Anti-Danish protests in Iraq, Afghanistan and West Bank

(6 Feb 2006) Ramadi, Iraq 1. Demonstrators carrying banners and chanting 2. Demonstrators chanting slogans, one carries Glorious Quran 3. Demonstrators trampling on Danish flag 4. Demonstrators burning Danish flag 5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Abdul Rahaman abdul Khaliq, Sunni cleric: "This demonstration by the people of Ramadi is to condemn the infidel hands which offended our beloved Prophet Muhammad, peace may be upon him." Amarah, Iraq 6. Pan to demonstrators 7. Banner reads: "We and what we have is a sacrifice for our Prophet Muhammad; shame on Israel" 8. Demonstrators 9. Banner reads: "We condemn the offence by the Danish newspapers on the Prophet's personality and called to boycott all the unjust countries." 10. Demonstrators burning Danish flag, chanting pro Sadr slogans Nablus, West Bank 11. Militants firing in the air 12. Militants writing on the wall in Arabic "God is great" and "Closed" 13. Militants gathering outside building Mihtarlam, Afghanistan 14. Wide shot of rally 15. Close-up of man addressing rally 16. Protesters shouting: "down with Denmark... down with Jews... down with the enemies of Islam" 17. Burning flags 18. Effigy of Danish prime minister STORYLINE: Enraged Muslims across the Middle East protested on Sunday after newspapers published cartoons of the prophet, Muhammad, that they deemed blasphemous. First published last September in a Danish newspaper, the cartoons were re-published this week in numerous European papers and one Jordanian journal. The caricatures, including one depicting the Muslim prophet wearing a turban fashioned into a bomb, led some Muslim governments to recall their ambassadors to Denmark. Islamic law, based on clerics' interpretation of the Quran and the sayings of the prophet, forbids even positive depictions of Muhammad and other major religious figures to prevent idolatry. About one thousand Sunni Muslims in Iraq demonstrated outside a mosque in the city of Ramadi. "Protect the Prophet, God is Great," the protesters shouted, while some of them burned a Danish flag. In the city of Amarah about one thousand supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also protested, demanding that Danish and Norwegian diplomats in Iraq be expelled. Iraq's Transport Ministry said it would cancel its contracts with Danish firms and reject Danish reconstruction aid, said Transport Minister Salam al-Maliki, an al-Sadr supporter. A ministry official said Norwegian contracts would be terminated, too. In the West Bank city of Nablus Palestinian militants defaced the entrance of the French cultural centre. About 30 gunmen arrived at the centre planning to vandalise the building, but agreed, after negotiating with Palestinian police guarding the building, only to write on the building. They scrawled in black on the door an "X," "This place is closed" and "God is great." In Afghanistan more than four thousand people demonstrated across the war torn state, and police in one city fired into the air to disperse a group of rowdy protesters, officials said. In the city of Mihtarlam, three thousand demonstrators burned a Danish flag and demanded that the editors of the Danish newspaper be prosecuted for blasphemy, the local governor said. Some 1,000 Afghans tried to march to the offices of the United Nations and other aid groups in Fayzabad. Police fired shots into the air to disperse them, officials said. No one was hurt. Last week, President Hamid Karzai condemned the drawings and said they should never be re-published. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...