Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Violence at Charlie Hebdo protests
AFP photographer shot
KARACHI: A rally by Pakistani students against a French satirical weekly’s latest publication of a Prophet Muhammad cartoon turned violent yesterday, with police firing warning shots and water cannons to disperse the demonstration. A photographer with the Agence France- Presse was shot and wounded in the melee.
But although there were concerns that rallies against Charlie Hebdo’s new cover depicting the prophet – an act deemed insulting to many followers of Islam – would unravel into violence across the Muslim world, most of the protests elsewhere passed peacefully.
The weekly’s new issue with a drawing of Muhammad, a tear rolling down his cheek and holding a placard that reads “Je Suis Charlie” – a saying that has swept France and the world – was an act of defiance after last week’s terrorist attack at the paper’s Paris office that killed 12 people, including editors, cartoonists and two policemen.
Pakistan has condemned the Paris massacre but many people in the overwhelmingly Muslim country view the magazine’s prophet caricatures as a profound insult.
Protesters took to the streets after midday prayers in the port city of Karachi, the eastern city of Lahore and the capital of Islamabad to denounce the weekly.
In Karachi, clashes erupted when the protesters started heading toward the French consulate.
The protesters began throwing stones at the police, who tried to push them back with water cannons and tear gas.
AFP news director Michele Leridon said photographer Asif Hassan was shot and wounded. He underwent surgery and “his life does not seem in danger”, Leridon said.
It was not clear how Hassan was shot, and AFP said it was now trying to find out whether he was targeted or accidentally shot.
Karachi police officer Naseer Tanoly said some of the protesters were armed and opened fire on the police first.
He said the police fired into the air to disperse the crowd. The protesters were mostly students affiliated with the Jamaat-e-Islami political party.
In Islamabad, about 1 000 people gathered after Friday prayers to condemn the magazine for what they called blasphemous images of the prophet.
The demonstrators carried signs that read “Shame on Charlie Hebdo” and “If you are Charlie, then I am Kouachi” – referring to the brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi who carried out the assault on the weekly and who had told survivors they were sent by al-Qaida in Yemen.
In Lahore, about 800 people rallied against the magazine for a second day. On Thursday, Pakistani lawmakers passed a resolution against cartoons of the prophet and marched outside parliament to protest Charlie Hebdo’s latest cover.
The magazine has invoked freedom of speech to defend its publications of cartoons of the prophet.
In the Jordanian capital, Amman, clashes also erupted after Friday prayers between about 2 000 protesters organised by the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s largest opposition group, and security forces. Riot police used batons to disperse the protesters as they tried to march to the French embassy.
The crowd chanted slogans against Charlie Hebdo and Jor- danian officials for taking part in the Paris unity march.
The Jordanian royal house denounced the latest publication of Charlie Hebdo for its front cover, saying publishing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was “irresponsible and far from the essence of freedom of expression” but King Abdullah and Queen Rania took part in the Paris march in solidarity with the victims of the terror attack. – Sapa-AP