Afghan students protest Danish cartoons, Dutch film

Mar 9, 2008, 10:05 GMT

Kabul - Muslim students demonstrated Sunday in eastern Afghanistan to protest the reprint of a cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in Denmark and an upcoming Dutch film said to be critical of Islam's holy book.

The protesters marched down the main road Nangarhar provincial capital Jalalabad, provincial police spokesman Ghafoor Khan told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

'It was a very peaceful demonstration that lasted only for two hours. The Afghan police forces provided security for the mob,' Khan said.

Khan estimated the number of protesters at about 1,400. Jalalabad university student Habib ul-Rahman claimed at least 3,000 protesters took part.

The protesters chanted 'Death to Denmark and death to Holland' and burned flags of both countries, Rahman said.

'When the Danish papers printed the cartoons of our prophet in the first time, the whole Islamic world denounced it,' Rahman said. 'When they printed it for the second time, it shows a clear enmity with Islam and Muslims.'

The protesters also shouted anti-America slogans and 'some were even shouting 'long live Taliban', 'long live al-Qaeda'' said Mujib Agha, a shopkeeper who was forced to close his shop during the demonstration.

Eastern Nangahar province, once the hideout for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, shares a long border with Pakistan.

The demonstration in Jalalabad followed similar protests in other parts of the country the previous week. More than 10,000 people demonstrated in western Herat province Saturday.

The initial publication of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper in 2006 sparked widespread condemnation and demonstrations throughout the Islamic world.

Several people were killed in bloody demonstrations in Afghanistan then after police opened fire on protesters.

A leading Danish newspaper recently reprinted the cartoons after the Danish police discovered a plot to kill the artist.