Paki demo against Islam film:
“Death to the blasphemer”: 5,000 demonstrate against Fitna in Pakistan
* Stand for free speech:
Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Pakistan to protest against a controversial film about Islam made by a Dutch MP.
* There. That stink-word again: “controversial”
Crowds gathered in Karachi to condemn the MP, Geert Wilders, some chanting “death to the blasphemer”. The crowd also protested against the reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers. Around 5,000 people marched through the streets of Karachi. They were gathered in anger at what they see as the
gratuitous insults against their prophet emanating from northern Europe.
In particular they are angry about the film Fitna made by a right wing Dutch MP and at the reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers following a plot to murder the cartoonist.
Fitna is a short film which juxtaposes the Quran with images of jihadist terror, and portrays Islam as a threat to the west.
The Dutch MP who made the film is Geert Wilders – a strident and controversial campaigner against what he describes as the Islamisation of the Netherlands.
Earlier this year he spoke to More4 News; his views are deliberately provocative.
The reaction to Wilders’ film has not yet been as widespread as the original protests against the Danish cartoons, which reached the streets of London.
Although in Afghanistan the Taliban claimed the killing of two Dutch soldiers was revenge for the release of the film.
The Dutch government, despite criticising Fitna, has relocated embassy staff in Pakistan and Afghanistan. There have been demonstrations in Malaysia and Indonesia.
Today’s protest ended peacefully though, the only casualty a simple effigy of Geert Wilders.
