Bangladesh holds massive protest over French cartoons

27 October 2020, 11:04

Bangladeshi protest
Bangladesh France Protest. Picture: PA

Around 10,000 people protested in Dhaka against Emmanuel Macron’s strong defence of the freedom of speech.

Around 10,000 people have rallied in the capital of Bangladesh to protest against the French president and his staunch support of laws that deem caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad as protected under freedom of speech.

Protesters from the conservative Islami Andolon Bangladesh group, which supports the introduction of a blasphemy law in the Muslim-majority country, carried banners and placards in Dhaka reading: “All Muslims of the world, unite”, and: “Boycott France”.

It is the largest protest against the cartoons in recent days.

Anti-French protest
Thousands of people took to the streets (AP)

Some carried portraits of French president Emmanuel Macron with an “X” on his face. One protester carried a cut-out image of the French president with shoes around his neck, as an insult.

The issue has once again come to light in recent days following the beheading of a French teacher near Paris after he had shown caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in class.

The 18-year-old Chechen refugee who carried out the attack was later shot dead by police.

The teacher, Samuel Paty, has been heralded as a symbol of France’s staunch secular ideals and its rejection of religious intrusion in public spheres.

Mr Macron and members of his government have vowed to continue supporting such caricatures as protected under freedom of expression.

Bangladesh rally
Anti-French slogans were presented at the rally (AP)

Muslim politicians, religious scholars and everyday people have condemned such depictions as a form of hate speech and view them as sacrilegious and insulting to Islam.

Muslims have been calling for both protests and a boycott of French goods in response to France’s stance on caricatures of Islam’s most revered prophet.

Five years ago, French-born al-Qaida extremists killed 12 employees of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in response to its publication of caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Those cartoons also sparked mass protests in Muslim-majority countries, with some turning deadly.

Iran has summoned a French diplomat to protest against France’s stance on the caricatures.

A report by state TV said an Iranian foreign ministry official told the French diplomat that Paris’ response in the aftermath of Mr Paty’s killing was “unwise”, and that France was permitting hatred against Islam under the guise of support for freedom of expression.

Anti-French protest
Supporters of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh carry a cutout of French president Emmanuel Macron with a garland of footwear around it (AP)

A powerful association of clerics in the Iranian city of Qom also urged the government to condemn Mr Macron.

Iranian hard-line newspaper Vatan-e Emrooz depicted Mr Macron as the devil and called him Satan in a cartoon on its front page on Tuesday.

Pakistan’s parliament passed a resolution condemning the publication of cartoons of the prophet.

In Saudi Arabia, the state-run Saudi Press Agency put out a statement from the foreign ministry saying the kingdom “rejects any attempt to link Islam and terrorism, and denounces the offensive cartoons of the prophet”.

Saudi clerics have also condemned the caricatures, but have also cited the prophet’s “mercy, justice, tolerance”. Another prominent sheikh called on Muslims not to over-react.

Protest in Bangladesh
Mr Macron was the target of the protesters’ anger (AP)

The Arab Gulf state of Qatar also condemned what it described as “the dramatic escalation of populist rhetoric” inciting religious abuse.

The government said inflammatory speech is fuelling calls for the repeated targeting of nearly two billion Muslims around the world through the deliberate offending of the Prophet Muhammad, and has led to an increase in hostility toward Muslims.

Bangladeshi protesters gathered in front of the main Baitul Mokarram Mosque in Dhaka on Tuesday morning.

The group walked toward the French Embassy, but police intercepted the march, which ended without violence.

Protests have also been held recently in Iraq, Turkey and the Gaza Strip.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Video footage shows the convoy had emergency lights flashing when it was hit

Israel admits ‘mistakenly’ killing 15 aid workers after video leak contradicted official version of events

Jaguar Land Rover has paused shipments to the US in the wake of 'Liberation Day' tariffs

Jaguar Land Rover halts shipments to US in wake of tariffs as Trump insists he'll win 'economic revolution'

Flowers and toys left on a swing seat to commemorate victims killed in Russia's missile attack on Friday

Death toll from Russian strike on Zelenskyy's home town rises as 18 confirmed dead - including nine children

Donald Trump's 10% tariff on UK products has officially come into force

Trump tariffs come into force as global stock markets plunge deeper into the red

Tom Howard

British tourist killed after being struck by boulder on trek through Himalayas

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, a car burns following a Russian missile attack that killed more than a dozen people, including children, in Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine, Friday, April 4, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Russia kills 16 people including three children in missile strike on Zelenskyy's home town, with dozens wounded

Travel influencer Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, 24, made an illegal visit to North Sentinel Island

Tourist who left Coke for world's most isolated tribe 'could have wiped them all out' - and police 'can't go collect can'

White House weighs in to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

White House looking to support ‘censored’ anti-abortion activists in Britain

This image provided by NASA shows Nick Hague, right, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore. (NASA via AP)

Stranded NASA astronauts reveal they were almost trapped in space 'forever' after horror malfunction

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen'

Donald Trump demands France 'free Marine Le Pen' after far-right leader found guilty of embezzlement in 'witch hunt'

China will impose a 34% retaliatory tariff on imports from the US

China announces additional 34% tariffs on US imports in retaliation over Trump's 'Liberation Day' levies

Friends of Prince Andrew say he's "unsurprised" Giuffre made the post

Prince Andrew 'not surprised' his accuser shared shock post saying she had 'four days to live'

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol

South Korea president Yoon Suk Yeol removed from office as impeachment upheld over martial law declaration

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’