Cartoon Carnage Continues

[Annie]

In NY, the papers say they were 'peaceful', that's good. They were, but notso the messages:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/17/n...&en=0084673cfd98a8bd&ei=5094&partner=homepage

February 17, 2006
About 1,000 Muslims Protest Cartoons at U.N.
By KAREEM FAHIM and VIKAS BAJAJ

About 1,000 Muslims held a peaceful rally and prayed in a park near the United Nations today to protest the dozen caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, originally published in a newspaper in Denmark, that have set off a series of violent demonstrations around the world.

Officials from various New York-area Muslim religious and community groups that organized the rally, the first major gathering of its kind in the city, said they wanted to speak out against the "demonization of Muslims" in Denmark and the violent protests in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries. Local Muslim leaders were scheduled to meet with officials from the Danish Consulate after the rally to present them with books about the life of Muhammad.

In a program that lasted for more than four hours, various religious and community leaders spoke about what they said should be the appropriate, and peaceful, reaction to the cartoons. They also said they hoped outsiders would be encouraged to learn more about their religion and beliefs as a result of the gathering.

"Ignorance is the enemy," said Wael Mousfar, president of the Arab Muslim Federation.

It is considered blasphemous to depict Muhammad, whom Muslims consider the last and most important in a series of messengers from God that includes Abraham, Moses and Jesus. One of the 12 cartoons printed by the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, shows Muhammad wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb...

Note the NYTimes does NOT mention that the Koran says nothing of the sort or that there have been many depictions of Muhammad over the centuries?

"Do Not Insult Our Honorable Prophet."

In Libya:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002812505_weblibya17.html

Friday, February 17, 2006 - Page updated at 04:00 PM

Nine dead in riot in Libya over prophet cartoons

By Khaled El-Deeb

The Associated Press

TRIPOLI, Libya – Libyans protesting the Prophet Muhammad cartoons set fire to the Italian consulate in Benghazi today and clashed with police in turmoil that left at least nine people dead, an Italian diplomat said.

Libyan state television showed a part of the consulate building on fire, and firefighters trying to extinguish it and showed ambulances taking casualties away,

Italian consular official Antonio Simoes-Concalves said nine protesters had been killed and several more wounded as armed police clashed with a crowd of more than 1,000 demonstrators.

Libyan officials said there were 11 dead or wounded.

Security officials said the demonstrators hurled stones and bottles at the consulate, entered the grounds and set fire to the building and a consular car.

Simoes-Goncalves told The Associated Press in Rome that the Libyan police were not able to control the crowd, even though they were firing bullets and tear gas.

No Italians inside the compound were injured, the Italian Foreign Ministry said.

Italy's ambassador to Libya in Tripoli met late today with the Libyan interior minister "who expressed the condemnation of his government for the acts of violence occurring in Benghazi," the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Islam widely holds that representations of Muhammad are banned for fear they could lead to idolatry.

At least 19 people have been killed in protests over the drawings in the past several weeks, most of them in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Beirut, angry demonstrators torched the building housing the Danish mission on Feb. 6.

Oh yeah, seems some of the 'insulted' have put a million $ bounty on cartoonist:

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/02/17/D8FQV798B.html

Cleric: $1 Million to Kill Cartoonist
Feb 17 11:02 AM US/Eastern

By RIAZ KHAN
Associated Press Writer

PESHAWAR, Pakistan

A Pakistani cleric announced Friday a $1 million bounty for killing a cartoonist who drew Prophet Muhammad, as thousands joined street protests and Denmark temporarily closed its embassy and advised its citizens to leave the country.

Police confined the former leader of an Islamic militant group to his home to prevent him from addressing supporters over the cartoons, amid fears he could incite violence, after riots this week killed five people.

Security forces were out in strength, particularly around government offices and Western businesses, as Muslims streamed onto the streets after Friday prayers. More than 200 people were detained, but most gatherings were peaceful.

In neighboring India, police used batons and tear gas to disperse thousands of angry worshippers who rioted in the southern city of Hyderabad. They burned Danish flags, pelted police with stones, and looted shops. Hundreds more protested in Bangladesh.

In the northwestern Pakistan city of Peshawar, prayer leader Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi announced the bounty for killing a cartoonist to about 1,000 people outside the Mohabat Khan mosque.

Qureshi said the mosque and his religious school would give $25,000 and a car, while a local jewelers' association would give another $1 million. No representative of the association was available to confirm it had made the offer.

"This is a unanimous decision by all imams (prayer leaders) of Islam that whoever insults the prophet deserves to be killed and whoever will take this insulting man to his end, will get this prize," Qureshi said.

Qureshi did not name any cartoonist in his announcement. He did not appear aware that 12 different people had drawn the pictures...