Thousands of Muslims take up the streets of London.

A demonstration by thousands of UK mainstream Muslims protesting against controversial cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad is under way.

Several thousands packed in to London's Trafalgar Square waving banners calling for unity against Islamophobia.

The rally started peacefully, allaying fears of disruption by extremists.

The event aims to explain the views of moderate Muslims towards cartoons published in a Danish newspaper which led to worldwide protests.

Organisers also said it aims to dissociate the mainstream Muslim community from a "minority of extremists".

BBC - Thousands join Pro-Islam protest

Finally the moderate Muslims in Britian speak out peacefully against the cartoons and condemn the remarks made by radicals last week friday in London.

The event was organised by the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Association of Britain, with the backing of a number of Christian groups, peace organisations and the Mayor of London.

Good for them .
But I doubt much of the MSM will give this any attention. I hope to be proven wrong.

Originally posted by Umbrax
Good for them

.
But I doubt much of the MSM will give this any attention. I hope to be proven wrong.

It didn't recieve as much attention as the "couple of hundred" protest which happend last week did.. Oh well, its the way it is.

Violence sells in todays media. All you hear on the news is about kidnappings, murders, crimes, stuff like that. You rarely ever hear of good things. like the Salvation Army raising money for the poor children, or how the local police save people from accidents.
Violence sells, its that simple.

All sources I can find for this protest mention around 4,000 people turned up to protest, but the expected was 30,000. So that's nearly a 10th of the projected attendance rate.



British newspapers (Telegraph, Gaurdian etc) and world wide news providers on the Internet also claim the 30,000 figure, yet one news source stands out from the rest, which I find interesting. The BBC, who (ofcourse) just happens to be British, and from the country the protests are taking place. It interests me as to why the BBC are taking a pro-islamic stance on this issue. Britains population is 1/16th Muslim. What do the BBC stand to gain for false reporting?



So in contrast, the BBC claims, and I quote:

The numbers attending were slightly less than expected at the rally, backed by London Mayor Ken Livingstone.

Would you say that the difference between 4,000 and 30,000 is ''Slightly Less''. ?



Source:
news.bbc.co.uk...
In pictures: Pro-Islam protests

[edit on 11-2-2006 by Ph03ziX]

[edit on 11-2-2006 by Ph03ziX]

[edit on 11-2-2006 by Ph03ziX]

Mayor supporting pro-Islam rally
news.bbc.co.uk...

Ken Livingstone said: "Unlike some of the BBC's coverage, it will allow the views of the mainstream Muslim community to be properly heard."

Mr Livingstone said: "Too many media outlets have given excessive weight to the fringes of this argument including giving a platform to racists."




Thousands of Muslims protest in London over cartoons
uk.news.yahoo.com...

Publication of the cartoons was a "calculated and gratuitous insult to the Muslim community," Livingstone said...

"There is no excuse for breaking the law and anyone who does so should and will face prosecution, but there is no getting away from the fact that this whole episode has allowed much of Europe's media to engage in an orgy of Islamophobia," he said.

I find this all very strange, he is attacking the British media, when they failed to publish any images out of respect for Muslims feelings in Britian. UNLIKE other European states. So why does he attack his own people instead of praise them? (Shakes Head). Is he a Muslim? No. Does he have millions of potential votes to re-elect his as Mayor if he does this? Yes.

Mr Livingstone fails to mention the BBC censored itself from showing any images of the cartoons, and that the British Police warned two newspapers who tried to stand up for their rights to print what they like (cartoon), that if they did, they won't protect them from being
attacked! So basically back-door censorship.

www.guardian.co.uk...

If the protesters want to ban free speech, then turning up to protest IS free speech. Huh?!

He's calling us Islamophobes, when not one anti-islam protest took place after 9/11, 7/11 or after Islamic fanatics were on the streets calling for British citizens to be executed. This is exceptional tolerance by the British.

Also nobody protested (years ago) when Abu Hamza used to sit in the middle of the road (blocking traffic) and call for British people to be murdered, backed up by thugs in masks. Infact the Police let them do it! Surely this is evidence enough the British are tolerant of other relgions, even lunatics, which is why they all come to Britian in the first place.



Compare this behaviour to any other country, a developed one, and then an Islamic one.

Imagine a large group of people calling for the death of Americans in down town New York dressed up as terrorists, and the NYPD
just sit there and let them do it. They get arrested. Imagine that in Pakistan? They'd all be killed on the spot in the most horrific
way possible, pulled apart like a pack of wild dogs.

