|
Claim: Photographs show placard-bearing Muslim protesters in London.
Examples: [Collected via e-mail, 2006]
Origins: The series of photographs displayed above were taken during a
The trigger for the latest clash of cultures was the publication by the Danish newspaper Jyllends-Posten on
An estimated 500 to 700 demonstrators marched from Regent's Park Mosque to the Danish embassy in Knightsbridge during the protest. MP David Davis, the shadow home secretary, condemned messages displayed on some of the protesters' placards as an "incitement to murder":
One submission showed Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban; in another he tells dead suicide bombers that he has run out of virgins with which to reward them. Any portrayal of Muhammad is blasphemous in Islam, lest it encourages idolatry. In October [2005] ambassadors from ten Muslim countries complained to Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, who refused to interfere with the press’s freedom. But the issue began to boil [in Janaury 2006] after the cartoons appeared in Magazinet, a Christian newspaper in Norway, and on the website of the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.
Clearly, some of these placards are incitement to violence, and indeed incitement to murder — an extremely serious offence which the police must deal with and deal with quickly.
MP David Winnick, a member of the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, called for the prosecution and deportation of some of the demonstrators:
Whatever your view on these cartoons, we have a tradition of freedom of speech in this country which has to be protected. Certainly there can be no tolerance of incitement to murder.
Mr Winnick said: "The cartoons were deeply offensive to hundreds of millions of Muslims. But it is totally unacceptable that, on British soil, there should be thugs demonstrating for people to be beheaded and actually glorifying the atrocities of
Other Muslims maintained that the protesters were extremists not representative of mainstream British Muslims:
"It is to be hoped that prosecutions will follow very quickly indeed." He said those responsible who were temporarily in Britain should be deported, even it meant stripping them of permission previously given to remain in the country. The Walsall North MP added that the overwhelming majority of Muslims in Britain "have the same distaste as the rest of us about these thugs". "I hope it will be the last time we ever see such a demonstration, totally unacceptable to the Muslim community," he said.
Asghar Bukhari, chairman of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee, said the demonstration in London should have been stopped by police
because the group had been advocating violence.
No arrests were made at the time, according to police, due to the danger posed by the size and nature of the crowd:
He said the protesters "did not represent British Muslims". Mr Bukhari told the BBC News website: "The placards and chants were disgraceful and disgusting, Muslims do not feel that way. "I condemn them without reservation, these people are less representative of Muslims than the BNP are of the British people." He said that Muslims were angry over satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad published in European papers but it was "outrageous" for anyone to advocate extreme action or violence. "We believe it [the protest] should have been banned and the march stopped. "It's irrelevant whether it's Muslims causing hatred or anyone
As the clamour for action grew, police sources said there were no arrests because of fears of a riot. A senior Scotland Yard officer said: "We have to take the overall nature of the protesters into account. If they are overheated and emotional we don't go in.
Although it has been circulated with the set of images displayed above, the following photograph likely comes from a completely different protest held in Luton a couple of years earlier:
"It's like a risk assessment; you have to look at the crowd you are dealing with. If we went in to arrest one person with a banner the crowd would turn on us and people would get hurt."  Last updated: 30 May 2006 This material may not be reproduced without permission. snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.  Sources:
|
|
