The anti-US protests that continued in the city for the fifth day on Tuesday turned ugly when members of over 20 Islamic organisations clashed with the police on the stretch of Anna Salai between Spencer Plaza and Buhari restaurant.
As a result, traffic moved at a snail’s pace for several hours between Gemini Flyover and Spencer Plaza and also the smaller roads branching out of this stretch; while the movement of vehicles was completely blocked beyond Spencer junction.
Around 2 p.m., a stage was erected next to Tarapore Towers, a little away from Makka Masjid on Anna Salai, and protesters slowly began gathering. The protest that started around 3.30 p.m. saw hundreds of people who burnt US flags and effigies of US President Barack Obama, flung footwear on pictures, raised anti-US slogans and held banners that depicted American leaders in poor light.
Banners with text in Tamil that translated to ‘Prophet is dearer to us than our lives’, were distributed to by-standers who shouted in support. Among the protesters were seven-year-olds, Abbas and Shabbir, both wearing identical sherwanis and carrying posters that said, ‘We hate those who hate prophet’.
Also, part of the protests was a group of school children in white and brown uniforms hauling bags that contained writing pads. “We came straight after writing the science exam,” said Karim, as he tied his shoes with US flags before sprinting off to join a group that was burning effigies of Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Around 5 p.m., when the protesters were done with sloganeering and agitating, organisers announced in the microphones “Veetuku ponga, dhayava seidhu veetuku ponga (Please go home),” and urged them to clear off.
But fifteen minutes later, several youth suddenly turned violent, broke the barricades and began marching towards the US consulate. Police battalion stationed near the Spencer Plaza junction stopped the protesters and did not allow them to proceed further. Then, all of a sudden, there was deafening silence for nearly 15 minutes as protesters performed namaaz on the road.
“Whatever happens, we will ensure that we pray on time, wherever we are,” said a protester. Soon after the prayers, some members of the crowd began throwing stones at the police, which resorted to lathicharge. Several among the protesters sincerely attempted to prevent the mob from resorting to violence. But the situation went out of control.
An angry group set a few motorcycles on fire and damaged an MTC bus. Traffic came to a standstill from Spencer Plaza to Dams Road and Thousands Light for half hour after police lathicharged the protesters. Some protesters and policemen were injured in the clash that ensued. By 6 p.m., the protesters slowly dispersed and traffic returned to normalcy in half hour.
The protesting groups included members of Socialist Democratic Party of India, Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagham, India Thowheeth Jamath and Jamath Ulama Sabai. “This is the first time clergies of important mosques in the city are taking part. We are trying our best to make it peaceful,” said Ashraf Jahangir, a protester who tried to calm down those getting violent.
Anticipating a large turnout of protesters, police cordoned off main roads and appointed special teams at several junctions, including Spencer Plaza, LIC building and Royapettah signal, among others. Also, most shops in the area closed down when the situation grew tense.
According to police sources, over 20 Muslim groups obtained police permission for a peaceful protest near Tarapore Towers on Anna Salai.
Keywords: Muslims rally, Islamic organisations protest, controversial English film, anti-U.S. protest, US Consulate attack, Chennai Police, traffic jams
Let me try once again.
The report says: "An angry group set a few motorcycles on fire and
damaged an MTC bus." But, it does not say with whom the group was
angry! By burning motorcycles of the local citizens and damaging the
local govt. bus, the angry groups wanted to impress the US govt., it
looks like. Will the US govt. pay damages?
"An angry group set a few motorcycles on fire and damaged an MTC bus."
I would like to ask once again. Against whom their (peaceful
protesters) anger was directed? The motorcycle owners and the State
Transport Corporation??
Having lived in Chennai for 3 years, the one thing which I had never
seen was violence based on religion. Alas, this is the beginning of
loss of innocence of Chennai, the cultural cauldron which has embraced
all those who had into her folds. The violence against US consulate is
inexplicable. How can the handiwork of a misguided and bigoted mind be
blamed on the US government? People say a lot of things which hurt
others' religious/social sentiments but to blame the governmenet and
target them is unfair. Religions are far too big
to be sullied by such attempts. I appeal to all protestors to
carry on their daily routine in a manner which would benefit the
humanity and exemplify the positive aspects of their religion so that
people get rid of their prejudices against each other.
I am suprised that children have been involved in these violent protests. It will be dangerous for the nation if kids are taught to be intolerant.
