Another fine example from the religion of peace.
M
50 Killed Over Miss World Article
By GLENN McKENZIE 11/21/2002 17:54:34 EST
LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Angry mobs stabbed and set fire to bystanders Thursday in
rioting that erupted after a newspaper suggested Islam's founding prophet would have
approved of the Miss World beauty pageant. At least 50 people were killed and 200
injured.
The violent demonstrators in the northern city of Kaduna burned churches and
rampaged through the streets until hundreds of soldiers were deployed to restore calm
and enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew.
"A lot of people died. We don't know yet exactly how many ... more than 50," said
Emmanuel Ijewere, the president of the Nigerian Red Cross.
Street demonstrations began Wednesday with the burning of an office of ThisDay
newspaper in Kaduna after it published an article questioning Muslim groups that have
condemned the Miss World pageant, to be held Dec. 7 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Muslim groups say the pageant promotes sexual promiscuity and indecency.
"What would (the prophet) Muhammad think? In all honesty, he would probably have
chosen a wife from among them (the contestants)," Isioma Daniel wrote in Saturday's
article.
The newspaper ran a brief front-page apology on Monday, followed by a more lengthy
retraction on Thursday, saying the offending passage had run by mistake.
In Thursday's rioting, more than 50 people were stabbed, bludgeoned or burned to
death and 200 were seriously injured, Ijewere told The Associated Press.
At least four churches were destroyed, he said.
Many of the bodies were taken by Red Cross workers and other volunteers to local
mortuaries. Many people remained inside homes that were set afire by the
demonstrators, Ijewere said.
Shehu Sani of the Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress said he watched a crowd stab
one young man, then force a tire filled with gasoline around his neck and burn him
alive. Sani said he saw three other bodies elsewhere in the city.
Alsa Hassan, founder of another human rights group, Alsa Care, said he saw a
commuter being dragged out of his car and beaten to death by protesters.
Schools and shops hurriedly closed as hordes of young men, shouting "Allahu
Akhbar," or "God is great," ignited makeshift street barricades made of tires and
garbage, sending plumes of black smoke rising above the city. Others were heard
chanting, "Down with beauty" and "Miss World is sin."
Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed to restore calm. Riding in pickup
trucks, they fired tear gas at protesters marching through otherwise abandoned streets
waving tree branches and palm fronds.
State government officials declared a curfew of 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Previous riots in Kaduna, a largely Muslim city with a sizable Christian minority, have
escalated into religious battles that killed hundreds since civilian government replaced
military rule in 1999.
Islamic fundamentalist groups have for several months warned of protests against the
Miss World pageant, prompting organizers to postpone the finale until after the Islamic
holy month of Ramadan.
The pageant has also drawn protests from other parts of the world.
Contestants from five countries - Costa Rica, Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa and
Panama - are boycotting the event because Islamic courts in Nigeria have sentenced
several unmarried women to death by stoning for conceiving babies outside wedlock.
Nigeria's government insists none of the judgments will be carried out, although it has
refused to intervene directly.
Miss World publicist Stella Din said pageant organizers hoped calm would quickly
return to Kaduna.
"We are very, very sad that it has come to this - even if there is a loss of one life, it
makes us sad. We are appealing to all to please exercise restraint," Din said. |
