Macron rage
Islam ’toon protests go global
Emmanuel Macron’s defense of Prophet Muhammad cartoons has sparked intense global outrage — with Muslims likening the French president to the devil and burning his photo in the streets.
About 10,000 Muslims rallied in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, on Tuesday, holding signs reading, “#Boycott boycott! #France” and a poster of Macron with shoes tied around his neck — a sign of disrespect. Some also carried portraits of Macron with an “X” on his face.
Meanwhile, Vatan-e Emrooz, a hard-line newspaper in Iran, portrayed Macron as the devil and called him Satan in a cartoon on its front page Tuesday.
Other protests have been held in recent days in Iraq,
Turkey, the Gaza Strip and in opposition areas of northwestern Syria controlled by Turkey-backed rebels. Protesters in the West Bank burned photos of Macron.
The fierce backlash is in response to Macron’s comments last week at a memorial for Samuel Paty, the 47year-old history teacher who was publicly beheaded in a Paris suburb on Oct. 16 for showing caricatures of Muhammad in class.
His attacker, Chechen refugee Abdoulakh Anzorov, wanted to “humiliate and strike” Paty over the perceived insult, prosecutors said.
“We won’t renounce the caricatures,” Macron said.
He pledged to fight “Islamist separatism,” saying it was threatening to take over some Muslim communities in France.
Macron’s response also triggered outrage from Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who said Macron needs “some sort of mental treatment.”
“What is Macron’s problem with Islam?” Erdogan said Saturday.
France has allowed displays of the cartoons, which are considered blasphemous by Muslims.