Surely we, the British, are the exact reverse of what the Mayor of London calls us? Compare our behaviour and tolerance compared to the countries these people have emmigrated from. Infact if life was so great under Islam, why come here?

He fails to mention Arab press prints daily 'offensive' cartoons of Jews, and he says nothing about that. London has a large Jewish community. No jews protest, they ignore it as they're educated people not robots.

A woman on TV was saying that these cartoons are ''racist''. A religion is not race.

Muslims are now going to get free speech banned in Britian because of this, yet who's country is it? Who's culture is it? It's Britains, not Islams.

I cannot understand if 'Islam' is a religion of peace, then the first thing that Islam brings to Britian and Europe is a denial of free speech/opinion.
Women have battled to get equal rights, yet suddenly we've moved back 2,000 years and have people in hoods. If a British Christian girl wore a hood to school (with eye slits) she'd probably be sectioned under the mental health act and locked up for being insane.

Having an opinion that is not the same as others, is life. Having people upset you is life. Get over it. I can accept people wearing hoods, if they can accept women don't do that in our country, and a woman who shows some leg, is not a 'whore'.

This is the first time in my life in this country that a relgious group has caused so much trouble. Everyone else, be they Africans, Chinese, etc we all seem to get along just fine, as they (ofcourse) aren't brainwashed
with a belief system that refuses to compromise and cries when it can't get it's own way.

Why can't this 'religion of peace' accept this, and intergrate into European society instead of threatening violence?

Everyone else seems to be able to...

[edit on 11-2-2006 by Ph03ziX]

AM I the only one who thinks " THIS IS A FRICKIN' CARTOON?" No one wants to purposely offend anothers religion but, that needs to be matched with at least an 18th century definition of freedom of the press.

I love the people but hate the idea that the WORLD must fear offending someone who has a view of the world that blended in with the people from the 12th century. Europeans fought this BS repeatedly and almost wiped ourselves out. One would think that the reading of history books would be helpful.

Originally posted by Ph03ziX
British newspapers (Telegraph, Gaurdian etc) and world wide news providers on the Internet also claim the 30,000 figure, yet one news source stands out from the rest, which I find interesting. The BBC, who (ofcourse) just happens to be British, and from the country the protests are taking place. It interests me as to why the BBC are taking a pro-islamic stance on this issue. Britains population is 1/16th Muslim. What do the BBC stand to gain for false reporting?

In one of those BBC pictures it says the police was expecting around 10,000 so BBC might have went with those numbers.

The Muslims that protested today didnt want to ban the Freedom of Speech.
And about livingstone he did specifically say "much of European media" so in his words that doesnt have to include the British one.

[edit on 11-2-2006 by shire19]

Peeps, I think you should take a look at this site. It is pretty enlightening with regards to Islam and is certainly an eye opener for the way they look upon us non-believers.

Islam Q&A

Here are some quotes:

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly:

We have quoted on several previous occasions the evidence to prove that it is not permissible for a Muslim to settle in any kaafir country except in cases of need or necessity, subject to certain conditions.

Or:

Praise be to Allaah.

Studying in mixed schools, institutes and universities is not permitted. The evils that exist in these institutions because of that mixing are no secret, let alone the fact that people do not learn much, if anything, in these institutions. Wise people even in kaafir countries have called for segregation between the sexes in educational institutions because of the moral damage they have noticed and the weakening of educational standards. Trustworthy have scholars have issued fatwas stating that this kind of education is not permissible.

The scholars of the Standing Committee said:

It is haraam for male and female students and teachers to mix in educational institutions, because of the fitnah and provocation of desires and immoral conduct that results from that. The gravity of the sin is compounded if the female teachers and students uncover any part of their ‘awrahs or wear see-through or tight clothing, or if the students or teachers flirt or joke together, which may lead to transgression of limits and violation of honour.

If you read through the site and see some of the edicts that are handed out, it can be quite scary!

Why do they immigrate to our countries, just to stay in little 'pocket' communities and isolate themselves?

back on topic. It is a cartoon, get over it. If you want to protest, go to denmark, don't protest in our countries.

We have quoted on several previous occasions the evidence to prove that it is not permissible for a Muslim to settle in any kaafir country except in cases of need or necessity, subject to certain conditions.

Obviously, since 1.6 million Muslims do live in the UK, apparently they don't seem to agree with this particular rule. It's a claim by this particular website, I wouldn't presume this website speaks on behalf of all of Islam.

I believe large numbers of Muslims also attend mixed schools in the US and Europe, so they don't appear to be paying much attention to that "rule" either.

[edit on 2/11/06 by xmotex]