Cartoon Protests In Pakistan Leave 3 Dead

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - Gunfire and rioting erupted Wednesday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in several Pakistani cities during the country's third consecutive day of violent protests over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons. Three people were killed, including an 8-year-old boy.



More than 70,000 people flooded the streets of the northwestern city of Peshawar, said Saeed Wazir, a senior police officer. The massive crowd went on a rampage, torching businesses and fighting police, who struck back with tear gas and batons. A bus terminal operated by South Korea's Sammi Corp. was torched, police said.

Protesters burned a KFC restaurant, three movie theaters and the offices of the main mobile phone company in the country. A Norwegian mobile phone company's offices were also ransacked. Gunfire was heard near the burning KFC, as police tried to clear people from a main street, witnesses said.

An 8-year-old boy died after being struck in the face by a bullet fired by a protester, police officer Shahid Khan said. A 25-year-old man was killed by an electric cable that was snapped by gunfire, said the man's cousin, Jehangir Khan.

At least 45 people were being treated for injuries in Peshawar's two state-run hospitals, Khan and witnesses said.

Paramilitary forces were deployed, and the government announced that schools and colleges would be closed in northwestern Pakistan for one week to protect students from violence. Authorities also announced a ban on rallies in eastern Pakistan for an indefinite period. Most shops, public transport and other businesses were also closed.

Demonstrations around Asia and the Middle East over the cartoons — which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have been reprinted by other Western newspapers — have subsided in recent days, including in Afghanistan, where 11 people died in riots last week.

Many Muslims regard any depiction of the prophet as blasphemous. They reject the newspapers' explanations that the cartoons have news value and represent free speech.

But the protests have gathered momentum in Pakistan this week. Islamic groups and traders' associations have organized shutdowns and street rallies that have descended into violence.

Intelligence officials say members of outlawed Islamic militant groups have joined the protests, and may be inciting violence to undermine the pro-Western government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Hundreds of Afghan refugees joined the protest in Peshawar, the capital of the conservative North West Frontier Province. Many chanted "Death to Denmark!" and "Hang those who drew the insulting cartoons!" Others burned Danish flags and effigies of the Danish prime minister.

Rioting also broke out Wednesday in the northwestern town of Tank, near the South Waziristan tribal region where security officials have said al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters are hiding. Protesters set fire to 30 shops selling CDs, DVDs, and videos, said Attiq Wazir, a local police official. Suspected Islamic militants had warned music shops to close, witnesses said.

One policeman was injured when a protester opened fire to resist arrest.

In the eastern city of Lahore, fighting flared up for the second straight day. A 30-year-old man was shot dead in a clash with police as about 1,500 students staged a rally outside a university, hospital and police officials said.

On Tuesday, thousands of protesters went on a rampage in Lahore, burning Western businesses including McDonald's, KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants. Two people died and police detained 125 people, a police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Violent protests also erupted Tuesday in the capital, Islamabad. More than 1,000 students forced their way into a heavily guarded enclave housing foreign embassies. They damaged cars and a bank building, but were quickly expelled from the area with tear gas and water cannons.

Elsewhere in Asia, hundreds of Muslim protesters ripped apart and burned Danish flags Wednesday in a rally at the Danish honorary consulate in Manila, the Philippines.

In Muslim-majority Malaysia, the government ordered Guang Ming, the country's third largest Chinese-language newspaper, to halt publication of its evening edition for two weeks as punishment for printing a photograph in which the cartoons were visible.

Indonesia's importers association also announced a boycott of Danish goods until the Danish government apologizes for the cartoons.

Denmark's government has refused to apologize, saying it has no influence over its independent media. Numerous countries in the Middle East have called for a boycott of Danish goods, costing Danish businesses more than $1 million a day, analysts and companies said last week.

Courtesy: Yahoo News®

 

hmmm someones insulted our religion, i kno we will kill a few of our fellow religion members, this is stupid, they are like little kids fighting over some cartoons. These cartoons were publish september last year i think and this is still going on, jeez 3 people have died because of a couple of insignicant cartoons that were meant to be a joke

 

Well Mr .Apex those werent just cartoons those cartoons of our Beloved prophet Mohammad SAW..!!!

He is a personallity of all time.. We MUST respect him..

 

Prophet Mohammad S.A.W. is like the first ever and holiest prophet of the muslims... its basically like people drawing cartoons of jesus I guess...

Its been proven time and time again that religion is a touchy topic... best to stay out of it.

 

er.........yea i think the mods should ban topics on religion where they get critisised for havin different beliefs....its stupid, grow up and learn to respect others




dont judge people cos theyre different........dont discriminate them cos theyre different.

grow up nd live with it

 

Sorry my mistake ..

But for the correction of ice man he was the last prophet..

 

WHAT A STUPID ----ING REASON TO CAUSE ALOT OF VIOLENCE, GROW THE ---- UP.
Thats all i have to say to the people rioting. It's a cartoon get over it, why don't you go concentrate your efforts on womens rights in islamic countries, oh.
Oh and boycotting danish products or attacking danish people is just stupid. It was one person, not a whole country. If the western world boycotted an islamic countries product because one person in the country did something that angered the people in the western country there would be outrage from the islamic nations, the westerners would be made out to be islamaphobic.

 

u guys are way over reacting it was a non muslim who made these cartoons u are just proving certain people right about your religion. Why do u care this is really pathetic, im not racist, im not anti muslims, i couldnt really care wat u are as long as u dont bother me but all these storys about our beloved allah why do u care. Just ignore the people that drew these and get on with life, instead you are killing fathers sons mothers daughter and friends

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i agree

 

This is a GFX community better leave politics to another forum...

 

well this is wat general discussion is for

 

God this is stupid, How many times have people insulted Christianity, Hinduism, And plenty of other religions, They all didnt protest, But this onlly little cartoon made by A MUSLIM! So they take to the streets and kill people
They all need to grow the f--k up

 

I agree also...although it may be controversial...and WRONG..i mean come on..

Its Prophet Muhammad with a Bomb as a turban...thats a little too racist...

I'm a Muslim..and when I saw the picture..I got pretty pissed...but I didn't go ranting about it and go killing people...

It just sucks how people think racism is a joke..

 

rasism is taught, u dont just wake up one day and ur rasist, rasism is wrong and allway will be, white people black people and any other people, ther is no difference. Im afraid religion is the biggest problem in the world

 

Yes i can see why some people would be pissed, but there is absolutely not point in killing people. Im surprised people are still rioting, wtf is wrong with them.

 

god... there just cartoons get over it you homo's!