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February 27, 2006
A peaceful protest in Paris
Thousands of French citizens gathered in Paris on Sunday to protest the anti-Semitism that led to the murder of a 23 year old cellphone salesman.
Ilan Halimi, 23, was found naked with horrific injuries, three weeks after he was kidnapped by an extortion gang.The leader of the gang responsible for the horrendous crime comes from the Ivory Coast, although he is now a French citizen. Not long after the discovery of a dying Halimi, the suspect fled from France to the Ivory Coast, where he has been picked up for questioning and is now awaiting extradition back to France.Marchers on Sunday lit candles and released white balloons in his memory.
Among those at Sunday's rally were members of the government and the opposition, Jewish and anti-racism campaigners, and leaders of the Jewish and other religious communities.
Roger Cukierman, the head of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France said: "It's important for French society to realise that little anti-Semitic and racist prejudices can have terrible consequences."
The crowd included people of Jewish faith as well as others from different religious backgrounds. The young man was kidnapped and tortured because he was a Jew.
What is noteworthy here is that thousands of people went into the streets in Paris to demonstrate against anti-Semitism and there was no violence and no riots during the protest. What a difference between this situation, where a young man was tortured and murdered, and the scenes of violence that have erupted over a bunch of cartoons that depict a face with a turban that has a bomb fuse attached, a comedic caricature of a man some call prophet but others associate more with anger, violence, and terrorism than having anything to do with religion.
No comparison here to the imam-led, religious hatred-inspired, politically motivated, global Muslim riots over silly cartoons.
Cross posted for Maggie at Hyscience
Posted by Richard at February 27, 2006 7:18 AM
