Posted by NEWS on 23/5/2005, 17:30:29 More than 300 Islamic protesters chanted the name of Osama bin Laden and then torched the American flag outside the US Embassy in London today. The demonstration “against the desecration of the Koran in Guantanamo Bay” was led by controversial fundamentalist preachers Omar Bakri Mohammed and Yassar al-Siri. Angry protesters including up to 50 women, some of whom had brought their children, chanted death threats to President George W Bush. Some of the men were in military khakis and many had their faces covered by their keffiyehs. At one point, while Bakri was speaking, a group within the crowd set light to the Stars and Stripes and a wooden cross just yards from the front steps of the embassy. In a speech Bakri then exhorted his followers: “It’s about time for the whole world to realise Islam is the truth. “The giant of the Islamic state is going to rise again, it is only a matter of time before Shariah is implemented. “Go home and be part of the global struggle, the global jihad.” Police kept a low profile with only a dozen uniformed officers standing outside the front of the embassy. The demonstration follows controversy over an article in the American magazine Newsweek alleging desecration of the Koran in Guantanamo Bay. The report, which alleged that a copy of the Koran was flushed down a toilet by interrogators, was retracted by Newsweek following a blistering attack from the White House but it has been blamed for anti-American riots in Pakistan and Afghanistan. At today’s demonstration in London former Guantanamao Bay detainee Martin Mubanga, from Wembley, north London, said he had seen the Koran desecrated there and that it sparked a hunger strike by detainees. Mr Mubanga, who was released in January after three years in Guantanamo Bay, said: “The soldiers thought I was a dangerous man, a martial artist, so they liked to fight me – this was one of the methods they used, throwing the Koran, my Koran, on the floor in my cell. “ He said the detainees had made clear that it was important that the Koran was never thrown on the floor and asked for notices to inform American soldiers of this. “We were not asking to have a gymnasium, we weren’t asking to have swimming pools, only that they did not touch the Koran,” he said. “But time and time again new units, new soldiers would come and they would use the excuse that these new soldiers did not know how to handle issues around the Koran. “A simple notice in every cell would have appeased the brothers but they refused to do this, so the brothers refused to comply with other things, including going out of their cell for interrogation. “Therefore, many brothers were forced to do so and had their heads and beards shaved. “I witnessed one myself who was beaten, offering no resistance, and he very nearly lost his eye. I also witnessed a man over 60 years of age being dragged out by the extraction force for participating in the protest against the treatment of the Koran. “This is not something new. It is something old. It’s a shame we have had to wait for a magazine to publish and then retract a story concerning the treatment of the Koran.” Abu Musa, spokesman for the Supporters Of Shariah, said: “The fact that article was withdrawn makes no difference, we have first-hand testimony. “America is quite happy to desecrate the Koran all over the world. It is physical desecration of the Koran but I think the greater danger is in the ideological desecration of the Koran by imposing democracy. “Two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, have been bombed into democracy and it is not something Muslims will tolerate. It is about time that Muslims stood up to it.” The crowd, led for much of the time by Mr al-Siri on a megaphone, chanted slogans including “USA watch your back, Osama is coming back”, “Kill, kill USA, kill, kill George Bush”, “Nuke, nuke New York” and “George Bush, you will pay, with your blood, with your head”. They also chanted “UK you will pay, Zarqawi is on his way“. They later held Friday prayers in the street outside the embassy in Grosvenor Square. Syrian-born Mr Bakri, a father of seven, moved to the UK in 1985 after being deported from Saudi Arabia because of his membership of a banned group. Mr al-Siri, a book-seller originally from Egypt, has been in the UK for a decade. He was accused by the United States Government of funding terrorism but was discharged by a UK court several years ago after then Home Secretary David Blunkett decided there was not enough evidence for him to be extradited.
Islamic Protest Outside US Embassy
By Nick Allen, PA Chief Reporter
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