Show I 9 killed in clashes over cartoons Daniel Williams The Washington Post At least nine people were killed in clashes clashe between protesters and Libyan police outside the Italian consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Friday according to reports from Libya and Rome The violence came two days after an Italian politician boasted on television that he was wearing a T-shirt T emblazoned with caricatures of Islam's prophet Muhammad Video images showed demonstrators setting fire to an entrance to the consulate and to a car and heaving stones at the whitewashed building The Italian foreign ministry acknowledged in a diplomatic note that a demonstration had taken place and that it had been energetically repressed by police If con confirmed finned the death toll would be the highest high high- est in a series of protests around the world against the publication of the caricatures by Danish and other European media outlets On Wednesday Italy's Reforms Minister Roberto said in an interview televised on the state-run state RAI network that he was wearing the T-shirt T and unbuttoned his shirt to give a glimpse of it Word of the appearance spread quickly through the Middle East At least two newspapers in hi Egypt and one in Saudi Arabia wrote about the incident and al the satellite satellite satellite satel satel- lite television network broadcast the news Foreign Minister Fini said the act poured oil on fire fire and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi asked to resign who belongs to the immigration anti-immigration Muslim Cartoons Cont on Page 2 Muslim Cartoons Cont from front Northern League party a faction in Berlusconi's ruling coalition was unapologetic He said the display was a personal statement and not reflective of government policy The aftershocks of the cartoon controversy have persisted elsewhere elsewhere elsewhere else else- where in Europe though lower in intensity than in the Middle East Aw ago In ln Germany ri i bG betl t r t if egel newspaper p f pub pub- p b a carto cartoon nn that i showed four Iranian soccer players dressed as suicide bombers standing alongside four nervous- nervous looking members of the German team dressed in German army uniforms The caption read Why the German army I absolutely has to be deployed atthe at atthe atthe the World Cup referring to the global soccer championship scheduled for play in Germany J this summer The editors say the purpose of the cartoon was to satirize the German governments government's governments government's governments government's govern govern- ments ment's desire to dispatch soldiers to World Cup sites The Iranian government demanded an apology and on Tuesday protesters in Tehran i threw firebombs at the German Gennan Embassy ib uJ a 2 b 10 1 is i ideath in hiding biding b c S e death threats threats' according to German Gennan reports The absurdity of the situation is obvious Gerd Appenzeller the editor wrote in the paper insisting insisting insisting insist insist- ing that the cartoon was not intended to suggest that Iranians were terrorists In Russia authorities in the city of announced that they would close down an official newspaper because it published a cartoon about the controversy The Vesti newspaper newspaper newspaper news news- paper depicted Jesus the prophet Muhammad Moses and Buddha sitting on a couch and watching two groups of people fighting The caption read We didn't teach you th that t. t In a statement Friday the city administration said it was closing clos clos- closing closing ing the newspaper to prevent incitement of enmity on religious religious religious reli- reli national and social grounds and also to stop the abuse of media freedom II I I City officials however said I they would soon begin publishing publishing publishing publish publish- ing another newspaper in and might use most most of the staff of Vesti Vesti to put out it out The The li Russian Union of Journalists condemned the decision decision decision deci- deci sion of the authorities authorities authorities ties saying that it violated two fundamental constitutional principles principles principles prin prin- freedom of the press and the secular nature of our state Russian leaders including President Vladimir had warned Russian newspapers against publishing the Danish cartoons and none have I think that any provocations in this sphere are absolutely unacceptable said in a recent interview with a Spanish journalist One must think a hundred times before publishing publishing publishing publish publish- ing making malting or drawing any any- thin thing g. g About 20 million Muslims live in Russia making Islam the country's second-largest second faith after Orthodox Christianity Muslim leaders have condemned the cartoons but no major protests have be been n reported in Russia Authorities in expelled the Danish Refugee Council one of ot the largest aid organizations in the mostly and tom conflict lic 1 |