Tens of thousands of Nigerians on Saturday protested on the streets of Nigeria’s city of Kano against an anti-Islam film made in the US that has stirred outrage across the Muslim world.
The crowd of demonstrators stretched several kilometres through the city, the largest in Nigeria’s mainly Muslim north, with protesters shouting “death to America, death to Israel and death to the enemies of Islam”.
There had been protests in Zaria, in Kaduna state and an attempt to stage one in the volatile city of Jos was broken with the security agencies firing guns into the air to dismiss the demonstrators.
The rally was being organised by the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, a pro-Iranian group that adheres to the Shiite branch of Islam, which has operated in Africa’s most populous country since the late 1970s.
“We are out today to express our rage and disapproval over this blasphemous film,” said Muhammed Turi, a member of the Islamic Movement and one of the protest leaders.
“This protest is also aimed at calling on the US government to put a halt to further blasphemy against Islam,” he added.
Demonstrators carried pictures of US President Barack Obama, as well as American and Israeli flags as they marched towards a palace owned the Emir of Kano, the top religious figure in the city of roughly 4.5 million people.
Others were waving Iranian flags.
The low-budget film “Innocence of Muslims,” has incited a wave of bloody anti-American violence in cities across the Muslim world, with protests occurring in more than 20 countries. In Pakistan, 15 people reportedly died in the protests.
PMNews
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