Reactions to the publication of caricatures ridiculing the Prophet Mohamed in a French magazine have been overwhelmingly peaceful, reports Ahmed Morsy Dozens of demonstrators organised a peaceful sit-in outside the French embassy in Murad Street in Giza last Friday in order to protest against the cartoons published in a French magazine last week mocking the Prophet Mohamed. The cartoons, published by the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on 19 September, prompted the French Foreign Ministry to close its diplomatic missions in 20 countries in anticipation of an angry public response. Due to the publication of the cartoons, protesters staged a march from the Omar Makram Mosque near Tahrir Square in Cairo following Friday prayers, heading towards the French embassy where security forces had blocked the roads and cordoned off the building. The protesters chanted slogans denouncing what they called the repeated insults against the Prophet Mohamed, with some calling on the Egyptian government to cut its ties with Washington and Paris. Precautionary security measures had been taken in the vicinity of the French embassy in order to avoid any recurrence of last week's conflict between protesters and the security forces stirred up in the wake of the contentious US-made anti-Islam film The Innocence of Muslims. The protests against the French cartoons were peaceful and there were fewer protesters. "The cartoon protests were more civilised and peaceful for several reasons," political analyst Mustafa Kamel Al-Sayed told Al-Ahram Weekly. "Comparing the two, I think the anti-Islam film received more publicity since its trailer was posted on YouTube and aired by one of the Egyptian satellite channels. It was also reported that the film was produced by members of the Coptic Diaspora and that created additional sensitivity." "The Islamist parties, topped by the Salafist Nour Party and the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), also mobilised the public to protest against the film. This did not happen in the case of the caricatures," Al-Sayed said. The Nour Party and the FJP were reluctant to stage demonstrations denouncing the French caricatures. "It was a peaceful demonstration," Seifeddin Abdel-Fatah, presidential adviser for political affairs, told the Weekly, noting that it was time for everyone to learn how to protest in a civilised manner. "The Friday peaceful protest in the vicinity of the French embassy was similar to the one staged around the US embassy on the first day of the demonstrations, which unfortunately became tragic on following days," he added. Reacting to the cartoons, the FJP issued a statement asking the French government to take action against the magazine, though Abdel-Moneim Abdel-Maksoud, a lawyer for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, was not in favour of the formation of a Franco-Egyptian legal team tasked with taking legal action against Charlie Hebdo. In a statement, the FJP said it viewed the timing of the publication of the cartoons just days after the American-made film as "suspicious". Al-Sayed said that he did not view the publication of the cartoons as an indication of a campaign against Islam. "The reaction of the French newspaper was traditional. Its aim was to stress that freedom of expression should be defended," Al-Sayed said. Commenting on Friday's peaceful demonstrations, Hassan Hamdi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader and former MP, said that the public had become more aware of such publications that were offensive to Islam. "The FJP refrained from protesting in order not to let troublemakers and lawbreakers exploit the demonstrations, as they did last week when they got involved in vandalism and attacked the US embassy along with the police," Hamdi told the Weekly. For his part, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius defended freedom of expression, but warned that Charlie Hebdo could be throwing "oil on the fire" by publishing the cartoons and saying that it was up to the courts to decide whether the magazine had gone too far. Charlie Hebdo had earlier courted controversy when last November the magazine's front-page was subtitled "Sharia Hebdo," a reference to Islamic law, and showed caricatures of radical Muslims. The newspaper's offices were destroyed in a firebomb attack just hours before the edition hit the newsstands. In 2006, Charlie Hebdo reprinted the caricatures carried by a Danish newspaper in 2005 that had stoked anger across the Islamic world. Many other European papers reprinted the drawings in the name of media freedom, though Charlie Hebdo faced legal challenges for doing so, eventually being acquitted by a Paris court in 2008 after being charged with "publicly abusing a group of people because of their religion". The complaint had been filed by Muslim associations. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has stressed that "freedom of expression is guaranteed [in France], including the freedom to caricature," adding that anyone offended by the cartoons could "go to court". "This is not freedom of speech. This is an attack on humanity, an attack on religion, and an attack on human rights," the grand mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, told CNN, commenting on the earlier US-made film that had denigrated the Prophet Mohamed. Denouncing the publication of the cartoons in France as an act verging on incitement, Gomaa said in a statement published on the Reuters blog FaithWorld that the publication showed how polarised the West and the Muslim world had become. His statement echoed a statement from Al-Azhar that condemned the caricatures but said that any protest against them should be peaceful. Gomaa said the Prophet Mohamed and his companions had endured "the worst insults from the non-believers of his time. Not only was his message routinely rejected, but he was often chased out of town, cursed and physically assaulted on numerous occasions." "But his example was always to endure all personal insults and attacks without retaliation of any sort. There is no doubt that since the prophet is our greatest example all Muslims should follow his path." Last week, an Egyptian Interpol official announced that the organisation was seeking the issuing of a "red bulletin" against the eight defendants implicated in producing the US-made film. "The warrant for their arrest was issued in Egypt against the defendants after the prosecutor-general accused them of committing crimes harming the unity of the nation and defaming the Islamic religion," said the head of Egypt's Interpol office, General Magdi Al-Shafei. Al-Shafei said that his office had asked its counterpart in the US to arrest the defendants. While the US has condemned the film as reprehensible, it is unlikely that it will prosecute the filmmakers, who are entitled to constitutional protections of free speech and expression as American citizens. Asked about the feasibility of the warrant for their arrest as long as the US government refuses to take action against the filmmakers, Al-Sayed said that "this is a procedure that confirms that the filmmakers are wanted for investigation in Egypt. Hence, it imposes pressures on them one way or another even if they do not come to Egypt."
