Video Muslims protest at Google London
http://bit.ly/RIV7pt
A protest by 10,000 Muslims outside the offices of Google in London today is
just the first in an orchestrated attempt to force the company to remove an
anti-Islamic film from website YouTube in Britain.
Thousands had travelled from as far afield as Glasgow to take part in the
demonstration, ahead of a planned million-strong march in Hyde Park in
coming weeks.
"This is not freedom of expression, there is a limit for that. This insult
of the Prophet will not be allowed.
The group's next action was a march Mr Alam hoped would be "a million
strong" would take place in Hyde Park "in the next few weeks", he said.
"Until it is banned we will keep protesting," he added.
Today's demonstration was the third organised in a month, and took place on
the central London street where the website search giant has its UK
headquarters. A demonstration outside the American Embassy in London last
month drew little attention as protests in Libya, Tunisia and Yemen
dominated headlines, including the storming of embassy in Benghazi, Libya,
that led to the death of the US Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens.
Barricades were erected in front of Google's headquarters and a crowd
bearing placards with the words "We love our prophet more than our lives"
and "Prophet Muhammad is the founder of freedom of speech" had amassed by
lunchtime.
Speeches by more than a dozen imams in a mixture of Arabic, Urdu, and
English urged Muslims to honour the name of the Prophet and not to back down
in the face of Google's continuing reluctance to act, and were met with
passionate cries of "God is Great" and "Mohammad is the Prophet of God" in
Arabic.
One of the speakers, Sheikh Faiz Al-Aqtab Siddiqui, told The Daily
Telegraph: "Terrorism is not just people who kill human bodies, but who kill
human feelings as well. The makers of this film have terrorised 1.6 billion
people.
"Organisations like Google are key players and have to take responsibility
for civility. You can't just say it doesn't matter that it's freedom of
speech. It's anarchy."
Sheikh Siddiqui, a barrister from Nuneaton, said he wanted to form a
coalition with the Church of England, Catholics, Jewish groups, Trade Unions
and even Conservatives to encourage their ranks to join his "campaign for
civility".
"We want everyone in society to recognise these people are wrecking our
fragile global society. We want the Church, the Synod, Jewish groups and
establishment figures involved," he said.
As many as 800 imams in mosques across Britain helped to organise today's
protest, which lasted four hours and blocked roads almost up to the Queen's
doorstep on Buckingham Palace Road.
Muslims from Blackburn, Birmingham, Glasgow, Luton, Manchester and
Peterborough were in attendance. When asked where where the women attending
the protest were, one protester replied: "Right at the back".
Self-employed businessman Ahmed Nasar said he was worried the video could
lead to violence in Britain in the same way as it had abroad. "If you push
people too far," he said, "You will turn the peaceful elements into
violence."
A YouTube spokesperson said: "We work hard to create a community everyone
can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions.
"This can be a challenge because what's OK in one country can be offensive
elsewhere. This video - which is widely available on the Web - is clearly
within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube."
