Update | Protests against Charlie Hebdo cartoon turn violent as Muslims from Niger to Pakistan vent fury
Angry reaction across the Muslim world as believers burn burn French flags and clash with security forces in protest against new cartoons printed of the Prophet Mohammed
Police on Saturday fired tear gas at a fresh demonstration in Niger against French weekly Charlie Hebdo’s publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed, as thousands of Muslims demonstrated in cities across the world, resulting in a few deaths.
At least 1,000 youths assembled at the grand mosque in the capital Niamey, some of them throwing rocks at police while others burned tyres and chanted ”Allahu Akbar” (”God is Greatest”).
Four people were killed and 45 injured in protests in Niger’s second city of Zinder that turned violent, with demonstrators ransacking three churches and torching the French cultural centre.
A doctor in the city’s hospital told reporters that all of the dead and three of the injured had gunshot wounds.
“We’ve never seen that in living memory in Zinder,” a local administration official said. “It’s a black Friday.”
In Dakar, the capital of Senegal, police fired tear gas grenades to disperse about 1,000 protesters who chanted “Allahu Akbar” and torched a French flag.
While in Khartoum, hundreds poured out of the Grand Mosque and marched across the adjacent square, chanting “Expel the French ambassador. Victory to the Prophet of God!”
