to co-ordinate a response to the growing crisis over the publication, initially in Denmark, of cartoons depicting Mohammed, which have led to worldwide protests.

Mr Saddiqi said they wanted to make clear that their fight was not a political one, but a religious one.

He said: "The whole thing is beginning to gain momentum and we felt we had to get together not only to appeal for calm but also to channel people's feelings."

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חתימתכם הוסרה כיוון שלא עמדה בחוקי האתר. לפרטים נוספים לחצו כאן. תוכלו לקבל עזרה להתאמת החתימה לחוקים בפורום חתימות וצלמיות.

כלומר, ברור שעדיף היה אילו היתה זו דת שלווה ושוחרת שלום אבל בהתחשב באופייה המסוכן של הדת, עדיף מנהיגים כמו אחמדיניג'אד והפגנות של מאה אלף מוסלמים בלונדון על מנת להקיץ את הישנים.

Timeline: how the cartoon outcry spread

(Filed: 06/02/2006)

The row over the Danish cartoons about Islam, which many Muslims consider to be blasphemous, became global in January 2006. However, the cartoons themselves were published several months earlier and attracted little comment outside Denmark. What follows is a timeline explaining how the row expanded.

Sept 2005: Danish newspaper Politiken runs an article about a writer who has difficulty finding an illustrator for his book about the life of Mohammed. Eventually he finds an artist who helps him anonymously and begins a debate on self censorship.


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The cartoons sparked demonstrations worldwide

In response, the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten publishes an article called The Face of Mohammed, featuring 12 caricatures after inviting artists to give their interpretation on how Mohammed may have looked. The cartoons were published on September 30.

Oct 27: Police receive complaints from Muslim organisations about the cartoons and launch an investigation

Nov 4: Thousands of Muslims take to the streets in protest at the caricatures in Jyllands-Posten. The newspaper receives death threats and two of its cartoonists are forced into hiding

Jan 6, 2006: The Danish public prosecutor discontinues the investigation

Jan 10: Some of the cartoons are reprinted in the Norwegian Christian newspaper Magazinet, and newspapers in Europe start to reprint the cartoons including Die Welt in Germany, Italy's La Stampa and Corriere della Sera, and El Periodico and ABC in Spain

Jan 31: The Jyllands-Posten apologises to Muslims after provoking fury in the Arab world and there are street protests, threats to Scandinavians in the Palestinian territories and a boycott of Danish goods, including Lego.

The offices of Jyllands-Posten have to be evacuated after a bomb threat is received

Feb 1: French newspaper France Soir reprints the 12 Danish cartoons sparking more outrage in the Muslim world.

Muslim leaders urge British newspapers and broadcasters not to follow their European counterparts by publishing "sacrilegious" cartoons depicting Mohammed

Feb 2: Palestinian gunmen surround European Union offices in the Gaza Strip in protest at the caricatures. Around a dozen gunmen from the militant group Islamic Jihad, and an armed faction of Fatah known as the Yasser Arafat brigades, threaten violence and demand an apology for the cartoons.

French journalists rally to the cause of the newspaper France Soir, whose managing editor is sacked for reprinting the Danish cartoons

Feb 4: Demonstrators in Syria storm the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus and set them alight.

In London, a crowd of 1,000 Muslims clutching orange placards demonstrate outside the Danish embassy - two dressed as suicide bombers

Feb 5: At least five people are killed as demonstrations against the cartoons sweep across the Middle East.

Feb 6: Omar Bakri Mohammed, the radical Muslim cleric, says the cartoonist behind caricatures should be tried and executed under Islamic law

Feb 7: Omar Khayam, the 22-year-old protestor who dressed as a suicide bomber, is revealed to have a conviction for drug dealing. He is later returned to prison for breaching the terms of his licence.




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...utimeline06.xml

חתימתכם הוסרה כיוון שלא עמדה בחוקי האתר. לפרטים נוספים לחצו כאן. תוכלו לקבל עזרה להתאמת החתימה לחוקים בפורום חתימות וצלמיות.