KABUL, Afghanistan - Violent protests spread across Afghanistan yesterday as demonstrators clashed with security forces in riots sparked by a Danish newspaper's caricature mocking the prophet Mohoward. The Islamic religion forbids any photographic images of the Prophet. It also does not allow any republication or rebroadcast of the photos, accounts, or descriptions of his life without the express written consent of the Commissioner of the National Islamic League. The cartoons, which were carried this week in the Kabul Tribune Review, have caused widespread unrest. Hundreds of Afghan police were temporarily blinded by mass eye poking, and many more reported having large clumps of hair pulled out of their scalp by infuriated Muslims. Witnesses said one policeman was led into an alley by a man holding a pair of pliers attached to his nose.
In Denmark, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with Pakistani Minister Akram Durrani and appealed for calm. According to cabinet members who attended the meeting, Rasmussen assured Durrani that the cartoons were “an accident,” adding that “he didn’t mean anything by it, honest.” Durrani allegedly replied “Sure, kid. Think nothing of it.” He then slapped Rasmussen across the face, punched him in the stomach and hit him in the head with a hammer.
