Anti-Charlie Hebdo protests continue in Niger

French citizens warned to stay indoors after protesters torch churches and police cars in the capital Niamey.

Four killed as crowds angered by cartoon of Prophet Muhammad attack French cultural centre and three churches. ( 17-Jan-2015 )

 

New protests broke out in Niamey after at least four people were killed in demonstrations in Zinder [AFP]

France's embassy in Niger has warned its citizens to stay indoors as violent protests continued against French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo's latest cartoons. In the second day of protests in Niger, stone-throwing demonstrators set fire to two churches and burned at least two police cars outside the main mosque in the capital Niamey on Saturday, after authorities banned a march organised by local Muslim leaders. "They offended our Prophet Muhammad. That's what we didn't like," protester Amadou Abdoul Ouahab told the Reuters news agency. "This is the reason why we have asked Muslims to come, so that we can explain this to them, but the state refused. That's why we're angry today." The French embassy said on its website: "Be very cautious, avoid going out." More churches burned Demonstrations were also reported in regional towns, including Maradi, 600km east of Niamey, where two churches were burned. Another church and a residence of the foreign minister were burned in the eastern town of Goure. No casualties were reported in any of the demonstrations. Four Muslim preachers who had convened the meeting in Niamey were arrested, police sources told Reuters. On Friday, at least one police officer and three civilians were killed in demonstrations against Charlie Hebdo's cartoons in Niger's second city of Zinder. Peaceful marches took place after Friday prayers in the capital cities of other West African countries - Mali, Senegal and Mauritania - and Algeria in North Africa, which are all also former French colonies. Thousands of Muslims demonstrated across the world on Friday, venting fury over the new Prophet Muhammad cartoon that Charlie Hebdo published in the wake of attacks on its offices and elsewhere in Paris last week. Many Muslims see any depiction of Islam's prophet as offensive, while many Western governments support Charlie Hebdo's position that publishing the cartoons is an exercise in freedom of expression.