Related
Translate
Previous entry: Global church: South, East & out of control
Next entry: Extended surveillance on Aum sought
Get RNB via RSS
 |
RNB's RSS feed What is this? |
Get RNB via Email
 |
 Subscribe by Email What is this? |
Follow: Twitter
Most Popular
This Week:
- Polygamist Sect Leader Convicted of Sexual Assault
- Jury takes 14 minutes to convict self-proclaimed pot pastor
- Supreme Court upholds cult AUM Shinrikyo members’ death sentences
- Newspaper continues series of exposés of Scientology cult
- Epic Mohammad movie in pipeline
- Coptic Christian Blogger in Egypt Pressured to Convert to Islam in Prison
- Italian judge convicts 23 in CIA kidnapping of Muslim cleric
- Cult leader Warren Jeffs’ attorneys argue sect leader faced wrong charge
- Texas judge limits some records in FLDS trial over polygamy references
- Photos show birthing center at sect’s Texas ranch
Nigerian Miss World show cancelled
More articles on this topic: IslamBBC, Nov. 23, 2002
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
The Miss World contest is moving to London from Nigeria after riots by Muslim youths opposed to the show left more than 100 people dead in the city of Kaduna.
The pageant’s organisers said the show would be held in London on 7 December instead of the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
In Abuja, police say they have regained control of the streets after violent protests spread to the city over the plans to hold the contest there.
Hundreds of Muslim youths went on the rampage following Friday prayers, in an echo of the bloodshed which left at least 100 people dead and 500 injured in Kaduna this week.
Kaduna is now under curfew after three days of violence, but the BBC’s Dan Isaacs reports that isolated clashes continued into the night.
In a statement, the pageant organisers said the change of venue was in the “overall interests of Nigeria and the contestants”.
Pageant publicist Stella Dean added: “The show definitely will go on”.
Appeal for calm
Hours earlier, Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo went on television along with religious leaders to appeal for national calm, blaming a media report, not the contest itself, for the violence.
“It could happen at any time irresponsible journalism is committed against Islam,” he said.
The protests began after a newspaper suggested that the Prophet Mohammed would have probably chosen to marry one of the Miss World contestants if he had witnessed the beauty pageant in Abuja.
The Nigerian Government has assured Muslims that those responsible for the offending article, which appeared in ThisDay newspaper, will be brought to account.
ThisDay has retracted it and has published apologies.
Christians targeted
Police in Abuja made 27 arrests on Friday and at least one policeman was injured during the unrest, along with an unknown number of demonstrators or civilians.
BBC correspondent Haruna Bahago reports that protesters armed with sticks, daggers and knives set fire to vehicles and attacked anyone they suspected of being Christian.
Many people suffered either knife wounds or beatings as the rioters advanced on Abuja’s central market.
Our correspondent was himself surrounded by a group of angry Muslim radicals, who suspected he was Christian, and he had to shout “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) until they let him go.
Our correspondent in Kaduna says the streets are virtually deserted except for army patrols and the scars of the rioting are visible everywhere.
Burnt-out tyres and the shells of cars line the streets, and buildings set alight by the rioters are still smouldering.
Two years ago the city saw more than 2,000 deaths in clashes between Christians and Muslims.
Dogged by controversy
In a BBC interview, Nigerian singing star Femi Kuti backed the opponents of the pageant, although he condemned the religious origin of protests.
“Why are they making Nigeria and Africa divided? We have enough problems,” he told Newshour on the BBC World Service.
The Nigerian Government has assured Muslims that those responsible for the offending article, which appeared in ThisDay newspaper, will be brought to account.
ThisDay has retracted it and has published apologies.
Miss Northern Ireland, Gail Williamson, became the latest contestant to pull out of the contest on Friday. Her mother Olga Simms said she was concerned for her daughter’s safety.
What You Can Do From Here
|
Read More Articles On These Topics
Share, Blog About, Bookmark, or Email This Article
Subscribe
Read Another Article
Previous entry: Global church: South, East & out of control Next entry: Extended surveillance on Aum sought
RNB Homepage with latest headlinesFind Related Information
Find Related Books
|
Share This Article
To share this page simply copy and paste one of these URL's:
