Street demonstrations in Katsina, Sokoto

There were street protests yesterday in Katsina and Sokoto states as Muslims expressed anger over the blasphemous movie. In Katsina, the protesters commenced their procession in the early hours of yesterday marching through major streets within the state capital, chanting various slogans of condemnation against the United Sate of America and other western countries.

They went through Sabon-Layi to Kwanar Gwan-Gwan; matched through Usman Na-Gwaggo road to Juma’at Mosque’s roundabout among other roads. The procession ended at Kangiwa square, Kofar Soro.

Leader of the protest, Usman Muhammad, told Weekly Trust that “we have organized the protest to express our anger over the recent movie produced just to tarnish the image of our Holy Prophet Muhammad.”

Muhammad said “the personality of the holy Prophet Muhammad is above everything to us, hence, we are ready to protect his integrity even if it means dying in the process.”

Contacted on phone, the Deputy Police Public Relation Office, ASP Shehu Koko Muhammad said police is aware of the demonstration and that it was peaceful.

Also, the Associated Press reported yesterday that protesters also entered the streets in Sokoto, a city in Nigeria’s northwest that is nation’s the spiritual home for Islam. Several demonstrations saw hundreds on the street, as protesters burned a U.S. flag.

“Time has come when the world should respect Islam as religion, because Muslims respect other people’s religion,” protester Abubakar Ahmed Rijia said.

Another protester, Nai’u Muhammed, said he believed people were deliberately trying to instigate Muslims into violence through criticizing the Prophet Muhammad.

“Islam is a religion of peace, but we cannot tolerate somebody abusing it,” Muhammed said.

The protests in Nigeria and elsewhere in the world focused on a movie, called “Innocence of Muslims,” which ridicules the Prophet Muhammad. Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any fashion, much less in an insulting way.