Saturday 13 February 2010

Prophet Cartoon Demo in Oslo: "Stop Denigrating Muslims"

Almanar

13/02/2010 Nearly 3,000 Muslims took to the streets in Oslo Friday after a Norwegian newspaper published an insulting cartoon of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), police told AFP.

Demonstrators held up signs reading "We are Muslims, not terrorists" and "Stop denigrating Muslims".

The Dagbladet tabloid printed on February 3 an affronting cartoon of the holy Prophet (pbuh).

The drawing was to illustrate an article about the Facebook page of the Norwegian police security service (PST) that contains a link to the cartoon.

The link was posted on the Facebook page by a user but removed, along with other comments deemed offensive, as soon as the police service became aware of it.

Norway's main Muslim associations had told their members not to take part in the protest.

"According to our estimates, there were up to 3,000 protesters.

Everything went well. The crowd dispersed and nothing indicates there will be trouble," police spokeswoman Kari Huseby said.

Over the past few days, taxi drivers in Oslo temporarily walked off the job to protest the printing of the drawing.

The insulting cartoons of Prophet Mohammed have sparked a debate about whether freedom of speech can violate the freedom of belief of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.


River to Sea
 Uprooted Palestinian

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