Aligarh:
A group of students held a protest at the Aligarh Muslim University, condemning French President Emmanuel Macron’s stand on publication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad. The students and some local residents took out a procession on the AMU campus Thursday, chanting slogans against Macron and calling for a boycott of French products.
Three people were killed Thursday at a French church, days after another assailant beheaded a school teacher who had shown caricatures of the Prophet at a class on free speech. Macron has defended such depictions as a part of freedom of expression.
Addressing the AMU protesters, student leader Farhan Zubairi said the issue of such cartoons has been a source of grave provocation to Muslims all over the world over the past years. “No follower of any religion tolerates deliberate insult to their own Prophet. What has further inflamed Muslim sentiments is that the President of France has invoked the issue of freedom of expression to justify such agenda of hate against Muslims,” he said.
“We will intensify the ongoing protest and boycott all French products because this is the most potent way to express our anger and anguish on such a disturbing issue,” he said. The AMU is closed now due to the coronavirus pandemic and most of the students are away.
