Charlie riots: Niger protesters burn churches

Niamey, January 17

Stone-throwing demonstrators set fire to two churches in Niger’s capital Niamey on Saturday, in the latest protest in France’s former African colonies at French newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

A day after five persons were killed in Niger in protests over the cartoons, protesters in Niamey attacked a police station and burned at least two police cars near the main mosque after authorities banned a meeting called by local Muslim leaders. The police responded with teargas.

“They offended our Prophet Mohammed. That’s what we didn’t like,” said Amadou Abdoul Ouahab, who took part in the demonstration. “This is the reason why we have asked Muslims to come, so that we can explain this to them, but the state refused. That’s why we’re angry today.”

Demonstrations were also reported in regional towns, including Maradi, 600 km east of Niamey, where two churches were burned. Another church and a residence of the foreign minister were burned in the eastern town of Goure.

Four Muslim preachers who had convened the meeting in Niamey were arrested, police sources said. Protesters burned the French flag and set up roadblocks on streets in the town centre but no casualties were reported on Saturday.

The French embassy in Niamey warned its citizens not to go out on the streets.

The death toll from Friday’s clashes in Niger’s second largest city of Zinder, rose to five after emergency services discovered a burned body inside a Catholic Church.

On Friday, churches were burned, Christian homes looted and the French cultural centre attacked during the violence in Zinder, residents said.

A police officer and three civilians had already been confirmed killed in the demonstrations against the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, police sources said.

Peaceful marches took place after Friday prayers in the capital cities of other West African countries - Mali, Senegal and Mauritania - and Algeria in North Africa, all former French colonies.

In Algiers, several police were injured in clashes with protesters angered by the cartoons. — Reuters

Jamaat-e-Islami calls for 1 mn march

* Far-right Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) group said it would bring together one million people on the streets on Friday to protest against 'Charlie Hebdo', which re-published a controversial sketch on Wednesday

* Pakistan on Saturday tightened security outside all foreign consulates here amid calls by rightwing groups for bigger demonstrations on Friday

France defends freedom of speech

* French President Francois Hollande said on Saturday that anti-Charlie Hebdo protesters in other countries do not understand France's attachment to freedom of speech

* He was speaking a day after the satirical weekly's publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad sparked violent clashes, including deaths, in some Muslim countries

* A cartoon image of Mohammad on its front page outraged many in the Muslim world, triggering demonstrations that turned violent in Algeria, Niger and Pakistan on Friday

Afghan Prez slams cartoon as insult to Islam

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday condemned the decision by French magazine Charlie Hebdo to show a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed — considered as un-Islamic by Muslims — on its cover following a deadly attack on its offices by Islamist gunmen. Ghani blasted the cartoon as "an insult to the sacred religion of Islam and the Muslim world", a statement from the presidential palace said.