Protests re: perceived insult to Islam; Hamas vows to protect Christians

Friday February 03, 2006 02:15 by Saed Bannoura-IMEMC & Agencies

Dr. Mahmoud Zahhar, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and a leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, said on Thursday, that the movement will not allow anybody or group to attack the Christians and the churches in the Palestinian territories.

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On Thursday morning, dozens of gunmen broke into the European Union office in Gaza, to protest a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons deemed insulting to Islam's Prophet Muhammad, the latest in a wave of violent denunciations of the caricatures across the Islamic world.

The gunmen, members of Al Yasser brigades, one of the armed wings of the Fateh party, and members of the Al Quds brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad, released a joint statement warning "the  insulters of Islam and the prophet that their deed would not go unpunished and the offices of the European Union and churches could be targets due to this insult."

The statement of the Brigades continued, saying that the offices of the European Union would remain closed until an apology was made for the insult.  They gave the governments of Denmark, Norway and France 48 hours to apologize to the Muslim world for the publishing and distribution of the cartoons, or they would shell the European Union offices in Gaza.

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