Afghans protest French president’s Islamophobic remarks

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - A protest demonstration was staged in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday condemning the controversial remarks of the French president.

The protesters rallied outside the French Cultural Center in downtown Kabul chanting “death to France” and “death to Macron”.

The demonstration ended peacefully at the Gulbahar roundabout.

French President Emmanuel Macron's remarks defending blasphemous cartoons have caused outrage among Muslims across the world, triggering a campaign to boycott French products. His controversial statement came after a French school teacher, Samuel Patty, was killed by a Chechen-origin teenager for displaying the cartoons in a class on freedom of speech.

Early this month in France, Macron's statements about “the need to reform Islam” drew reactions from Muslims all over the world.

Macron claimed that “the Muslims in France have ideologies that defend separatist ideas”.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has called on France to revise its separatist policies that target Islam and offend over 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. In a statement, the OIC has said: "We condemn the constant systematic attack on the feelings of Muslims by insulting the religious symbols represented by the person of the Prophet Muhammad."