DHAKA, KOMPAS.com – About 10,000 people gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Tuesday (27/10/2020) did protest against French President Emmanuel Macron and his support for protecting secular laws cartoon Nabi Muhammad under the aegis of free speech.
The demonstrators came from the conservative Islamic group Andolon Bangladesh who carried banners and placards reading “All Muslims in the World United” and “Boycott France”.
Demonstration that, according to reports Associated Press (AP) is the largest in the case of publishing Prophet Muhammad cartoon the last few times.
Some demonstrators carried cutouts of President Macron with a cross (X) on their face. One of them carried a large poster of the French president with a shoe necklace as a sign of humiliation.
Also read: Teacher Beheaded for Showing Caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, This Said the President of France
The issue is in the aftermath of the case of the beheading of a teacher in France who was killed by an 18 year old Chechen teenager, Abdoullakh Anzorov from Russia who was shot dead by the authorities.
Beheaded teacher Samuel Paty previously taught a freedom of speech class showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
He is a symbol of France’s staunchly secular ideals and a rejection of interruption in the name of religion in the public sphere.
Macron and members of his government have pledged to continue to support the caricature of the great prophet of Islam who is protected by freedom of expression.
Muslim politicians, scholars and the majority of the Muslim community condemn such depictions and regard them as utterances of hatred and contempt for the sacred symbols of Islam.
In response, protesting Muslims called for a boycott of French products.
Also read: Muslim Leaders in France Ask Muslims to Ignore Cartoon of Prophet Muhammad
Five years ago, French-born Al Qaeda extremists killed 12 employees of the French satirical weekly magazine, Charlie Hebdo as a strong response to the publication of a caricature depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The cartoons have also sparked mass protests in Muslim-majority countries, with some of them becoming deadly cases.
Demonstrators in Bangladesh gathered in front of the main Baitul Mokarram Mosque in downtown Dhaka Tuesday morning local time.
They walked towards the French embassy, but the police blocked the protesters and ended it without violence.
Rezaul Karim, chairman of the Andolon Islamic group in Bangladesh, asked France to refrain from displaying caricatures of the prophet.
Also read: Calling Islam in Crisis, President Macron Reaps Muslim Condemnation on Social Media
“We Muslims have never caricatured other religious leaders,” he said.
“Allah sent the Prophet Muhammad as a peacemaker … Macron and his colleagues have learned nothing from history,” he added, before calling on Muslims to boycott French goods.
Karim also said Macron should be treated for his “mental illness”, a statement similar to that made a few days earlier by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan was most vigorous in his criticism among political leaders, saying Macron needed to be checked on his head and had lost his way.
However, unlike Turkey, Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries, Bangladesh’s political leaders did not call for protests.
Bangladesh itself is a country of 160 million people, most of whom are Muslim, governed by a secular constitution.
Also read: 4 Facts About Teachers Beheaded in France for Showing Cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
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