Close to 300,000 Shi'ites turned a religious ceremony in the Lebanese capital on Thursday into a massive protest against cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad. "At your service, oh Mohammad, at your service, oh Prophet of God," the crowds chanted, according to Reuters. "Death to America, Death to Israel," they also shouted.
The march is an annual ceremony to observe Ashura when Shi'ites mourn the death of the Prophet's grandson, Imam Hussein, in Kerbala in Iraq 1,300 ago.
Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah called on followers this year to take a stand against the cartoons.
Holocaust cartoons
Meanwhile, the editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which published the cartoons told CNN Wednesday that he would cooperate with the Iranian daily Hamshahri, which announced a competition of cartoons on the Holocaust. "My newspaper is trying to establish a contact with the Iranian newspaper and we would run the cartoons the same day as they publish them," Flemming Rose, culture editor of Jyllands-Posten, told CNN.
However, the newspaper was quick to publish a denial. Editor-in-chief Carsten Juste said the editor had been misunderstood. "On no account would we publish Holocaust caricatures together with the Iranian daily," he made it clear.
Rice blames Syria, Iran
In Washington, the United States on Wednesday accused Syria and Iran of stoking up protests against the caricatures to suit their own interests. Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, said: "I have no doubt that Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and have used this for their own purposes. The world ought to call them on it."
