Tens of thousands of Muslims demonstrated on Friday, October 30, in Pakistan, Bangladesh and even in the Palestinian territories to protest against the support of French President Emmanuel Macron for the freedom to caricature the Prophet Muhammad.
In Bangladesh, the main demonstration took place in the capital, Dhaka, the second largest in five days against France. Police counted 12,000 participants, independent observers and organizers reported more than 40,000. Smaller gatherings were held outside hundreds of mosques in the city.
“We are all soldiers of the Prophet Muhammad”chanted the demonstrators who began to march out of the weekly Friday prayer at the Baitul Mukarram mosque in the capital, the largest in the country. They renewed their calls to boycott French products and to ” to punish “ Mr. Macron, already launched Monday during a demonstration which brought together more than 40,000 people in Dhaka and after which security was reinforced around the French embassy.
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“France insults two billion Muslims in the world”, denounce the Bangladeshi demonstrators
Protesters burned French flags and an effigy of Mr. Macron. “France insults two billion Muslims in the world. President Macron must apologize for his crimes ”, launched Gazi Ataur Rahman, a senior official of Islami Andolan Bangladesh (IAB), one of the main Bangladeshi Islamist parties that called for a protest.
They speak out against the support given by Mr. Macron for the freedom to caricature on the occasion of a tribute to Samuel Paty, the French teacher assassinated on October 16 during an Islamist attack for showing in class cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a free speech class. These parties also criticize comments by Mr. Macron, who believed in early October that Islam is ” in crisis “.
Mr. Macron’s statements on the freedom to caricature have led to heightened tensions in several Muslim countries, ranging from demonstrations to boycotting French products.
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March ends in violence in Pakistan
In Pakistan, some 2,000 people protested in Islamabad, where the march ended in violence, as protesters threw stones at the police, who responded with tear gas jets.
Religious groups, students and other small traders, walked towards the French embassy screaming “Expel the French dog” or “Behead the blasphemer”. Protesters pushed containers that had been dropped off by authorities to block streets leading to the diplomatic enclave, but were prevented from reaching the French representation by further barricades.
About 10,000 people marched in Karachi (South), Pakistan’s largest city, after Friday prayers. The procession was originally supposed to mark the prophet’s birthday, but it was charged with strong anti-French anger. Blasphemy is an inflammatory issue in Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of offending Islam can result in assassinations and lynchings.
Small protests also took place in neighboring Afghanistan. The biggest rally was held in Herat, in the west, where thousands of people shouted “Death to France! Death to Macron! “.
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Large demonstration at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
In Lebanon, security forces also fired tear gas to disperse some 300 demonstrators, including supporters of a local Sunni Islamist party who marched towards the official residence of the French ambassador in Beirut.
Thousands of Palestinian worshipers gathered after Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, in the old walled city of Jerusalem, to condemn the new publication of the Muhammad cartoons in France. “A nation whose leader is Mohammed will not be defeated”, chanted the demonstrators.
In Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinians stomped on a large French flag and burned other French flags. In Gaza, ruled by Hamas, hundreds of Palestinians took part in anti-French rallies, chanting: “With our souls and our blood we will redeem the Prophet”.
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Photos of Emmanuel Macron trampled in India
In Somalia, during the Friday prayers attended by thousands of people, the sermons were dominated by curses against Emmanuel Macron and the French government.
The Muslim minority in India, a country whose Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi has supported Mr Macron, has also called for a boycott of French goods. Several hundred people demonstrated in the city of Bhopal (in the center of the country), while in Srinagar, the main city of the troubled region of Indian Kashmir, about twenty-five people defied the ban on demonstrations to expand by land in the street photos of Mr. Macron and walk over them before dispersing.
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MMA star Nurmagomedov calls Macron ‘junk’
In Russia, the lightweight mixed martial arts (MMA) world champion Khabib Nurmagomedov attacked the French president and his “Disciples” who defended the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Originally from Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim republic in Russia, Khabib Nurmagomedov posted on his Instagram account, followed by 25 million people, a photograph of the French leader with a shoe print drawn on his face.
“May the Almighty disfigure this filth and all his followers who in the name of freedom of expression insult the faith of more than a billion and a half Muslims”, wrote the sportsman, in a message in Russian and Arabic.
