International Peace Day commemorated while Muhammad video protests take a deadly turn
Escalating violence from protests in the Islamic world over recent insults to the Prophet Mohammad resulted in at least 15 deaths today in Pakistan. By contrast, in places like Guatemala City, Myanmar, Cambodia and Belgium, hundreds gathered for the annual International Day of Peace, which according to the UN website was established in 1981 by a United Nations resolution encouraging people to work together towards peace.
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- People pass a bouquet of roses along a human chain on the streets of downtown Guatemala city to commemorate International Day of Peace in Guatemala City. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)
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- People form a human chain along the streets of downtown Guatemala city to commemorate International Day of Peace in Guatemala City. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)
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- People form a human chain along the streets of downtown Guatemala city to commemorate International Day of Peace in Guatemala City. According local media, youths formed a human chain along the main avenues to the National Palace, calling for peace to remain among Guatemalans and the world. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters)
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- A student (L) and a shoe shiner hold hands during in a human chain held in Guatemala City, during celebrations of the UN International Day of Peace. (Johan Ordonez/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A supporter of Sunni Muslim Salafist leader Ahmad al-Assir holds up a copy of the Koran as others wave Syrian opposition and Islamic flags at a protest against an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. that mocks the Prophet Mohammad, at Martyrs’ square in downtown Beirut. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
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- U.N. Messenger of Peace and primatologist Jane Goodall attends a ceremony to commemorate International Peace Day at the United Nations in New York. (Andrew Burton/Reuters)
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- Moroccan Salafists demonstrate against an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. that mocks the Prophet Mohammad outside a mosque in the impoverished Rahma neighbourhood of Sale. (Stringer/Reuters)
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- Actor Forest Whitaker attends a ceremony to commemorate International Peace Day at the United Nations in New York. (Andrew Burton/Reuters)
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- Sunni Muslim Salafist leader Ahmad al-Assir addresses his supporters during a protest, against an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. that mocks the Prophet Mohammad, at Martyrs’ square in downtown Beirut. (Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)
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- Miss Universe 2011 Leila Lopes attends the UN Women For Peace And Same Sky Ethical Shopping Event at Saks Fifth Avenue n New York City. (Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images)
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- Pakistani Muslim demonstrators topple a freight container, placed by police to block a street during a protest against an anti-Islam film in Lahore. (Arif Ali/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Artist Yoko Ono presents the “LennonOno Grant for Peace” to Pyotr Verzilov (C) and 4-year old Gera, husband and daughter of Nadia Tolokonnikova, one of the three imprisoned Pussy Riot members in New York. The presentation took place ahead of an October 1, 2012 hearing that will determine the fate of the three Pussy Riot Russian music band members, sentenced to two years in prison for performing a protest song in a Moscow’s cathedral. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A Pakistani Muslim demonstrator brandishes a stick near burning police vehicles during a protest against an anti-Islam film in Karachi. (Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images)
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- A man holds up a sign during a ceremony to mark the International Day of Peace in Yangon, Myanmar. The Yangon police will press charges against the leaders of the march due to the event being held without official permission, Police Major Myint Htwe said during a news conference. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)
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- Bangladeshi Muslims perform a mock execution of the filmmaker of an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. during a protest in front of the National Mosque in Dhaka. The word on the shirt reads, “Execution.” (Andrew Biraj/Reuters)
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- A man hangs the peace sign around his neck during a march against civil war to mark the International Day of Peace in Yangon, Myanmar. Hundreds of people including farmers and ethnic groups participated in the march. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)
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- A burning U.S. flag is seen on the ground after it was set on fire by Bangladeshi Muslims during a protest in front of the National Press Club in Dhaka. About 10,000 Bangladeshi Muslims participated in demonstrations after Friday prayers in Bangladesh’s capital against an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. and also against cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad published on Wednesday in a French magazine. (Andrew Biraj/Reuters)
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- Afghans parade an effigy representing US President Obama during a protest against an anti-Islam movie and a French Magazine which published Muhammad Prophet’s cartoons, in Kabul. Some 300 protesters shouted slogans during a demonstrations against a US-made anti-Islam film and a French magazine which published Muhammad cartoons. The protesters chanted “Death to America” and “Death to France.” (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)
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- People gather around a peace flag that has set a new world record with its size of 50m (164 ft) by 30m (98.4 ft) during the International Day of Peace in Ghent, Belgium. (Laurent Dubrule/Reuters)
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- Muslims pray in a mosque before a protest march against an anti-Islam film made in the U.S. and also cartoons published by a French magazine that denigrate the Prophet Mohammad, in Novi Pazar, some 260 km (161 miles) south of the capital Belgrade. (Marko Djurica/Reuters)
