An estimated 3,000 persons demonstrated in Oslo over the weekend, to protest a local newspaper’s publication of a caricature of the prophet Mohammed.
Despite fears the demonstrations would turn violent, they proceeded peacefully, but one Muslim speaker stirred controversy and offense anew when he warned that a terrorist attack could occur in Norway as they did in New York and London.
That upset otherwise tolerant Norwegians, and even other Muslim activists condemned the warning by Mohyeldeen Mohammad. All agreed it was the first time such a radical view had been expressed publicly in Norway, and one local Muslim activist dismissed it as “an utterly marginal voice.”
Mohammad Usman Rana told newspaper Aftenposten that Mohammad’s warning was “un-Islamic” and claimed it did not represent the views of the vast majority of Muslims in Norway. Rana said he doesn’t know Mohyeldeen Mohammad personally, but said the 24-year-old is known for having issued some radical views over the Internet.
By Views and News staff
