One dies in Afghanistan protest over Quran burning

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Sep 10, 2010,

KABUL: At least one demonstrator was killed Friday in northeastern Afghanistan at a protest against a Christian minister’s plan to burn Qurans in the US, the provincial government said.

Afghan police opened fire on demonstrators outside a German army camp in Faizabad when they began to throw stones at the camp, said Mohammad Amin Sohail, a spokesman for the government of Badakhshan province.

Five protesters were wounded as were five police officers, he said.

Provincial police chief Agha Noor Kentooz said the demonstrators were dispersed, but he would not confirm the death for the time being.

Sohail said several hundred protesters assembled outside a mosque in Faizabad after prayers for Eid-ul-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. They marched through the provincial capital, their numbers swelling to 5,000 to 10,000 people, until they reached the German camp, whose outskirts are protected by Afghan police, he said.

Protester Maulavi Mohammad Ismail said the demonstration had proceeded smoothly until young people began to throw rocks.

The protesters chanted « Death to America« , « Death to the enemies of Islam » and « The Holy Quran is our law ».

The protest was held a day after Terry Jones, the minister of a small Christian congregation in Florida, said he would call off his plan to burn copies of the Quran Saturday to mark the Sep 11, 2001, terrorist attack. Later in the day, however, he said he might reconsider his decision to call off the event.

His announcement that the burning was called off came after what he claimed was a deal to relocate an Islamic centre near the former site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the 2001 suicide hijackings. But officials with the center in New York denied there was an agreement to move the construction site.

Jones’ plan has drawn international criticism and demands that he not go through with it. General David Petraeus, the top US military commander in Afghanistan, warned it could harm US soldiers. US President Barack Obama called it a « recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida ».

Quran Burning Protests Erupt in Afghanistan

VOA News

10 09 2010

Thousands of people across Afghanistan took to the streets Friday to protest a U.S. pastor’s threats to burn copies of the Quran.

One man was shot and killed outside a NATO base in the city of Fayzabad in northern Badakhshan province.

Security officials say clashes took place when protesters poured into the streets after traditional prayers marking the start of the Muslim holiday Eid-al-Fitr.  Authorities say some of the protesters broke off to hurl rocks at the NATO base stationed there, prompting clashes with security forces who rushed in to quell the violence.

During a message to mark the start of Eid-al-Fitr, President Hamid Karzai criticized the U.S. pastor’s threats to burn the Quran, saying the Quran cannot be harmed because it is in the hearts and minds of all Muslims.

In neighboring Pakistan, hundreds of people in the central city of Multan demonstrated against threats to burn the Quran.  Some burned American flags.

The pastor of the small Florida church at the center of the controversy, Reverend Terry Jones, had originally planned to burn hundreds of copies of the Quran on Saturday to coincide with the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States.  He announced Thursday he was suspending the protest, but has not cancelled it outright.  He is seeking a meeting in New York City with the iman behind a proposed Islamic center in there near the site where the World Trade Center once stood.

The pastor’s plans have created an international firestorm and prompted top political figures, including President Barack Obama, and religious leaders to issue statements condemning the plans.

The pastor has been repeatedly warned that the burning copies of the Quran could
provoke a backlash of anger and violence and put U.S. soldiers’ lives in danger.

11 Afghans Injured as Thousands Gather in Anti-Koran-Burning Protests

Associated Press

September 10, 2010

KABUL, Thousands of Afghans are protesting a small American church’s plan to burn the Muslim holy book. At least 11 people have been injured.

Police in the northern province of Badakhshan say several hundred demonstrators ran toward a NATO compound where four attackers and five police were injured in clashes. Protesters also burned an American flag at a mosque after Friday prayers.

In western Farah province, police said two people were injured in another protest.

Police say initial reports that someone was killed were wrong.

The Rev. Terry Jones from the Dove Outreach Center in Florida triggered outrage when he promised to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

He canceled the plans Thursday but then said he was reconsidering.

Afghan protesters attack US-led base

Presstv.ir

Fri Sep 10, 2010

Thousands of protesters have attacked a US-led NATO base in northeastern Afghanistan to condemn a Florida-based churches plan to burn the holy Quran.

Thousands of people took to streets in Faizabad town, capital of Badakhshan Province, On Friday to hold an anti-US demonstration.

They were chanting slogans against the United States and hurled stones to show their anger over a plan by a Florida evangelical church to set fire to hundreds of copies of the Muslim holy book, Press TV correspondent reported.

The demonstrations began after Eid al-Fitr prayers marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Terry Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, was planning to burn the holy Quran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

He however, retracted from his decision after the infuriated international community condemned the blasphemous plan.

US President Barack Obama condemned the plan, branding it as « destructive and dangerous. »

« If he [Terry Jones] is listening, I hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans, that this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance, » Obama said in an interview broadcast Thursday on ABC’s Good Morning America program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Thursday slammed the plan to burn the Quran, warning of the response of the Muslim world and the followers of other religions.

« The US officials should carry out their duties to guarantee the basic right of American Muslims and prevent the promotion of such offensive acts, » Mottaki said.

Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, earlier urged Obama to personally intervene and to stop the plan to burn Quran.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said, « Anyone who even thought of such a despicable act must be suffering from a diseased mind and a sickly soul. It will inflame sentiments among Muslims throughout the world and cause irreparable damage to interfaith harmony and also to world peace. »

India has also called on the US authorities to take « strong action » and prevent the event.

A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday that « we strongly condemn any kind of attempt of this kind. »

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon slammed the plan saying, « Such actions cannot be condoned by any religion. »

Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Pakistan, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the NATO have also condemned the plan.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 10 septembre 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, riots