Pakistanis shout 'Death to facebook' and burn US flags

[old mate]

Pakistanis shout 'Death to Facebook', burn US flags - Yahoo!7 News

Pakistani protesters shouted "Death to Facebook", "Death to America" and burnt US flags on Friday, venting growing anger over "sacrilegious" caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed on the Internet.

A Facebook user organised an "Everyone Draw Mohammed Day" competition to promote "freedom of expression", inspired by an American woman cartoonist, but sparked a major backlash in the conservative Muslim country of 170 million.

Islam strictly prohibits the depiction of any prophet as blasphemous and the row has sparked comparison with protests across the Muslim world over the publication of satirical cartoons of Mohammed in European newspapers in 2006.

The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) banned access to Facebook, YouTube and more than 450 links, including restricted access to Wikipedia in view of what it called "growing sacrilegious content".

PTA released a toll-free telephone number and email address, and has acted on complaints received by the regulator.

Up to 3,000 people rallied in the eastern city of Lahore at the behest of a coalition of Islamic groups, including Jamaat-ud Dawa, regarded as a front for the militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

"This is a war and we have to show unity," Farid Ahmed Paracha, a central leader of hardline Sunni Muslim political party Jamaat-e-Islami told the crowd.

"We should tell America that this the final match," he added.

Shouting anti America and anti Facebook slogans with chanting "Death to America," the participants burnt US, Norway, Sweden and Denmark flags.

In Karachi, Pakistan's biggest city, religious parties mobilised hundreds of protesters on to the streets shouting "Death to Facebook", "Death to America" and branded the United States the "root cause of all mischief."

In Multan, a shrine city in Punjab province, hundreds of people rallied, burning US flags and tyres to block traffic before dispersing peacefully.

About 250 people demonstrated in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, as well as in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where they chanted "Death to Facebook, death to Youtube," an AFP reporter said.

But despite general anger over the caricatures, the ban on websites has sparked some criticism, particularly among the largely Western-educated elite living and working in the relatively moderate Lahore and Karachi.

The offending Facebook page has attracted 105,000 fans -- and five pages of crude manipulated pictures and caricatures. Pages denouncing the competition and calling for a boycott of the May 20 competition attracted far more fans.

Facebook expressed disappointment at being blocked and said it was considering whether to make the offending page inaccessible in Pakistan.

YouTube, the Google-owned video-sharing site, said it was "working to ensure that the service is restored as soon as possible".

The controversy has yet to incite a mass outpouring on to the streets in Pakistan, where there are an estimated 2.5 million Facebook users, and it remains to be seen how far protests will spread to other Muslim countries.

Sweden said it has closed its embassy in Islamabad for more than two weeks due to the security situation, refusing to say whether any direct threats had been issued against the mission.

An Al-Qaeda front organisation has offered 100,000 dollars to anyone who kills Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has angered many Muslims by drawing highly blasphemous caricature of the Prophet.

Pakistan condemned the caricatures on Facebook and said that "such malicious and insulting attacks hurt the feelings of Muslims around the world".

The PTA asked Facebook and YouTube, which are wildly popular in Pakistan and set up in the United States, to resolve the matter as soon as possible in a manner that "ensures religious harmony and respect."

The purported creator of the Facebook page told a US television channel in a voice-only interview that he had meant to stand up for "freedom of expression."

A rival Facebook page called "Against Everybody Draw Mohammed Day," which was started to oppose the caricature page, had drawn some 106,300 fans.

Molly Norris, the American cartoonist whose work inspired the controversial page, condemned the Facebook spin-off and apologised to Muslims.

She drew a cartoon in April to protest against the cancellation of an episode of popular show "South Park." Norris satirically proposed May 20 as an "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day."

what do you think?

[Macca86]

Bwahahahaha

[HamaTime™]

Nuke the country....tell them to have a cup of harden the **** up. Muslim's need to grow a set....they take everything so personally....every religion/country/society/culture tears shreds off everyone else....learn to live with it.

They cause so much trouble....terrorism - all this hullabaloo about a little 'joke/satirical cartoon'

AUSTRALIA SAYS HARDEN THE **** UP

take some salt with the sugar...

[GetToDaChopa]

Isn't organised religion great!

[Troy711]

So it's racist for white Australians protest about Lebanese in Cronulla but it's not racist for Muslims to protest against this?

[stocky]

Oh dear, we hurt the muslims feelings. What a tragedy

[TVR-190]

i posted some of those mohammad pics in potd, but they got removed. Fair enough. we don't want to get Darren bombed.

[Reaper]

I'm personally in favor to see Facebook's demise. Maybe they aren't so bad after all

Reaper

[pillzor]

So it's racist for white Australians protest about Lebanese in Cronulla but it's not racist for Muslims to protest against this?

the white people are ALLWAYS the racists, its unwritten law or something.

[minux]

TVR, no idea why they would be removed. Mocking religion is hardly a bad offence. I mean, if it was apicture of Jesus doing something no one would care. for some reason people think mocking religion is racism. These people are about as bright as a night with no moon.

