Not less than five people were feared dead on Saturday in protests in Niger republic against Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, bringing the death toll from two days of violence in the country to 10, authorities said. Reuters has more:
Police fired tear gas at crowds of stone-throwing Muslim youths who set fire to churches and looted shops in the capital Niamey after authorities banned a meeting called by local Islamic leaders. A police station was attacked and at least two police cars burned.
“They offended our Prophet Mohammad, that’s what we didn’t like,” said Amadou Abdoul Ouahab, who took part in the demonstrations.
President Mahamadou Issoufou said all five of the dead were civilians, with four of them killed inside burned churches or bars. He said an enquiry would be opened and those responsible for organizing the violence would be punished.
“Those who pillage religious sites and profane them, those who persecute and kill their Christian compatriots or foreigners who live on our soil, have understood nothing of Islam,” he said in a televised address.
The president added, however, that he shared the disgust of Muslims who felt offended by the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad and that freedom of expression should not mean liberty to insult religious beliefs.
