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Cartoon protests resume as editor 'repents'
 Thousands of Egyptians protested in cities across the country after Muslim prayers Friday, denouncing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, and Iranians smashed windows and started a brief fire in the French Embassy in Tehran. Thousands of kilometers away, an editor that first published the caricatures and the imam who helped make them known shook hands and called for an end to the furor.Magazinet editor Vebjoern Selbekk said he regretted publishing the cartoons on January 10 because he had not foreseen the pain and anger they would cause among Muslims. "I reach out personally to the Muslim community to say I am sorry their religious feelings were violated by what we did," Selbekk said at a news conference. The Evangelical Christian newspaper was among the first newspapers to reprint the drawings that were first published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September, saying it was defending free speech. In a joint statement Friday, 15 key Norwegian imams representing 46 congregations declared the conflict over in Norway. "We ask Muslims to accept the apology," the statement said. "We consider the case closed." Selbekk, who had been under police protection after receiving scores of death threats, made his apology at a hastily called joint news conference with the leader of the Islamic Council in Norway, Mohammad Hamdan, and Labor Minister Bjarne Haakon Hanssen. Hamdan stressed Islam values forgiveness and added that he considered Selbekk to be under his protection. "Our Prophet Mohammad said everyone can make a mistake, but the best people are those who repent," said Hamdan. Meanwhile, thousands marched peacefully through a commercial district of the Jordanian capital, Amman, under heavy watch of security forces. In Tehran, up to 60 young men and women hurled stones, firecrackers and Molotov cocktails at the French Embassy, smashing almost every window on its street facade. One cocktail exploded inside the embassy and started a small fire that was quickly extinguished by firefighters already on the scene. About 2,000 demonstrators staged a protest in Istanbul, chanting "Down with Israel" and urging the government to sever ties with Denmark. The new wave of marches came after several days of relative calm. Governments and Islamic leaders called on protesters to refrain from violence in expressing their outrage over the prophet drawings. "We do not want to imitate the rioters in other countries ... Those people harmed Islam and the Prophet instead," the preacher Abdel-Rahman Ibdah told worshippers at Amman's King Abdullah Mosque before they began their march. Protests in at least five Egyptian cities did not target embassies, but some deteriorated into violence amid police attempts to prevent the demonstrations. Several thousand heeded the call of the Muslim Brotherhood movement to protest outside the Al-Taha Mosque in the northern Delta city of Mahalla al-Kubra. When they didn't immediately obey police demands that they disperse, security forces fired tear gas and water canons, Mamdouh al-Mounir, a member of the group, told the Associated Press by telephone. Police confirmed that tear gas was fired and at least 20 people arrested. Posted by: Fred 2006-02-11 |
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