Muslims in Copenhagen Protest Reprinting of Danish Cartoons

Saturday, 16 February 2008 BBC

Hundreds of Danish Muslims have been demonstrating in Copenhagen against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad they consider offensive.

The cartoon depicts the Prophet with a bomb in his turban.

All major Danish newspapers decided to republish it after Danish intelligence said it had uncovered a plot to kill one of the cartoonists.

Protestors marched in the capital’s streets shouting “God is Great!” and “Freedom of speech is like a plague!”.

Many carried the black and white flags of Hizb ut-Tahrir – the radical Islamic party that calls for the creation of a caliphate.

Earlier, at Friday prayers, Danish Muslims from many backgrounds expressed frustration that one of the cartoons they find so offensive could have been printed again.

Weary resignation

Many said they simply could not understand the motive unless it was hatred for Islam.

But the overwhelming mood was not so much anger but weary resignation; a sense that they have been through this crisis once before and nothing has been learnt.

Some Danish Muslims said they felt the problem was not the Danish people who were, if not well informed about Islam, at least generally liberal.

Instead, they pointed the finger of blame at the Danish media, saying it had stirred controversy instead of trying to help mend community relations.

On Tuesday, Denmark’s Security and Intelligence Service said it had uncovered a plot by three Muslims in Denmark to kill one of the cartoonists.

Two of the men, who are not Danish citizens, are due to be expelled to Tunisia rather than put on trial.

Many Danish Muslims criticised this decision, saying it would be better to examine the evidence and punish the men if they were really guilty.

Muslims in Copenhagen Protest Reprinting of Danish Cartoons

Bloomberg

By Christian Wienberg and Tasneem Brogger

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Muslims staged a demonstration in Copenhagen to protest the reprinting in Danish newspapers of cartoons that depict the Prophet Muhammad.

The event, arranged by the Danish branch of an Islamist organization, Hizb ut-Tahrir, took place today in the Noerrebro district. Danish television channel TV2 said some 1,500 people participated.

Hizb ut-Tahrir staged the demonstration to protest “the hateful insults against the Prophet Muhammad,” the organization said on its Web site.

Denmark’s three biggest newspapers, and about a dozen regional ones, on Feb. 13 reprinted an image of Muhammad by cartoonist Kurt Westergaard, whom police say was the target of a terrorist-related murder plot. The cartoon was one of 12 printed in 2005 by newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which prompted protests in Muslim communities worldwide at the beginning of 2006.

Danish police had arrested three suspects Feb. 12 in the alleged plot to kill Westergaard, 73.

Hundreds of demonstrators participated today in a Hamas- staged rally in the Gaza Strip protesting the caricatures, Agence France-Presse reported.

Youths also rallied today in Pakistan and burned a picture of Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark’s prime minister, AFP said. The Danish government repeated a warning to Danes to avoid “unnecessary” trips to Pakistan.