Latest cartoon depicting Prophet Muhammad spawns clashes; 4 dead
KARACHI, Pakistan – Muslim anger flared over a French satirical weekly’s latest caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, with four people reported killed and dozens injured at a protest Friday in the West African country of Niger, and violent clashes between demonstrators and police in Pakistan, Jordan and Algeria.
Supporters say the cartoon on the cover of Charlie Hebdo is a defiant expression of free speech following a terrorist attack on the publication’s Paris offices that killed 12 people Jan. 7, but many Muslims viewed it as another attack on their religion.
The new issue has a drawing of Muhammad with a tear rolling down his cheek and a placard that reads “Je Suis Charlie” – a saying that has swept France and the world since the killings. The depiction of the prophet is deemed insulting to many followers of Islam.
A French cultural center was set ablaze by protesters in the town of Zinder in southern Niger, and one security officer and three demonstrators were killed in the melee, Interior Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou said. Another 20 security officers and 23 civilians were injured, he said.
The government of Niger, a former French colony, has banned the sale of Charlie Hebdo.
Many of the protests across the Muslim world began after midday prayers Friday, Islam’s holy day.
Demonstrations were held in the Pakistani cities of Karachi, Lahore and the capital of Islamabad.
Clashes erupted in Karachi when protesters started heading toward the French consulate, throwing stones at police, who pushed them back with water cannons and tear gas.
Agence France-Presse photographer Asif Hassan was shot and wounded, said AFP news director Michele Leridon, although “his life does not seem in danger.” AFP said it was trying to find out whether Hassan was targeted or shot accidentally.
Three other people, including two journalists and one police officer, were treated for minor injuries.
Officer Naseer Tanoly said some of the protesters were armed and opened fire on the police, who shot into the air to disperse the crowd. The protesters were mostly students affiliated with the Jamaat-e-Islami political party.
Umair Saeed, an official with the party’s student wing in Karachi, denied the students had weapons and said the police had opened fire.
In a rare protest in the Algerian capital of Algiers, thousands of young men marched to protest the French satirical newspaper. The demonstrators threw bottles and rocks at security forces, who responded with tear gas.
Protesters carried banners saying “I am not Charlie, I am Muhammad” and chanted slogans that date back to a banned Islamist party whose election victory in 1991 precipitated a civil war.
The demonstration, which had a degree of official backing when authorities called for imams to dedicate Friday prayers to the life of the prophet, was unusual for Algiers, where protests have been banned since 2001.