Thousands of protestors for the second consecutive day marched through Dhaka streets in anti-France rallies over President Emmanuel Macron’s defence of cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed (pbuh).
A large number of demonstrators on Wednesday gathered in front of Baitul Mukarram National Mosque, under the banner of Islami Oikya Jote, and burned an effigy of President Macron.
During the march, the protestors chanted such slogans as “Boycott French products” and called for the French leader to be punished over his reported Islamophobic remarks and stance.
Islami Oikya Jote Chairman Maulana Abdul Hasnat said: “We demand that all French products be nationally boycotted.”
Befaqul Madarishil Arabia Bangladesh’s Mirpur branch also held a demonstration condemning the French president’s alleged anti-Islamic stance.
Protests held across Bangladesh
Anti-France protests were also reported in other parts of the country, including Gopalganj, Mymensingh, Jessore and Jamalpur.
Thousands of protestors took to the streets of Dhaka calling for a boycott of French products and denouncing French president Emmanuel Macron for his comments over Prophet Mohammed’s caricatures, on Wednesday, October 28, 2020 | Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka TribuneIslamist activists, scholars, teachers and madrasa students brought out rallies and formed human chains condemning the cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) in France.
Protestors in Jamalpur urged the government to summon the French ambassador to Bangladesh to condemn such anti-Islamic activities.
Also Read- Huge anti-France rally in Bangladesh as Macron backlash widens
In their demonstrations, the protesters urged all to boycott French products.
Of late, protests have erupted in Muslim-majority countries in the world along with calls to boycott French goods, after President Emmanuel Macron criticized Islamists and vowed not to "give up cartoons" depicting the Prophet.
Macron's comments, on Wednesday, came in response to the beheading of a teacher, Samuel Paty, outside his school in a suburb outside Paris earlier this month, after he had shown cartoons of the Prophet during a class he was leading on free speech, reports AFP.
Macron said the teacher "was killed because Islamists want our future."
Islami Oikya Jote holds an anti-France rally at Baitul Mukarram National Mosque in Dhaka on Wednesday, October 28, 2020 |Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka TribuneThe teacher became the target of an online hate campaign over his choice of lesson material -- the same images that unleashed a bloody assault by Islamist gunmen on the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, the original publisher, in January 2015.
Also Read- Prophet Muhammad cartoon protests hit Dhaka
Caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) are forbidden by Islam.
On Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the French president of "attacking Islam," after the European leader criticized Islamists and defended the publication of the Prophet's cartoons.
"By attacking Islam, clearly without having any understanding of it, President Macron has attacked & hurt the sentiments of millions of Muslims in Europe & across the world," he said in a tweet.
