Muslim rage, spontaneous or political calculation?
By Anne-Beatrice Clasmann and Thomas Borchert
Feb 6, 2006,17:29 GMT
...Meanwhile, imams resident in Denmark were travelling around
Arab countries with the cartoons, showing them as well as other
unflattering caricatures of the Prophet circulating in Denmark that the newspaper had not published.... (in full
Copenhagen/Cairo - It took four months before Muslims around the world began protesting against 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that first appeared in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
These were four months in which Islamic preachers and diplomats spread the word from Copenhagen to the villages of Upper Egypt and Afghanistan that ‘the Prophet has been insulted.’
Some observers in Denmark see ‘agitation’ by Danish imams travelling in the Middle East as the spark that caused the conflagration of religious passions.
In the Arab world, there are those who suspect the increasingly violent demonstrations are the product of cynical political calculation by Arab regimes using anger for their own purposes.
The conflict is playing into the hands of Islamist groups. In some Islamic countries, a contest of sorts has broken out between the government and opposition to see which side is doing more ‘to defend the Prophet.’
When the cartoons were first published on September 30 in the Jyllands-Posten, Denmark’s biggest paper and sharply critical of Islam, it initially looked like just another skirmish in Denmark’s heated debate over immigration and the proper attitude towards Islam.
It took nearly three weeks before the ambassadors of 11 Islamic countries demanded that the Danish government intervene and asked to speak with Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
Rasmussen, citing press freedom, coolly refused, which critics now say was a big mistake in crisis management. Among those critics are 22 former Danish ambassadors who spoke out in December. They also faulted what they said was Denmark’s overly harsh tone towards Islamic immigrants.
Meanwhile, imams resident in Denmark were travelling around Arab countries with the cartoons, showing them as well as other unflattering caricatures of the Prophet circulating in Denmark that the newspaper had not published.
Many Danes believe this is what set off the huge wave of protests. Danish government sources said the imams reponsible may be deported.
The imams themselves say indignation spread in January during the hajj in Mecca. The ‘tsunami of protest’ then swept over Denmark at the end of January, when Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador to Copenhagen and devout Saudis called for a boycott of Danish products.
Many Muslims have followed the call. In Cairo, the largest city in the Arab world, signs have gone up in supermarkets saying, ‘We don’t sell any Danish products.’
In the English-language Saudi newspaper Arab News, there was even a call on Monday for a total, long-term boycott of Western goods aimed at forcing Western countries to ‘apologize for having insulted our beloved Prophet.’ )
Deadly stampedes of the past 2 decades
The Philippine Star
02/06/2006
The following is a list of deadly stampedes of the past two decades, after 74 people were killed and more than 400 injured in a crush at the Philsports Arena (formerly Ultra) in Pasig City last Saturday:
March 12, 1988: Kathmandu. More than 100 people were killed and 300 injured in a stampede during a football match in Nepal’s National Stadium. The tragedy occurred when spectators rushed to find shelter from a powerful hailstorm, but found the doors locked.
April 15, 1989: Hillsborough Stadium, Sheffield, England. A total of 96 Liverpool supporters were crushed to death and around 300 injured during the semi-final of the FA Cup between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Police had opened the doors at one entrance to allow around 2,000 people without tickets to enter the stadium, crushing others in the stands.
July 2, 1990: Saudi Arabia. A huge crush in a tunnel outside Mecca which leads to the holy sites of Mount Arafat killed 1,426 pilgrims, mostly Asians, of asphyxiation. The authorities said the tunnel’s ventilation system broke down.
May 24, 1994: Mina, Saudi Arabia. 270 pilgrims were killed as crowds surged forward during the "Stoning of Satan" ritual in Mina, the desert plain outside Mecca. Authorities blamed the record numbers of pilgrims attending the hajj.
Aug. 13, 1994: Brazzaville. At least 150 people, mostly children, were trampled to death or suffocated in a stampede following an evangelical session in a church.
Oct. 16, 1996: Mateo Flores Stadium, Guatemala. Ninety people were killed and 150 injured in a crush of spectators during a World Cup qualification match between Guatemala and Costa Rica. The stadium was built to accommodate 45,000 people, but held around 60,000.
Apr. 9, 1998: Mina, Saudi Arabia. At least 118 pilgrims died and more than 180 were injured during the Stoning of Satan ritual in Mina. The pilgrims, mostly from Indonesia and Malaysia, died when the parapet of a bridge gave way.
May 9, 2001: Accra. 126 people were killed in a stampede following a football match.
Feb. 1, 2004: Mina, Saudi Arabia. 251 pilgrims died during the Hajj pilgrimage.
Jan. 25, 2005: Satara, India. 257 people were killed in a stampede during a Hindu pilgrimage in Satara district, south of Bombay.
August 31, 2005: Iraq. More than 1,000 pilgrims were trampled to death or drowned after panic broke out on a bridge over the Tigris river in Baghdad, sparked by a rumor that two suicide bombers were among them.
Jan. 12, 2006: Mina, Saudi Arabia. At least 364 people were killed in a stampede during the annual Hajj ilgrimage.
Faith - Creating a safer hajj
Mecca pilgrimage has often led to trampling deaths
Survivors speak of horrific events leading to Egyptian ferry sinking
Date : 2006-02-06
By Chris Marsden – World Socialist Web Sites
The accounts of survivors of the sinking of the Egyptian ferry Al-Salam Boccaccio 98 in the Red Sea paint a terrible picture of criminal negligence by captain and crew as well as the ship’s owners.
http://www.islam-online.net/English/News/2006-02/06/article05.shtml (no mention of negligence, or shoddy business practices, or lousy enforcement of safety laws)
Up to 1,100 feared dead as Egyptian ferry sinks in minutes
By David Hardaker, in Cairo
Published: 04 February 2006
...A company spokesman said that the Al-Salaam '98 was certified until 2010 and that it had complied with maintenance regulations. He said that the ship was registered in Panama. While overcrowding is commonplace on vessels such as the Al-Salaam '95, Mr Mansour insisted that the Al-Salaam '98 was within its permitted limit of 1,400 passengers....Egyptian authorities declined an American offer to divert a US P3-Orion aircraft to the area. But, as investigations commence, there are questions being raised about why it took rescue authorities almost 10 hours to respond.
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