SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Outrage Fuels Continued Protest in Afghanistan
Afghan citizens took to the streets again on Friday, making it the fourth day of protests following evidence that US officials had burned Korans at the Bagram airfield base outside of Kabul. Deaths were again reported in clashes between outraged Afghans and security forces.
The Irish Times reports:
Feb 24, 2012
Afghan citizens took to the streets again on Friday, making it the fourth day of protests following evidence that US officials had burned Korans at the Bagram airfield base outside of Kabul. Deaths were again reported in clashes between outraged Afghans and security forces.
The Irish Times reports:
Twelve people were killed today in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a Nato military base.
The burning of the Korans at the Bagram compound earlier this week has deepened public mistrust of Nato forces struggling to stabilise Afghanistan before foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014.
Hundreds of Afghans marched towards the palace of Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Kabul, while on the other side of the capital protesters hoisted the white flag of the Taliban.
Chanting anti-American slogans, protesters also threw rocks at police in Kabul, while Afghan army helicopters circled above.
Friday is a holy day and the official weekly holiday in Afghanistan and mosques in the capital drew large crowds, with police in pick-up trucks posted on nearby streets.
Armed protesters took refuge in shops in the eastern part of the city, where they killed one demonstrator, said police at the scene. In another Kabul rally, police said they were unsure who fired the shots that killed a second protester.
Seven more protesters were killed in the western province of Herat, two more in eastern Khost province and one in the relatively peaceful northern Baghlan province, health and local officials said.
In Herat, about 500 men charged at the US consulate.
###
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Afghan citizens took to the streets again on Friday, making it the fourth day of protests following evidence that US officials had burned Korans at the Bagram airfield base outside of Kabul. Deaths were again reported in clashes between outraged Afghans and security forces.
The Irish Times reports:
Twelve people were killed today in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a Nato military base.
The burning of the Korans at the Bagram compound earlier this week has deepened public mistrust of Nato forces struggling to stabilise Afghanistan before foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014.
Hundreds of Afghans marched towards the palace of Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Kabul, while on the other side of the capital protesters hoisted the white flag of the Taliban.
Chanting anti-American slogans, protesters also threw rocks at police in Kabul, while Afghan army helicopters circled above.
Friday is a holy day and the official weekly holiday in Afghanistan and mosques in the capital drew large crowds, with police in pick-up trucks posted on nearby streets.
Armed protesters took refuge in shops in the eastern part of the city, where they killed one demonstrator, said police at the scene. In another Kabul rally, police said they were unsure who fired the shots that killed a second protester.
Seven more protesters were killed in the western province of Herat, two more in eastern Khost province and one in the relatively peaceful northern Baghlan province, health and local officials said.
In Herat, about 500 men charged at the US consulate.
###
Afghan citizens took to the streets again on Friday, making it the fourth day of protests following evidence that US officials had burned Korans at the Bagram airfield base outside of Kabul. Deaths were again reported in clashes between outraged Afghans and security forces.
The Irish Times reports:
Twelve people were killed today in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a Nato military base.
The burning of the Korans at the Bagram compound earlier this week has deepened public mistrust of Nato forces struggling to stabilise Afghanistan before foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014.
Hundreds of Afghans marched towards the palace of Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Kabul, while on the other side of the capital protesters hoisted the white flag of the Taliban.
Chanting anti-American slogans, protesters also threw rocks at police in Kabul, while Afghan army helicopters circled above.
Friday is a holy day and the official weekly holiday in Afghanistan and mosques in the capital drew large crowds, with police in pick-up trucks posted on nearby streets.
Armed protesters took refuge in shops in the eastern part of the city, where they killed one demonstrator, said police at the scene. In another Kabul rally, police said they were unsure who fired the shots that killed a second protester.
Seven more protesters were killed in the western province of Herat, two more in eastern Khost province and one in the relatively peaceful northern Baghlan province, health and local officials said.
In Herat, about 500 men charged at the US consulate.
###
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.