By Joshua Partlow and Javed Hamdard, Sunday, April , 10:09 AM

KABUL--For the third straight day, Afghans took to the streets Sunday to protest the burning of a Koran in Florida, with demonstrations that were mostly peaceful, a marked contrast to the first two days of violence that left at least 20 people dead.

Hundreds of people blocked the main highway in Jalalabad, an important city in eastern Afghanistan. Demonstrators burned an an effigy of President Obama and chanted anti-American slogans. Among the protestors were many students from a local university who called for the prosecution of Florida pastor Terry Jones, according to Ahmad Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor.

On March 20, Jones, the pastor of a tiny Florida church, declared Islam’s holy book “guilty of crimes against humanity” and ordered it set ablaze in a portable fire pit.

Sunday’s demonstration ended peacefully, as did another one in Parway province, the home of Bagram Air Field, a large NATO military base north of Kabul. There, protestors burned tires and blocked a highway. A second day of demonstrations Saturday in Kandahar, however, was more volatile, as protestors who turned out to a downtown mosque clashed with police. Twenty people were injured, the Associated Press reported.

The ongoing tumult prompted Gen. David Petraeus, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, and his civilian counterpart, Ambassador Mark Sedwill, to issue a statement reiterating “our condemnation of any disrespect to the Holy Qu’ran and the Muslim faith.”

“We condemn, in particular, the action of an individual in the United States who recently burned the Holy Qu’ran,” the statement said. “We further hope that Afghan people understand that the actions of a small number of individuals, who have been extremely disrespectful to the Holy Qu’ran, are not representative of any of the countries of the international community who are in Afghanistan to help the Afghan people.”

When Jones first threatened last year to burn a Koran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Petraeus was among several top U.S. officials who strongly urged against it and warned about the troubling consequences that could arise in Afghanistan. Jones eventually called off the event.

Then in January, Jones announced that he was going to “put the Koran on trial,” and said he didn’t hear a single complaint. The “trial” was held March 20, and the holy text subsequently burned.

Tensions erupted Friday when a mob, angry about the burning, attacked the United Nations compound in the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-e-Sharif, killing seven U.N. employees and destroying the offices. Another bloody day followed in Kandahar, when police fought with protestors, leaving at least 9 dead and more than 80 others injured.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose comments about the Koran burning brought it to the attention of many Afghans, raised the issue again in a statement Sunday. He said that in a national security council meeting he discussed the issue with U.S. officials and reiterated that “those people who are responsible for burning the holy Koran should be arrested soon.”


http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/afghan-protests-over-florida-koran-burning-continue-for-third-straight-day/2011/04/03/AF5a8kUC_print.html

Awon eleyii won madt gaan.

This belongs in the Foreign Affairs Section.

Buhari's men will soon join the protest

I'm a fan of freedom of speech. Unfortunately, in this particular case, freedom of speech comes at a huge cost.

In a perfect world, people would learn that it is not OK to go rampaging just because some guy in another country burned your holy book.

What the pastor did might be distasteful to many, but it doesn't violate any of the laws of his country (the US), nor any fundamental human rights. Guys in Afghanistan have no justification for taking the actions they took.

If my next door neighbor decides to pile up a Bible, Koran, and Bhagavad Gita, etc and set them all on fire, he will have offended many in my neighborhood. But that won't be enough reason for those offended to kill him, shoot him, cause mayhem, etc.

@EzeUche: Foreign Affairs is not as widely trafficked as this section. No point posting it there; nobody would see it.

The "pastor" knew that his actions will lead to huge problems. He is mentally unstable. A normal pastor will not do what he did.

I can't understand how the US allows that bufoon to keep walking free!
It is obvious that the man is a sick attention seeker who feels he can get away with such behaviour under the protection of freedom of speech.

The US must weigh the cost of both the mans physical freedom and the freedom of his speech against the blood spilt in protests and US national security.

^-- He is untouchable. No one has any pretext to arrest him; there are no laws against burning religious texts in the US.

He burned his property, a book. That to my knowledge is not illegal.

That this particular property of his has great significance to lots of people is not enough reason for him to be arrested. What he did was perfectly within his rights. Unfortunately, some people responded very poorly to his actions.

While i wont condone any form of incitement, i find d action and response very funny, really. It is so funny how pastor Jones has been taunting d muslims and how d muslims from their end react predictably to his mischief. I only see more pastor jones coming up to play d joke again and again while d muslims fall over themselves again and again. At least they can, as long as theres no clear law stopping them.

But what is this "incitement" stuff? Are the Afghans robots or zombies? Must they respond in such a horrific manner to someone doing something disrespectful? To the point that 20 people are dead?

In this matter, the pastor gets 1% of the blame, the Afghans 99%. They are the ones violating the law and causing mayhem, not him. They are the ones with blood on their hands, not him.

A reasonable person has to ignore certain insults. Or should I go on a rampaging mayhem and kill a bunch of Koreans just because some pastor in Korea says something bad about black people 

Beaf:

I can't understand how the US allows that bufoon to keep walking free!
It is obvious that the man is a sick attention seeker who feels he can get away with such behaviour under the protection of freedom of speech.

The US must weigh the cost of both the mans physical freedom and the freedom of his speech against the blood spilt in protests and US national security.

I agree with you. That was an insensitive act possibly an incitement, he clearly knew the consequences for US National security and the possible physical harm it could do to others.

Unfortunately, he will probably get away with it, The marauding Afghan killers and the Koran burning pastor are extremist fo.ols cut from the same silly cloth.

If only ppl can be like me they would simply ignore the attention seeking man.

If he burns it and no one took any notice, Maybe he would burn himself to make them notice

Any religious follower who engages in wanton destruction of properties and human life simply because an ordinary paper or a bundle of papers was burnt is drooling fool and the religion in question is gutter religion.

Anybody can burn bible and there shall be no riot. Who the hell do these Muslims think they are?

What is the relationship btwn UN(and the 20 killed folks) and US pastor
The world wud def. be a better place without religious fanatics and extremists;Xtians and Moslems.

Is this another one? March 20?
Wasnt there one last year too? Or is it the same pastor?

Anywaz, they have the right to protest. . . . as long as they burn and protest in their country.

I lived in the arab world where they believe every evil person, trend or event is from Isreal, even an outbreak of any disease is related to isreal, come on guys i think for the muslim, that pastor is jewish.

ifyalways:

What is the relationship btwn UN(and the 20 killed folks) and US pastor
The world wud def. be a better place without religious fanatics and extremists;Xtians and Moslems.

the protestors thought it was an american base before attacking it

the afghanis have the right to fight for their country against an occupation, their rage is understandable

Ileke-IdI:

Is this another one? March 20?
Wasnt there one last year too? Or is it the same pastor?

Anywaz, they have the right to protest. . . . as long as they burn and protest in their country.

It's the same guy! That's why it is annoying.

He caused so much stir last time and he's still making a lot of noise about it now. He didn't just do it in his backyard and shut up. He decided to make it public for the whole world to watch.

dayokanu:

If only ppl can be like me they would simply ignore the attention seeking man.

If he burns it and no one took any notice, Maybe he would burn himself to make them notice

+1