EU backs Danes in cartoon row, Pakistanis enraged

[SOO MAAL]

EU backs Danes in cartoon row, Pakistanis enraged

15 Feb 2006 16:47:51 GMT

 

Source: Reuters

 

 

By Ali Imam

 

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Three people were killed and franchises of Western firms as well as banks and cinemas were set on fire in Pakistan on Wednesday in fresh violence over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

 

Denmark, the target of much of the anger in the Muslim world, received the backing of the European Union but leaders of the EU legislature differed over the limits of free speech.

 

The protests have been the most serious in Pakistan -- the second most populous Muslim country and a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism -- since European papers republished the cartoons, which first appeared in Denmark in September.

 

Many Muslims believe it is blasphemous to depict the Prophet.

 

More than 20,000 people, including traders, students and Islamist radicals, took part in protests in cities in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the eastern city of Lahore.

 

Police said that most of the protests were peaceful, one man was killed in exchange of fire between students and police in Lahore, where two people died on Tuesday.

 

Police fired tear gas in Peshawar and several other towns in NWFP. In Peshawar, protesters set fire to two franchises of the Norwegian mobile phone firm Telenor, a KFC fast food outlet, as well as banks, cinemas, a bus terminal and several buses.

 

During a debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, political leaders from all groups rallied behind Copenhagen, declaring that an attack on Denmark was an attack on all member states and condemning the use of violence by some protesters.

 

OPEN AND TOLERANT

 

However, libertarians in the assembly warned against any attempt to make the media adopt self-censorship.

 

"I want here today to send my solidarity to the people of Denmark," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, calling Danes "a people who rightly enjoy the reputation as being amongst the most open and tolerant not just in Europe but in the world".

 

Danish goods have been subject to boycotts in some Islamic countries and Barroso was strongly applauded when he said such action was by definition a boycott of European goods.

 

A group of Indonesian importers started a boycott of Danish products on Wednesday.

 

Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Greens leader in the assembly, and liberal spokeswoman Karen Riis-Joergensen urged the European Commission to drop the idea of encouraging the media to adopt a voluntary code of conduct to avoid offending religious sensibilities.

 

"If we start undermining freedom of expression, our right to analyse any religion critically, our fundamental right to speak freely and express ourselves will be violated," Riis-Joergensen said.

 

However, Austrian President Heinz Fischer, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, appeared to call for self-regulation by the media.

 

The Danish government warned its citizens not to travel to Pakistan in the light of the violence and urged those already there to consider leaving.

 

In Iran, which has also seen violent protests this week, the Foreign Ministry sent a note to the embassies of 17 European countries protesting over the reprinting of the cartoons.

 

"The printing of cartoons which ignore religious values of more than 1.5 billion Muslims contradicts the principles of democracy and speech freedom," the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

 

It said the Foreign Ministry condemned the measure and called on the European embassies to take an immediate step to compensate the disrespect shown to "the Islamic sanctities".

 

Asked about the cartoons, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted by the German weekly magazine Stern as saying: "We need to learn to show mutual respect for each other's views and feelings as well as to develop our shared values.

 

"We are faced with a difficult task. What's clear is that violence is an unacceptable means of analysis."

 

Western firms in the Middle East said on Wednesday they saw no immediate danger from the uproar, but were reviewing security in case of attacks or protests.

 

In Yemen, authorities charged three journalists with denigrating Islam after closing their newspapers for republishing the satirical cartoons.

 

Prosecutors demanded the journalists be jailed for a year or pay a fine of 10,000 rials ($50).