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10.45am
Two killed in Afghanistan cartoons protest Staff and agencies Wednesday February 8, 2006 Two demonstrators were killed in Afghanistan today as violent protests against the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad continued. Ten protesters were also injured when police fired shots into a crowd in the southern city of Qalat, Ahmad Khan, a doctor at the city's main hospital, said. The police chief, Abdul Bari, said the security forces had opened fire in an effort to prevent demonstrators from marching on a US military base in the city. However, they found another way to the base's outer walls, where they set fire to three fuel tankers, Kadir Aghar, a witness, said. At least 10 people have been killed during four days of violent protests since the cartoons - originally published in a Danish newspaper - were reprinted in a number of newspapers around the world. Afghanistan's most powerful Islamic organisation, the Ulama Council, today called for an end to the rioting. "This must stop," Mohammed Usman, a senior cleric, said. "We condemn the cartoons, but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam." Meanwhile, one of Britain's most senior Muslim police officers today defended the handling of last week's London demonstration against the cartoons. Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei described the decision not to immediately arrest Muslims carrying placards appearing to incite the killing of those who printed the images as "smart policing". "We do not simply police to appease public opinion," Ch Supt Dizaei, of the National Black Police Association, told the BBC's Today programme. "We police because we owe a duty of care to the wider community. "The main objective of policing any public order event is to preserve life and property, and what happened over the weekend achieved that aim entirely. It is about smart policing." Ch Supt Dizaei said police had gathered intelligence at the demonstration, which took place outside the Danish embassy on Friday, and could make arrests at any time. Muslim scholars were gathering for an international conference to discuss the cartoon images of the prophet - forbidden under Islamic law - in Birmingham today, with representatives of more than 650 British mosques expected to attend. Organisers hope to coordinate protests against the publication of the cartoons under the banner of the Muslim Action Committee (MAC). "The committee have called an emergency convention of the leading scholars and imams from all over the UK to discuss the issues and take key decisions as to the way forward," a spokesman for the organisation said. Thousands of Muslims were expected to attend a rally in Trafalgar Square in London on Saturday afternoon to protest at both the cartoons and the response of Islamic extremists. The prime minister, Tony Blair, yesterday said there was a justifiable sense of "outrage" at extremist placards seen during the London demonstrations. However, he praised Muslim leaders for joining the condemnation and promised the government's full backing for any future police action. Protesters in Bangladesh set fire to Danish and Italian flags during a march from the country's main mosque in Dhaka. In Indonesia, the foreign minister, Hassan Wirajuda, said extremists were exploiting the sense of outrage created by the images for their own purposes. "The cartoons have hurt the Islamic community, so it has added to ammunition for radical groups to exploit the situation. The whole thing has got out of proportion," he said. Germany's deputy foreign minister today criticised Hamshahri, a major Iranian newspaper, for launching a Holocaust cartoon competition in retaliation for the Mohammad cartoons. "It is often the case that tastelessness is answered with tastelessness," Gernot Erler told the Berliner Zeitung. "But in this case it is more serious, because the Iranian government here is deliberately provoking a conflict." Hamshahri said the competition was meant to test the west's ideas of freedom of expression. Two New Zealand newspapers and two television channels today apologised for publishing the Mohammad cartoons, while the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo became the latest organisation to print them. See the cartoons The cartoons can be seen at Wikipedia Full coverage Special report: cartoon protests MediaGuardian.co.uk Special report: religious affairs Comment and debate 06.02.2006: Tariq Ramadan: Cartoon conflicts 06.02.2006: Leader: Threats that must be countered 05.02.2006: Peter Preston: Cartoons and freedom: why we've got to draw a line somewhere 04.02.2006: Leader: Muslims and cartoons 04.02.2006: Philip Hensher and Gary Younge: Does the right to freedom of speech justify printing the Danish cartoons? 03.02.2006: Leader: Cartoons and their context 03.02.2006: Sarah Joseph: The freedom that hurts us 02.02.2006: Agnès Callamard: Prophetic fallacy Blogs News blog: Sense and sensibilities Organ Grinder: Emily Bell on the cartoon controversy Audio report 06.02.06: Rory McCarthy in Beirut 03.02.06: Chris McGreal reports from Jerusalem Printable version | Send it to a friend | Save story ![]() |
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