I am a South African and was always under the impression that the people of Tamil Nadu followed non-violent and peaceful means of protest. It's a real shame that such acts of violence could take place in a city like Chennai. Why do people have to resort to such ungodly acts in the name of religion? I always thought that the people in Tamil Nadu are law-abiding and tolerant.
While voilence during protests is not acceptable, lets not make a big issue out of it. Many
protests do turn violent unless the authorities are well prepared. It only takes a couple of
stone throwers to create chaos. And it's more likely when some immature elements are involved.
None of this makes any sense. I think people are doing something that they don't even fully know about. And I was wondering why they were allowed to do such protests in the first place. Having granted permissions for peaceful protests, the police should make sure they're peaceful and take necessary actions otherwise. And engaging school children in this is totally insane.
The city police should not have given permission to anyone to assemble on Mount Road and the local
authorities should not have allowed Mount Road to be used as a place to
burn vehicles, destroy others' properties and attack policemen.
It is a pure law and order issue and and nip these things in the bud
before it becomes a major political issue.
assalamualaikum Var.
My dear friends Please follow Patience sabar in this situation. dont disturb innocent people and public property allahu akbar
Once the police and law enforcement agencies take videos of such
incidents and bring charges on anyone who breaks the law irrespective of
political affiliations etc., this nonsense will end. Protests need to
be peaceful; there is no excuse for violence or damaging public
property.
The best response for this film is to ignore it. It was a bait for
Muslims and unfortunately you are falling into it. Just ignore it, go
with your daily activities. Nothing is gained through this mindless
waste of time and property.
-Iftequar Mohammed
As a Tamil, I personally feel ashamed the state of affairs. I would
say this had happened partly due to vote-bank politics, partly due to
growing radicalization and partly due to the inept handling of the
law-enforcement. When I was in Chennai, I had many friends who are
Muslims - when we were together religion never came into picture.
However, the acts of the Muslim Organisations is neither
good - their act here would only demonize them in all of the World,
whether in India or in the West. If they are hurt by the movie, they
could've taken to the Chief Minister, Prime Minister and our Govt., at
least for the sake of vote-bank, would have taken it at highest
levels. Instead the current act would only demean the community in the
West - inadvertently you're hurting your men...
I am an Indian living in the U.S. and want to explain why the U.S. government cannot ban the video, a demand that is being made by most Muslim protestors.
The U.S. constitution guarantees the right of speech (the First Amendment)and so Washington cannot take any action against the producer, no matter what the video contains or how racist it may be. In many countries, including India, the government intervenes when such acts of individuals disturb the public peace. That is not allowed in the U.S.
Hence, it's meaningless to keep protesting against the U.S. government for this horrible video.
Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have condemned the video in the strongest language. That is all they can do in this situation. However, the police are investigating various violations of parole that the producer committed and have hauled him up for those.
The police should not have given permission to each and every group to demonstrate that too on different dates.Each group wanted to show its strength and then they all wanted to show their strength together. Why did the police allow this.
The US govt. has nothing to do with this film and hence it makes no sense to demonstrate against the US govt. or block access to consulate.The US government wanted google to remove the offensive content. Still these groups took an anti-US government position.
Moreover how many of these groups have protested like this against Osama Bin Laden or against Pakistan for is involvement in 26/11.
Why are they against U.S.A and Israel. Why should the state permit such activities that are against friendly nations (USA and Israel).
The movie is of-course offensive. But who made this movie? Some random guy in US and not by any renowned film maker or the Federal Government. And according to the US law such movies are "freedom of speech and liberal media" and cannot be punished. So we should not acknowledge such films.
Now certain countries are just waiting for an opportunity so that they can show their anger on US. And religion is sensitive thing and most of the people involved in these protests do not know the whole story. Its my humble request to Islamic friends reading this not to involve in violence.
Regards
Rajiv
What is happening here is a shame to tamilnadu.I think certain fringe bodies are
trying to prove their might. But what worries is the crowd which is gathering. Are
our muslim brothers becoming intolerent? Hopefully not. Dont know what they
trying to achive out of this,except the publicity and bad name for the community.
Alas i never expected Chennai would end up in global news of this nature.
This goes to prove that anti-social elements are there in every community/religion and they have to be isolated and punished appropriately by the law of the land.
