Afghans protest at Danish cartoons
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Sunday, March 2, 2008; 8:44 AM
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - About 1,000 Afghans, incensed by the republication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers, marched on Sunday demanding withdrawal of Danish and Dutch troops.
The protesters, mostly religious clerics in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, also condemned plans by a right-wing Dutch politician to broadcast a film on the Koran.
Afghanistan's Religious Affairs Ministry has called the reprinting of the cartoon as an attack against Islam. Several other Islamic countries have demanded that the film by the Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders must not be released.
The cartoons were first printed in a Danish paper in 2005. They gained little initial attention but were later reprinted outside Denmark, sparking protests across the Muslim world in which dozens of people, some in Afghanistan, were killed.
Danish newspapers reprinted one of the images again last month in protest at what they said was a plot to murder the cartoonist who drew it. At least two Dutch papers published pictures of the Danish newspapers, with the cartoon visible.
"We demand the ... withdrawal of Danish and Dutch soldiers from Afghanistan," said Mawlavi Shoaib, a religious figure and one of the organizers.
"Down with Denmark and Netherlands. We will not let anyone insult the Prophet and the Koran. We urge the Muslim community to voice their concerns," the protesters chanted.
Dutch and Danish troops serve under NATO's command in Afghanistan.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Dutch television on Sunday he was concerned about the repercussions Wilders' plans may have for troops serving in Afghanistan and for Dutch people and businesses elsewhere in the world.
"I feel responsible for the troops in Afghanistan. If they should come in the firing line because of the film, then I worry about that and also express my worries," De Hoop Scheffer said.
The protesters warned they would launch bigger demonstrations, unless their demands over the expulsion of Dutch and Danish forces were met by the Afghan government.
(Additional reporting by Catherine Hornby in Amsterdam; Editing by Alison Williams)
