Amaka
22-11-02, 13:46
Dozens killed in Miss World riots[/COLOR
Friday, November 22, 2002 Posted: 5:36 AM EST (1036 GMT)
RELATED
Cancel Miss World? Have your say
QUICKVOTE
Should the Miss World contest be cancelled?
Yes
No
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] [COLOR=red]---------------------------
the vote is NO muslim can`t stop miss world, but if people vote YES it means , Islam has defeated democracy
] ---------------------------
KADUNA, Nigeria -- Dozens have been killed in northern Nigeria in rioting that erupted after a newspaper suggested the Prophet Mohammad would have approved of the Miss World beauty contest.
The death toll was more than 100 with more than 500 taken to hospital, aid workers said on Friday.
Mobs in the mainly-Muslim city of Kaduna burned Christian churches and rampaged through the streets until hundreds of soldiers arrived to restore order and enforce a 24-hour curfew.
CNN's Jeff Koinange said the authorities were trying their best but were "overwhelmed" by the scale of the violence.
Residents of Kaduna told Reuters that sporadic shooting could be heard on Friday morning as soldiers and police battled rioters burning churches and mosques despite the curfew. City streets were completely deserted.
The president of the Nigerian Red Cross, Emmanuel Ijewere told Reuters 105 people had died.
He suggested the toll could rise further, saying: "There are some houses that have not been entered. It is possible that there are injured in these houses."
Another Red Cross spokesman, Patrick Bawa, told CNN aid workers had evacuated 521 injured people.
"Right now, the military authorities are trying to contain the situation in Kaduna but we cannot rule out the spillover effect of this crisis to other parts of the north," Bawa said.
The Miss World contest is due to start in Nigeria on December 7 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Rows over the decision to host the pageant during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan had been simmering until the article in ThisDay newspaper questioned Muslim groups who claimed the contest promotes sexual promiscuity and indecency.
Witnesses said enraged youths torched churches, looted shops and overturned cars in Kaduna, a city about 600 km (375 miles) northwest of Lagos that still bears the scars of Nigeria's worst sectarian clashes two years ago in which thousands died.
"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.
Shehu Sani of the Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress told The Associated Press he watched a crowd stab a young man, force a petrol-filled tyre 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, told AP 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."
'Hugely popular'
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.
Winner of Miss World in 2000, India's Priyanka Chopra, defended the contest being held in Nigeria, saying it was hugely popular in developing countries.
"People want to see their citizens on an international level," she told CNN.
She added that it was being held in Nigeria because last year's winner had been Miss Nigeria, Agbani Darego.
She said Nigerians had been "excitied and elated" at the prospect.
Miss World publicist Stella Din said pageant organisers 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 told AP.
] ---------------------------
] The US should ban the Nigerian Muslim from entering the United Stares like they did with other Moslim countries,
and Nigeria should be devided, Biafra , Yoruba and Hausa.
The Hausa`s which are Muslims should govern they Sharian states in their Sharian ways while Biafran`s governs Biafra in their own Christian, civilized and democraticalized manner.
---------------------------
Friday, November 22, 2002 Posted: 5:36 AM EST (1036 GMT)
RELATED
Cancel Miss World? Have your say
QUICKVOTE
Should the Miss World contest be cancelled?
Yes
No
VIEW RESULTS
] [COLOR=red]---------------------------
the vote is NO muslim can`t stop miss world, but if people vote YES it means , Islam has defeated democracy
] ---------------------------
KADUNA, Nigeria -- Dozens have been killed in northern Nigeria in rioting that erupted after a newspaper suggested the Prophet Mohammad would have approved of the Miss World beauty contest.
The death toll was more than 100 with more than 500 taken to hospital, aid workers said on Friday.
Mobs in the mainly-Muslim city of Kaduna burned Christian churches and rampaged through the streets until hundreds of soldiers arrived to restore order and enforce a 24-hour curfew.
CNN's Jeff Koinange said the authorities were trying their best but were "overwhelmed" by the scale of the violence.
Residents of Kaduna told Reuters that sporadic shooting could be heard on Friday morning as soldiers and police battled rioters burning churches and mosques despite the curfew. City streets were completely deserted.
The president of the Nigerian Red Cross, Emmanuel Ijewere told Reuters 105 people had died.
He suggested the toll could rise further, saying: "There are some houses that have not been entered. It is possible that there are injured in these houses."
Another Red Cross spokesman, Patrick Bawa, told CNN aid workers had evacuated 521 injured people.
"Right now, the military authorities are trying to contain the situation in Kaduna but we cannot rule out the spillover effect of this crisis to other parts of the north," Bawa said.
The Miss World contest is due to start in Nigeria on December 7 in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
Rows over the decision to host the pageant during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan had been simmering until the article in ThisDay newspaper questioned Muslim groups who claimed the contest promotes sexual promiscuity and indecency.
Witnesses said enraged youths torched churches, looted shops and overturned cars in Kaduna, a city about 600 km (375 miles) northwest of Lagos that still bears the scars of Nigeria's worst sectarian clashes two years ago in which thousands died.
"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.
Shehu Sani of the Kaduna-based Civil Rights Congress told The Associated Press he watched a crowd stab a young man, force a petrol-filled tyre 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, told AP 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."
'Hugely popular'
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.
Winner of Miss World in 2000, India's Priyanka Chopra, defended the contest being held in Nigeria, saying it was hugely popular in developing countries.
"People want to see their citizens on an international level," she told CNN.
She added that it was being held in Nigeria because last year's winner had been Miss Nigeria, Agbani Darego.
She said Nigerians had been "excitied and elated" at the prospect.
Miss World publicist Stella Din said pageant organisers 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 told AP.
] ---------------------------
] The US should ban the Nigerian Muslim from entering the United Stares like they did with other Moslim countries,
and Nigeria should be devided, Biafra , Yoruba and Hausa.
The Hausa`s which are Muslims should govern they Sharian states in their Sharian ways while Biafran`s governs Biafra in their own Christian, civilized and democraticalized manner.
---------------------------