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- A veiled activist from Dukhtaran-e-Milat (Daughters of the Muslim Faith), a Kashmiri women’s separatist group, takes photo with her mobile phone while holding a placard as her companion shouts slogans during an anti-U.S. protest against a film they consider blasphemous to Islam in Srinagar. (Danish Ismail/Reuters)
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- A bouquet of flowers and pictures of doves calling for peace lie on the ground as protesters gather before being blocked by police from heading to Naypyidaw to stage a rally, forcing them to join the Yangon peace rally instead in Myanmar’s former capital Yangon. Hundreds of people gathered in Yangon on September 21 calling for an end to the festering conflict between Kachin ethnic minority rebels and Myanmar’s army. (Ye Aung Thu/AFP/Getty Images)
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- Pakistani Muslim demonstrators help an injured colleague during their attempts to reach the US embassy during a protest against an anti-Islam film in Islamabad. (Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images)
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- United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon rings the peace bell to recognize International Peace Day at the United Nations in New York. (Andrew Burton/Reuters)
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- Protester holds a placard saying ‘Muhammed: man of truth’ during a protest against the anti-Islam film, ‘Innocence of Muslims’ in front of US embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Muslims across the world continue to protest against America and Israel over the amateur anti Islam film ‘Innocence of Muslims.’ Despite efforts to encourage peaceful protests, many of these demonstrations have resulted in violence. (Rahman Roslan/Getty Images)
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- An activist holds a flag during a march against civil war to mark the International Day of Peace in Yangon, Myanmar. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)
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- A Pakistani security survilience helicopter patrols through smoke clouds during an anti-US demonstration against an anti-Islam film in Islamabad. A Pakistani policeman and a driver for a television station were shot dead during a day of protests condemning a film made in the United States and deemed insulting to Islam, officials said. (Aamir Qureshi/AFP/Getty Images)
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- People hold posters during a march against civil war to mark the International Day of Peace in Yangon, Myanmar. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)
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- A protestor wearing a scarf holds a placard in front of the US embassy during a rally against an anti-Islam film, “Innocence of Muslims” and the publication of caricature of the Holy Prophet Muhammad by a French magazine in Kuala Lumpur. Hundreds of protestors marched in a peaceful rally shouted slogans against United States in front of the embassy building. (Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images
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- People and Buddhist monks march during an event commemorating the International Day of Peace near the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Banner reads “Celebrate the intenational day of peace.” (Samrang Pring/Reuters)
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- A Pakistani Muslim demonstrator (R) hits a burning police vehicle during a protest against an anti-Islam film in Karachi. At least 13 people died and nearly 200 were wounded in Pakistan during violent protests on Friday condemning a US-made film insulting Islam, defying a government call for only peaceful demonstrations, officials said. (Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images)
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- People hold peace signs during a march against civil war to mark the International Day of Peace in Yangon, Myanmar. (Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters)
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- Pakistani Muslim demonstrators prise a hoarding from a wall as they attack a cinema complex during a protest against an anti-Islam film in Peshawar. (A. Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)
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- People lie on a peace flag, which has set a new world record with its size of 50m (164 ft) by 30m (98.4 ft), during the International Day of Peace in Ghent, Belgium. (Laurent Dubrule/Reuters)
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- Bangladeshi demonstrators march with a mock coffin of US President Barack Obama during a protest against satirical cartoons and an internet film mocking Islam in Dhaka. (Munir uz/AFP/Getty Images)
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- People lie on a peace flag, which has set a new world record with its size of 50m (164 ft) by 30m (98.4 ft), during the International Day of Peace in Ghent, Belgium. (Laurent Dubrule/Reuters)
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- A protester holds a placard during a protest against the anti-Islam film, ‘Innocence of Muslims’ in front of US embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Rahman Roslan/Getty Images)
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- Buddhist nuns attend an event commemorating International Day of Peace near the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. (Samrang Pring/Reuters)
Insults to Islam ignite violence in Pakistan, 15 killed
Aisha Chowdhry | Reuters
12:57 p.m. EDT, September 21, 2012
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Muslim protests against insults to the Prophet Mohammad turned violent in Pakistan, where at least 15 people were killed on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, but remained mostly peaceful in other Islamic countries.
In France, where the publication of cartoons denigrating the Prophet stoked anger over an anti-Islam video made in California, the authorities banned all protests over the issue.
“There will be strictly no exceptions. Demonstrations will be banned and broken up,” said Interior Minister Manuel Valls.
Tunisia’s Islamist-led government also banned protests against the images published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Four people were killed and almost 30 wounded last week when the U.S. embassy was stormed in a protest over the film.
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