Posted on 02/19/2006 8:07:38 AM PST by janetjanet998
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Hundreds of Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad tried to storm the U.S. Embassy on Sunday, smashing the windows of a guard post but failing to push through the gates. Several people were injured.
Pakistani security forces, meanwhile, sealed off the capital of Islamabad to block a planned mass demonstration and fired tear gas and gunshots to chase off protesters. In Turkey, tens of thousands gathered in Istanbul chanting slogans against Denmark, Israel and the United States.
Protests over the cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have been republished in other European publications and elsewhere, have swept across the Muslim world, growing into mass outlets for rage against the West in general, and Israel and the United States in particular.
Christians also have become targets. Pakistani Muslims protesting in the southern city of Sukkur ransacked and burned a church Sunday after hearing accusations that a Christian man had burned pages of the Quran, Islam's holy book.
That incident came a day after Muslims protesting in the Nigerian city of Maiduguri attacked Christians and burned 15 churches in a three-hour rampage that killed at least 15 people. Some 30 other people have died during protests over the cartoons that erupted about three weeks ago.
In Jakarta, about 400 people marched to the heavily fortified U.S. mission in the center of the city, behind a banner reading "We are ready to attack the enemies of the Prophet."
Protesters throwing stones and brandishing wooden staves tried to break through the gates. They set fire to U.S. flags and a poster of President Bush and smashed the windows of a guard outpost before dispersing after a few minutes.
The U.S. Embassy called the attacks deplorable, describing them as acts of "thuggery."
A protest organizer said the West, and particularly the United States, is attacking Islam.
"They want to destroy Islam through the issue of terrorism ... and all those things are engineered by the United States," said Maksuni, who only uses one name.
"We are fighting America fiercely this time," he said. "And we also are fighting Denmark."
In Pakistan, where protests last week left five people dead, police put up roadblocks around Islamabad to keep people from entering the capital for a planned mass protest called by a coalition of six hard-line Islamic parties, the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal — United Action Forum.
Authorities also detained several lawmakers and Islamic leaders during raids in three cities and announced they would arrest anyone joining a gathering of more than five people to prevent the demonstration.
Opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a senior figure in the Islamic coalition, was eventually given permission to lead a small rally through a square in the city center. The protesters chanted "God is great!" and "Any friend of America is a traitor."
But when about 100 other protesters tried to reach the square, officers fired tear gas and at least one gunshot to chase them off. More gunshots were heard later in the city, but it wasn't clear who fired them. At least two policemen were injured, one bleeding from the head. Several demonstrators also were hurt.
A crowd of 700 people, some throwing stones at police, tried to march toward Islamabad's heavily guarded diplomatic enclave about 1.3 miles from the square but with blocked by troops in armored personnel carriers.
Police also blocked about 1,500 protesters from reaching Islamabad from the city of Peshawar by putting shipping containers and sandbags on a bridge along a highway leading to the capital, said Mohammed Iqbal, a key member of the religious alliance.
Elsewhere in Pakistan, about 600 people staged a protest in Chaman, a town near the Afghan border, burning Danish flags and an effigy of the Danish prime minister.
Such protests prompted Denmark on Sunday to temporarily recall its ambassador to Pakistan, Bent Wigotski, because it was impossible for him "to perform his job duties during the present circumstances," the Danish Foreign Ministry said in a statement
"In Turkey, tens of thousands . . . "
Yeah, me too! So, not to worry. A mere pittance. Piece of cake. Just a small smattering of radicals. An isolated instance. It'll blow over in a couple of days. Mainstream Islam will take care of the matter and offer their apologies. Just wait and see. It's a small thing, really. No problo. Islam is a religion of peace and love. Even Condi said so.
Okay, everybody get back to the tank. The danger has passed. Only one shark attacked and it's not hungry anymore.
I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so acerbic. I know President Bush is the President to all people even muslims. It just irritates me that we have an enemy that we are not allowed to call by its name. We must say "musilim extremists" or "islamic militants" and pretend that there is a difference between them and the average muslim. Can you imagine our fathers and grandfathers not being allowed to say that the Germans or the Japanese are the enemy? :0)
I basically agree with you. I just can't understand why Condi said it was a religion of peace AND LOVE! It sounded more like fear and appeasement than good diplomacy.
But they're thinking about it, and cheering those who did. Moos are morons.
1979 must not be repeated....
A great observation! Congrats to that Freeper!
"I want our leaders to get passed the political garbage and acknowledge that fact."
The reason why they won't acknowledge the enemy?
I think it is a combination of fears: fear of islam and fear of not being PC.
Anyone want to go in on having some "Mohammed is THE BOMB" bumper stickers made?
I have to think that if the whole of the western world didn't depend so heavily on oil from the Middle East, this would not be tolerated. The non-Muslim world certainly has the means by which to contain, control and eliminate most of this continuing threat to civilization. I just do not understand why most of our leaders keep trying to appease these rabid extremists.
The cult of cutthroats will be "a religion of peace" when it is laid to its final rest..
If they do, you'll see more mass protests calling America the greatest creator of violence and terrorism in the world for not just letting the riotors storm in and take them hostage. They were just fighting a noble cause after all, making sure the West knows it has no right to attack the Prophet Muhammad. Millions, muslim and non-muslim alike, geing buthered by islamists around the world may not be grounds for these types of demonstrations but political and religous cartoons certainly are.
(I really hope I didn't need a sarcasm tag).
Sometimes when people make such complete a~s of themselves, the best way to fight back is to stand back and let them continue.
As in "Rest in Peace?" I pray you are right!
Marines....open fire!!!!!!!
Why do media morons persist in calling the child molestor a prophet? Whose prophet is he? The prophet of the wacked out moolas and their demented followers?
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