50 Killed Over Miss World Article

Religious Nuts go Nuts

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=515&e=2&u=/ap/20021121/ap_on_re_af/nigeria_miss_world

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) - Angry mobs stabbed and set fire to bystanders Thursday
in rioting that erupted after a newspaper suggested Islam's founding prophet
would have approved of the Miss World (news - web sites) beauty pageant. At
least 50 people were killed and 200 injured.
The violent demonstrators in the northern city of Kaduna burned churches and
rampaged through the streets until hundreds of soldiers were deployed to
restore calm and enforce a dusk-to-dawn curfew.

"A lot of people died. We don't know yet exactly how many ... more than 50,"
said Emmanuel Ijewere, the president of the Nigerian Red Cross.

Street demonstrations began Wednesday with the burning of an office of
ThisDay newspaper in Kaduna after it published an article questioning Muslim
groups that have condemned the Miss World pageant, to be held Dec. 7 in the
Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Muslim groups say the pageant promotes sexual promiscuity and indecency.

"What would (the prophet) Muhammad think? In all honesty, he would probably
have chosen a wife from among them (the contestants)," Isioma Daniel wrote
in Saturday's article.

The newspaper ran a brief front-page apology on Monday, followed by a more
lengthy retraction on Thursday, saying the offending passage had run by
mistake.

In Thursday's rioting, more than 50 people were stabbed, bludgeoned or
burned to death and 200 were seriously injured, Ijewere told The Associated
Press.

At least four churches were destroyed, he said.

Many of the bodies were taken by Red Cross workers and other volunteers to
local mortuaries. Many people remained inside homes that were set afire by
the demonstrators, Ijewere said.

Shehu Sani of the Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress said he watched a crowd
stab one young man, then force a tire filled with gasoline around his neck
and burn him alive. Sani said he saw three other bodies elsewhere in the
city.

Alsa Hassan, founder of another human rights group, Alsa Care, said he saw a
commuter being dragged out of his car and beaten to death by protesters.

Schools and shops hurriedly closed as hordes of young men, shouting "Allahu
Akhbar," or "God is great," ignited makeshift street barricades made of
tires and garbage, sending plumes of black smoke rising above the city.
Others were heard chanting, "Down with beauty" and "Miss World is sin."

Hundreds of police and soldiers were deployed to restore calm. Riding in
pickup trucks, they fired tear gas at protesters marching through otherwise
abandoned streets waving tree branches and palm fronds.

State government officials declared a curfew of 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Previous riots in Kaduna, a largely Muslim city with a sizable Christian
minority, have escalated into religious battles that killed hundreds since
civilian government replaced military rule in 1999.

Islamic fundamentalist groups have for several months warned of protests
against the Miss World pageant, prompting organizers to postpone the finale
until after the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The pageant has also drawn protests from other parts of the world.

Contestants from five countries - Costa Rica, Denmark, Switzerland, South
Africa and Panama - are boycotting the event because Islamic courts in
Nigeria have sentenced several unmarried women to death by stoning for
conceiving babies outside wedlock. Nigeria's government insists none of the
judgments will be carried out, although it has refused to intervene
directly.

Miss World publicist Stella Din said pageant organizers hoped calm would
quickly return to Kaduna.

"We are very, very sad that it has come to this - even if there is a loss of
one life, it makes us sad. We are appealing to all to please exercise
restraint," Din said.