Rally in Afghanistan celebrates Charlie Hebdo terrorists as 'heroes'
Several hundred people rallied in southern Afghanistan in reaction to the terror attack in Paris on the Charlie Hebdo offices and Jewish grocery store.
But they weren't there to protest against terrorism. They were there to celebrate the attackers as heroes.
Hundreds in southern Afghanistan rallied to praise the killing of 12 people at the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo, calling the two gunmen "heroes" who meted out punishment for cartoons disrespectful to Islam's prophet, officials said Saturday.
The demonstrators also protested President Ashraf Ghani's swift condemnation of the bloody attack on the satirical newspaper, according to the officials in Uruzgan province.
The rally came after worshippers left Friday prayers at a local mosque in Chora district and swelled to several hundred people, said Chora police chief Abdul Qawi.
"The protesters were calling the attackers heroes and were shouting that those who had mocked the Prophet Mohammad were punished," Qawi said.
Provincial police chief Matiullah Khan said that police had been informed in advance of the demonstration, which was allowed under the Afghan constitution's free-speech provisions.
"They provided good security and it was peaceful," he said.
Afghan President Ghani issued a condemnation the day after the newspaper attack saying "there is no justification for this brutal act".
The two brothers wanted for gunning down 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris were killed on Friday when French anti-terrorist police stormed their hideout.
Afghanistan remains a deeply conservative Muslim society, more than 13 years after the Taliban's hardline Islamist regime was toppled by U.S.-backed forces for sheltering al Qaeda leaders suspected of planning the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
I seem to recall fighting a war in that part of the world so that people could be free from terrorists. Now they want to embrace them. Sheesh.
Afghanistan is not the only place where the terrorists were lionized. As expected, the Islamic State weighed in on the side of the murderers:
“We start our bulletin with France. Heroic jihadists killed 12 journalists and wounded ten others working in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, and that was support for our master (Prophet) Mohammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him,” according to the audio bulletin.
And Palestinians, who danced in the aftermath of the 9/11 attack, were jubilant. Hamas newspaper published photos of the terrorists and called them heroes:
Hamas newspaper publishes photos of the terrorists, calling them "the heroes of France invasion" #CharlieHebdo pic.twitter.com/gN4TnGsI8U
— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) January 9, 2015
It would be incomprehensible if we hadn't seen it all before.