Islam is a religion of peace. Hurting an innocent is prohibited in Islam. Causing harm to the public property is strictly prohibited. Moreover, the black-sheep of the community can utilise this as an opportunity
and create a wrong picture. My request to all my brother and sisters is not to involve in this kind of protest. Prayer is the strongest weapon that can help us from all the difficulty.
Why do people insist on watching or reading material that offends them,
whether it is blasphemous or obscene?
I have been in Chennai for a while and pretty well
know the places around Spencer and LIC buildings. When I first heard
about violent protests around world against a hate video, the places
that came in my mind are Srinagar, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kerala... but
never Chennai. I am quite shocked to hear about this violent protest
especially when other parts of country are quite peaceful.
Islam prohibits attack on Consulars/Ambassadors and their residences and
offices. It also prohibits praying in public lands without the
permission of authorities.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Kindly do not make all the protesting
action in front of the embassy or killing the Americans.... It is all
against Islam. As a true Muslim please be peaceful.
Profet Mohamed Rasul is not a ordinary person like you and me neither
the script writer or the director or the producer of the movie, no
body in this world was/is on his stand to comment on him.
Allah has the account of everyone. He is the person to punish any one.
Keep this in mind and please be peaceful.
*********************Important Note to Hindus***************
Some people feel that we (Muslims) are against other religious
followers. We are not, we respect other religions.
And some one mentioned about the slaughter of cow and it is totally
against the Hindu religion. Let me clarify your doubts. Islam was
found the Gulf(Middle East) which is a absolute Desert. Those period
in the middle east they don't have the cow or Buffalo. So as per the
custom designed by Islam people can consume the cattle
What a case of public nuisance!
How long are we to tolerate this and hope the Chief Minister puts a full stop to this immediately.
I would suggest to ban such political outfit...This is just a political
gimmick..If the thauheed party or the TMMK does want to do something
good to our community may be they should just disband themselves..If any
of those had any sign of Imaan they would have gone to masjid to pray
and not in the middle of the road causing inconvenience...All political
gimmick...
Look at the following snippets from the above
story - it explains their lack of maturity:
"“Whatever happens, we will ensure that we pray on time, wherever we
are,” said a protester. Soon after the prayers, some members of the
crowd began throwing stones at the police"
"An angry group set a few motorcycles on fire and damaged an MTC bus."
"But fifteen minutes later, several youth suddenly turned violent,
broke the barricades and began marching towards the US consulate.
Police battalion stationed near the Spencer Plaza junction stopped the
protesters and did not allow them to proceed further. Then, all of a
sudden, there was deafening silence for nearly 15 minutes as
protesters performed namaaz on the road."
"‘Prophet is dearer to us than our lives’,‘We hate those who hate
prophet’."
These riotous acts from the Islamist groups only exhibit the effort these people are putting to prove the unwise US director's claim on The Prophet to be true. This is exactly what he was talking about in the 14 minute trailer.
What kind of protest be termed as peaceful if it is about throwing stones, burning flags and effigies, blocking traffic and normal life of other citizens? Off all the places, the fact that it is happening in the city of Madras which stood up on their feet to appreciate the visiting Pakistani team in 1999 after India lost a close battle, is sad. This is not the city I came too life and grew up, or at least, these were not the kind of Muslim brethren I have come across in my 32 years of life in Madras.
Prakash
New Zealand
It is unfathomable why such protests of extreme variety are being held in my dear Singara Chennai. I think the cancer of violent protests should be curtailed by the government with iron hand. This is so especially when the majority of the people are peaceful in spite of their differences in religious beliefs. And these kind of protests affect the peace loving community that is Singara Chennai. The youngsters and scohol going children should not be made to experience this kind of visibly upsetting scenes. There is so much more at stake with hunger, poverty, and homelessness which needs to be addressed. When no body in Chennai has done any thing wrong why are they being subject to this kind of scenes?
The Muslim youths of India and Chennai in particular should know that the love of the Prophet lies in emulating his nonviolence and discipline and not in throwing stones at the police.
Aslam Alaikum,
Important Message to All Muslim brothers:
=====================================
Islam the religion of peace.....
Islam condemns the Violence.....
Allak like Sabar.....
Please be patients.... damaging public property is big sin..
A Muslim is the one who will protect the other people and their property...
Please be patient....
I request the clergy of all important mosques, who participated in the protest aginst a film in USA, what they suggest that the Buddists should do for the breaking of Buddha statues in Lucknow by their co-religonists?
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