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Donald Ian Rankin

(13,598 posts) Sat Jan 17, 2015, 09:21 AM Jan 2015

Four dead in Niger as Charlie Hebdo cartoon sparks protests

Four dead in Niger as Charlie Hebdo cartoon sparks protests

Depiction of prophet Muhammad in French magazine also leads to violent reaction in Pakistan, Jordan and Algeria

The decision by Charlie Hebdo to publish a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad this week prompted angry protests in several Muslim countries on Friday leading to violence and in one case deaths.

Four people were reported killed and dozens injured at a demonstration in the West African country of Niger, and violent clashes broke out between demonstrators and police in Pakistan, Jordan and Algeria.

In Niger, a former French colony, a protest turned violent as demonstrators set fire to churches and raided shops run by Christians. A French cultural centre was set ablaze in the southern town of Zinder, and one security officer and three demonstrators were killed in the melee, said interior minister Hassoumi Massaoudou. Another 20 security officers and 23 civilians were injured, he said.

A photographer was shot and others were injured during the protests by radical religious parties in Pakistan on Friday. The move by the French satirical magazine to feature the prophet’s image gave Pakistan’s religious right a chance to demonstrate its street power with a so-called “Black Day” of protests on exactly the same day civil-society activists were attempting to channel popular anger at the massacre of more than 130 school boys by the Taliban in December.

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