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DHAKA, KOMPAS.com – Some 10,000 people gathered in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday (10/27/2020) to protest against French President Emmanuel Macron and his support for secular laws protecting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad under the aegis of freedom of expression.
The protesters came from the conservative Islamic group Andolon Bangladesh, carrying placards and banners reading “All Muslims in the World United” and “Boycott France.”
The demonstration, according to reports Associated Press (AP) is the largest in the case of the publication of cartoons of the prophet Muhammad in recent times.
Several protesters carried clippings of President Macron with a cross (X) on their faces. One of them carried a large poster of the French president with a shoe necklace as a sign of humiliation.
Also read: Master beheaded for showing caricature of the prophet Muhammad, this said the French president
The problem stems from the case of the beheading of a teacher in France who was killed by an 18-year-old Chechen teenager, Abdoullakh Anzorov from Russia, who was shot dead by authorities.
The beheaded teacher Samuel Paty previously taught a free speech class that featured cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
It is a symbol of the staunchly secular ideals of France and the rejection of disruption in the name of religion in the public sphere.
Macron and members of his government have pledged to continue supporting the caricature of the great prophet of Islam who is protected by freedom of expression.
Muslim politicians, academics, and the majority of the Muslim community condemn such depictions as expressions of hatred and contempt for the sacred symbols of Islam.
In response, protesting Muslims called for a boycott of French products.
Also read: Muslim leaders in France ask Muslims to ignore the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
Five years ago, a French-born Al Qaeda extremist killed 12 employees of the French satire weekly Charlie Hebdo, in a severe response to the publication of a cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
The cartoons have also sparked mass protests in Muslim-majority countries, some of which have turned into deadly cases.
Protesters in Bangladesh gathered outside the main Baitul Mokarram mosque in central Dhaka on Tuesday morning local time.
They walked towards the French embassy, but the police blocked the protesters and ended it without violence.
Rezaul Karim, president of the Islamic group Andolon in Bangladesh, called on France to refrain from showing cartoons of the prophet.
Also read: Calling Islam in crisis, President Macron reaps Muslim criticism on social networks
“Muslims have never caricatured other religious leaders,” he said.
“Allah sent the Prophet Muhammad as a peacemaker … Macron and his colleagues have learned nothing from history,” he added, before calling on Muslims to boycott French products.
Karim also said that Macron should be treated for his “mental illness,” a statement similar to that made a few days earlier by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Erdogan was more vocal in his criticism among political leaders, saying Macron needed his head checked and that he had lost his way.
However, unlike Turkey, Pakistan and other Muslim-majority countries, Bangladesh’s political leaders did not call for protests.
Bangladesh itself is a country of 160 million people, mostly Muslim, governed by a secular constitution.
Also read: 4 facts about teachers beheaded in France for showing cartoons of the prophet Muhammad
