By Mohammad Obaid PUL-I-ALAM, Afghanistan, March 5 (Reuters) - Around five thousand Afghans staged a protest on Wednesday to condemn the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammad in Danish papers, and Israeli raids on Gaza that have killed scores of Palestinians. The protest, the largest in recent days in Afghanistan, also called on the Muslim world to provide arms and funds for Palestinians against Israel and condemned plans by an anti-immigration Dutch politician to release a film on the Koran. Marching on the streets of Pul-i-Alam, the provincial capital of Logar province, the protesters included students and religious figures. They burnt Danish and Dutch flags and tore apart an effigy of Pope Benedict. Like several previous protests, the demonstrators demanded the withdrawal of Dutch and Danish troops who serve under NATO's command in Afghanistan. "The Muslims have no more tolerance. The government should sever its ties with Denmark and Holland and expel their forces from Afghanistan," said the protesters in a resolution. "Those who are behind the cartoons and the film must be tried ... and if not, as in the past, we the people of Logar are ready for any campaign," it said, referring to Afghan wars against British invaders in the 19th century and the then Soviet Union in the 1980s. One group of protesters, apparently in favour of the Taliban Islamic movement leading an insurgency against the government and foreign troops, chanted: "Long live the Mujahideen." Logar is to the south of Kabul. Militants from the Taliban, overthrown from power by U.S.-led troops in 2001, are active there. Afghanistan's Western-backed government has called the republication of the cartoon an attack against Islam, and one official has warned it would feed the insurgents, who are backed by al Qaeda. Several other Islamic countries have demanded the Koran film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders not be released. The controversial cartoons -- attacked for both depicting Mohammad and for what critics said were anti-Islamic messages -- were first printed in a Danish paper in 2005. They gained little initial attention but were later reprinted outside Denmark, sparking protests across the Muslim world in which dozens of people, some in Afghanistan, were killed.Danish newspapers reprinted one of the images last month in protest at what they said was a plot to murder the cartoonist who drew it. At least two Dutch papers published pictures of the Danish newspapers, with the cartoon visible. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Dutch television on Sunday he was concerned about the repercussions Wilders' plans may have for troops serving in Afghanistan and for Dutch people and businesses elsewhere in the world. The protests over Israeli policy relate to an operation in Gaza that has killed more than 120 Palestinians, which Israel said was aimed at ending rocket attacks launched at it from Gaza. (Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Editing by Jerry Norton)
Israeli Arabs demonstrate against Israel's offensive in Gaza in the northern Israeli town of Umm al-Fahm March 4, 2008. The sign in the background reads "Children above the siege". REUTERS/Ammar Awad ...
Afghanistan