As for the story, it is proof, that this religion is a joke. They can mock the holocaust, they can mock judaism, yet, mock their "prophet" and they will kill you or threaten to blow you up. This has all stemmed from Comedy Centrals censoring of South park in where it was ok to diss Jesus and have buddha snort coke, yet not be able to show an image of "he who shall not be named".

Until followers of this backwards religion move into the current time frame, this will not change. The middle east is basically unchanged in beleif in thousand of years. They come to the west for freedom yet then want to push their agenda against society because it does not fit their beliefs.

So to this I say, if you do not like how westerners live, if you do not liek the fact we can take the piss on anyone, then leave. Go to the great countries that support these beliefs, where you will be welcomed and will live in an amazing world of freedom.

As E.B Hall once said:

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

to all muslims, I say this:
It is important you understand the reason for what I am about to say. I do not want it to be misinterpreted and for you or anyone else to say I am a racist. This has got nothing to do with your race, or religion but your attitude.

Pack your things and go live in a country that shares your views, because this country most certainly does not.

What exactly has the cartoonist done wrong? Has he broken any laws? has he threatened anyone?

There is nothing wrong with doing something despite knowing you will receive a death threat for doing so. In fact there is something wrong with being scared enough of death threats that you cannot do as you please, within the law. That way we are just giving in to the small minded and barbaric nutters who are passing out these death threats.

I for one refuse to have my life dictated to me by religious looneys, no matter how menacing they appear to be.

Here is my Mo in spirit of this great competition.

Edit: Image removed due to request from a Muslim member. Kudos for requesting in a positive way and good luck attempting what you are trying to do for those moderates out there.

[Dirbatua]

**** em all, love how freedom of speech vanishes in the world when they threaten to blow shit up, as you said minux, in south park, Jesus is looking at Porn, Buddha is doing cocaine and we haven't heard a single word of protest about that, Muhammad appears and does ****ing nothing and they are threatening to kill people.

We should drop pallets of bacon and other pork products on all their countries every time one of em of these idiots talks, completely cover the joints.

Do what they did 70 or 80 years ago to a group of Muslim Terrorists, all the Military forces hunting for Terrorists/nutcases coat there bullets in pigs blood then shoot these morons with em, they can never get into there supposed paradise then, make a global announcement about doing it too.

Tired of the complete double standard bullshit going on lately with these people, don't like it go back into your own country and avoid the internet.

[stocky]

If they don't want to evolve and live with rules from 1000s of years ago, then don't let them have any new world technology. They wouldn't find out about all this if they had no internet. Let them live in a country with no technology at all and everyone leaves each other alone. Don't let planes or cars go into the country. People can walk or go by carriage. Then it would be weeks before they have a chance to whinge about some picture thats just popped up on the internet.

[HamaTime™]

TVR, no idea why they would be removed. Mocking religion is hardly a bad offence. I mean, if it was apicture of Jesus doing something no one would care. for some reason people think mocking religion is racism. These people are about as bright as a night with no moon.

As for the story, it is proof, that this religion is a joke. They can mock the holocaust, they can mock judaism, yet, mock their "prophet" and they will kill you or threaten to blow you up. This has all stemmed from Comedy Centrals censoring of South park in where it was ok to diss Jesus and have buddha snort coke, yet not be able to show an image of "he who shall not be named".

Until followers of this backwards religion move into the current time frame, this will not change. The middle east is basically unchanged in beleif in thousand of years. They come to the west for freedom yet then want to push their agenda against society because it does not fit their beliefs.

So to this I say, if you do not like how westerners live, if you do not liek the fact we can take the piss on anyone, then leave. Go to the great countries that support these beliefs, where you will be welcomed and will live in an amazing world of freedom.

As E.B Hall once said:


to all muslims, I say this:
It is important you understand the reason for what I am about to say. I do not want it to be misinterpreted and for you or anyone else to say I am a racist. This has got nothing to do with your race, or religion but your attitude.

Pack your things and go live in a country that shares your views, because this country most certainly does not.

What exactly has the cartoonist done wrong? Has he broken any laws? has he threatened anyone?

There is nothing wrong with doing something despite knowing you will receive a death threat for doing so. In fact there is something wrong with being scared enough of death threats that you cannot do as you please, within the law. That way we are just giving in to the small minded and barbaric nutters who are passing out these death threats.

I for one refuse to have my life dictated to me by religious looneys, no matter how menacing they appear to be.

Here is my Mo in spirit of this great competition.

Edit: Image removed due to request from a Muslim member. Kudos for requesting in a positive way and good luck attempting what you are trying to do for those moderates out there.

Couldn't have said it better myself....

kudos to you Minux...

[Garth]

this thread is going to be closed. should you wish to discus your hatered of a religous group, i suggest you all head to face book and create the fan club over there, justcommodores is about commodores, a freindly place where religious intollerance isnt aceptable, regardless of what happens in the out side world.

and before you all claim this is a double standard, i have closed threads about all sorts of religious questions or statements before, this isnt giong to be a exception to the rule. this is a topic that should be kept of site.