Kabul: Thousands of Afghans marched
through a small town northeast of Kabul on Thursday, chanting
anti-US and anti-Christian slogans to protest against plans by
a US church to burn the Quran, an official said.
The protesters, mostly men, took to the streets of
Mahmud Raqi town in Kapisa province, which is near the US-run
Bagram Air Field, the spokesman for the provincial governor
Abdul Halim Ayar told a news agency.
They chanted "down with America" and other anti-US
and anti-Christian slogans, he said.
The demonstration followed protests in Kabul early
this week against plans by a US evangelist church to burn
copies of the Quran to mark Saturday`s anniversary of the
September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States by the
al Qaeda terror network.
The pastor of Florida`s Dove World Outreach Centre,
Terry Jones, has brushed aside global outrage and vowed to go
ahead with the ceremony, at which hundreds of copies of
Islam`s holy book will be burned, despite fears it will ignite
a worldwide wave of Islamic rage.
Ayar said the Kapisa demonstrators burned a US flag
and an effigy, though it was unclear whom it represented.
Earlier, the commander of the US-led forces in
Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, the UN mission in
Afghanistan and leading aid organisations said the burning
would put lives of Afghans and foreigners in danger if it went
ahead.
PTI
