Thursday 17 January 2013

Australia's Muslim community leaders have called for calm in the wake of Saturday's violent protests in the Sydney CBD.


An emergency meeting was held last night to discuss the fallout from the clashes, which left six police officers injured, and were in response to a US-made film which denigrates the Prophet Mohammed.
This morning the Lebanese Muslim Association's Samier Dandan told a Lakemba press conference that "the actions of a very small minority should not be used to tarnish the reputation of the whole community."

Developments in this story today

Speaking alongside other community leaders, he said: "We call upon all Muslim religious leaders to address the incident in their ceremonies this coming Friday, calling for calm in the legacy of our beloved Prophet Mohammed."
And the leaders called for any more rallies to be called off, saying they were "calling for people to stop protesting altogether."
"We pray that what occurred on Saturday does not repeat itself in the future," Mr Dandan added. "The Muslim community values the religious freedom that exists in Australia and supports all efforts to promote respectful coexistence."
Mr Dandan said there was no basis to claims that members of the Muslim community were seeking to radicalise children, after a young boy was seen at the protest carrying a placard which read "Behead all those who insult the prophet".

In protests around the world on Monday:

The boy's 25-year-old mother has turned herself into police, but officers say they are confident the child is at no risk and say no further action has been taken.
"The majority of the Australian Muslim community, particularly the mainstream, have not and will not educate our children in a way that Islam does not believe in," Mr Dandan said.
"This radical element does not exist in Australia and the Islamic organisations will not allow for such activity to take place, because at the end of the day the only community that will be tarnished by that exercise is the Australian Muslim community.
"It's not in our best interests and it's not in the interests of this country that has harboured so many refugees that come out of Muslim countries.
"It's in everyone's best interests to ensure that no such activities take place."

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