| Cartoons spark `global crisis' 4 more die in Afghanistan shootout 12 cartoonists reportedly in hiding DANIEL COONEY -- ASSOCIATED PRESS February 8 2006 |
International peacekeepers exchanged gunfire yesterday with Afghans protesting in a remote northern city against caricatures of
the Prophet Muhammad, leaving four demonstrators dead and forcing NATO to send in reinforcements.
Cartoon protests around the globe
Violence erupted in at least six cities in Afghanistan, where seven people have died in the past two days of bloody unrest.
As demonstrations rumbled on around the Muslim world, the political repercussions deepened, with Iran suspending all trade and
economic ties with Denmark, where the drawings were first published in Jyllands-Posten last September.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the situation "a global crisis" and appealed for calm. The 12 cartoonists
whose work touched off the firestorm were reported to be in hiding, frightened, and under police guard.
In a new turn, a prominent Iranian newspaper, Hamshahri, invited artists to enter a Holocaust cartoon competition, saying it wanted
to see if freedom of expression — the banner under which many western publications reprinted the Prophet drawings — also
applied to Holocaust images.
The European Union, in turn, warned Iran that attempts to boycott Danish goods or cancel trade contracts with European countries
would lead to a further deterioration in relations already strained by concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
Violence has escalated sharply in Afghanistan this week. Protests, sometimes involving armed men, have been directed at a slew of
foreign and Afghan government targets — reinforcing suspicions there's more to the unrest than offence to religious sensitivities.
"It's an incredibly emotive issue. This is something that really upset Afghans," said Joanna Nathan, senior Afghanistan analyst at the
International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based research institute. "But it is also being used to agitate and motivate the crowds by
those against the government and foreign forces being here."
Yesterday, protestors armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the NATO base in the remote northern city of Maymana, which
is manned by peacekeepers from Norway, Finland, Latvia and Sweden.
Four protestors were shot dead by Afghan and Norwegian forces and 22 others were wounded, said provincial deputy police chief
Sayed Aslam Ziaratia. Five Norwegian troops were injured.
Provincial Governor Mohammed Latif said he suspected Al Qaeda may have had a hand in the riot. Two men from eastern
Afghanistan were arrested during the protest, he said, and were being interrogated to see whether they were militants.
"The violence today looked like a massive uprising. It was very unusual," Latif said.
On Monday, some 2,000 protestors tried to storm the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan, at Bagram, north of Kabul. Police shot
dead two protestors. Two more were shot by police in the central city of Mihtarlam.
The unrest in Maymana yesterday forced NATO to send 150 British troops to help secure the besieged base, while two American A-
10 attack aircraft were also flown to the city. The UN evacuated non-essential staff.
Muslim crowds have attacked Danish diplomatic buildings in various countries — and yesterday, Danes were advised to leave
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, after rowdy protests in at least four cities.
An aid group that provides food to tens of thousands of people in war-ravaged Chechnya suspended its operations after Chechen
officials banned all Danish organizations.
In Copenhagen, Fogh Rasmussen — accusing "radicals, extremists and fanatics" of fanning the flames of Muslim wrath to "push
forward their own agenda" — repeated a call for dialogue. But he showed no sign of diverting from his government's stance that it
can't apologize for actions taken by an independent newspaper, as demanded by governments in several Muslim countries.
Yesterday saw the biggest protest yet in Pakistan, where 5,000 people chanted, "Hang the man who insulted the Prophet," and
burned effigies of a cartoonist and Fogh Rasmussen.
Thousands of Egyptians and Jordanians also demonstrated peacefully, calling for a boycott of Danish products and the cutting of
ties with Copenhagen.
In India's portion of disputed Kashmir, police fired tear gas to disperse protestors. At least eight people were injured.
the Prophet Muhammad, leaving four demonstrators dead and forcing NATO to send in reinforcements.
Cartoon protests around the globe
Violence erupted in at least six cities in Afghanistan, where seven people have died in the past two days of bloody unrest.
As demonstrations rumbled on around the Muslim world, the political repercussions deepened, with Iran suspending all trade and
economic ties with Denmark, where the drawings were first published in Jyllands-Posten last September.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the situation "a global crisis" and appealed for calm. The 12 cartoonists
whose work touched off the firestorm were reported to be in hiding, frightened, and under police guard.
In a new turn, a prominent Iranian newspaper, Hamshahri, invited artists to enter a Holocaust cartoon competition, saying it wanted
to see if freedom of expression — the banner under which many western publications reprinted the Prophet drawings — also
applied to Holocaust images.
The European Union, in turn, warned Iran that attempts to boycott Danish goods or cancel trade contracts with European countries
would lead to a further deterioration in relations already strained by concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
Violence has escalated sharply in Afghanistan this week. Protests, sometimes involving armed men, have been directed at a slew of
foreign and Afghan government targets — reinforcing suspicions there's more to the unrest than offence to religious sensitivities.
"It's an incredibly emotive issue. This is something that really upset Afghans," said Joanna Nathan, senior Afghanistan analyst at the
International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based research institute. "But it is also being used to agitate and motivate the crowds by
those against the government and foreign forces being here."
Yesterday, protestors armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the NATO base in the remote northern city of Maymana, which
is manned by peacekeepers from Norway, Finland, Latvia and Sweden.
Four protestors were shot dead by Afghan and Norwegian forces and 22 others were wounded, said provincial deputy police chief
Sayed Aslam Ziaratia. Five Norwegian troops were injured.
Provincial Governor Mohammed Latif said he suspected Al Qaeda may have had a hand in the riot. Two men from eastern
Afghanistan were arrested during the protest, he said, and were being interrogated to see whether they were militants.
"The violence today looked like a massive uprising. It was very unusual," Latif said.
On Monday, some 2,000 protestors tried to storm the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan, at Bagram, north of Kabul. Police shot
dead two protestors. Two more were shot by police in the central city of Mihtarlam.
The unrest in Maymana yesterday forced NATO to send 150 British troops to help secure the besieged base, while two American A-
10 attack aircraft were also flown to the city. The UN evacuated non-essential staff.
Muslim crowds have attacked Danish diplomatic buildings in various countries — and yesterday, Danes were advised to leave
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, after rowdy protests in at least four cities.
An aid group that provides food to tens of thousands of people in war-ravaged Chechnya suspended its operations after Chechen
officials banned all Danish organizations.
In Copenhagen, Fogh Rasmussen — accusing "radicals, extremists and fanatics" of fanning the flames of Muslim wrath to "push
forward their own agenda" — repeated a call for dialogue. But he showed no sign of diverting from his government's stance that it
can't apologize for actions taken by an independent newspaper, as demanded by governments in several Muslim countries.
Yesterday saw the biggest protest yet in Pakistan, where 5,000 people chanted, "Hang the man who insulted the Prophet," and
burned effigies of a cartoonist and Fogh Rasmussen.
Thousands of Egyptians and Jordanians also demonstrated peacefully, calling for a boycott of Danish products and the cutting of
ties with Copenhagen.
In India's portion of disputed Kashmir, police fired tear gas to disperse protestors. At least eight people were injured.
