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Muslims protest in London over prophet cartoons

Telegraph, UK
Feb. 4, 2006
www.telegraph.co.uk

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Saturday February 4, 2006

Demonstrators have gathered for a second day in central London to voice their disgust at cartoons satirising the prophet Mohammed.

Hundreds of Muslims chanted and waved placards outside the Danish embassy to demonstrate against the drawings, which have sparked worldwide anger.

Fences and a row of police prevented the protesters from getting too close to the embassy building.

One speaker told the crowd they were demanding an end to “vilification”.

“If you want to debate and criticise then we are ready and we have been waiting, but we are not going to accept these images,” he said.

He called on “the governments of the Muslim world to completely sever all contact with European governments” until they had “controlled the media”.

The controversial cartoons first appeared in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September, but have since been republished and broadcast across the continent.

The drawings include one depicting Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. Another shows him saying that paradise was running out of virgins.

The cartoons have caused outrage across the Muslim community because Islamic tradition bars any depiction of the prophet to prevent idolatry.

The protesters began dispersing early this afternoon. A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police estimated the crowd at between 500 and 700, although onlookers believed it could have been up to 1,000.

The rally was more restrained than scenes yesterday, when protestors called for more atrocities like the July 7 bombings and burned the Danish flag.