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Kenyan anti-cartoon protester shot
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QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Kenyan police shot at hundreds demonstrating against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, wounding at least one person, as protests continued across the Muslim world. In Bangladesh on Friday police beat back about 10,000 protesters marching on the Danish Embassy in the capital Dhaka and there were also demonstrations in Egypt, Afghanistan, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Cartoons depicting Islam's revered Prophet Mohammed were originally published in a Danish newspaper, and subsequently reprinted in a Norwegian paper and others around the world. One of the cartoons showed Mohammed wearing a turban shaped as a bomb. Many Muslims consider any depiction of the prophet to be sacrilegious. The cartoons have sparked protests in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, some of which have turned violent. Protesters in the Lebanese capital Beirut last weekend torched the building housing the Danish Embassy, and angry demonstrations have led to about 10 deaths in Afghanistan. There was less violence on Friday in previous days. But in Kenya riot police fired live rounds and tear gas to prevent hundreds of stone-throwing protesters from reaching the Danish Embassy in Nairobi. One man was shot in the thigh, a witness told Reuters. In what appeared to be a freak accident, one person was reported to have been killed when the car carrying the wounded man away crashed into another, said a passenger traveling with the injured man. In Egypt, thousands protested in several cities after Muslim prayers Friday, denouncing the cartoons. Clashes erupted with police who tried to disperse the demonstrators with water canons and tear gas. Earlier, thousands of Muslims took to the streets across Asia to protest the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as Malaysia's leader warned of a "huge chasm" between Islam and the West. Large rallies were held in India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh, while smaller protests occurred in the Philippines and Indonesia. Protesters carried anti-European and anti-American signs, shouted slogans and burned Danish flags, but there were no immediate reports of violence, according to The Associated Press. Many of the protests took place after Friday prayers, some outside mosques and others near Danish diplomatic missions. In Malaysia's biggest protest against the caricatures, some 3,000 demonstrators called for the destruction of Denmark, Israel and the United States as they marched in a steady rain from a mosque to the Danish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, AP reported. "Long live Islam. Destroy Denmark. Destroy Israel. Destroy George Bush. Destroy America," some of the protesters shouted. The march was about 10 times larger than a similar protest after Friday prayers last week, AP said. Riot police guarded the high-rise building where the embassy is located, and a police helicopter hovered overhead. At a nearby conference, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi spoke of a "huge chasm that has emerged between the West and Islam" and said many Westerners see a Muslim as "a congenital terrorist." He said Muslims were particularly frustrated at Western policies toward Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinians. He did not mention the Mohammed cartoons. "They think Osama bin Laden speaks for the religion and its followers," AP quoted Abdullah as saying. "The demonization of Islam and the vilification of Muslims, there is no denying, is widespread within mainstream Western society." Abdullah also urged Muslims to oppose "sweeping denunciation of Christians, Jews and the West" as well as violence and terror perpetrated by fringe groups, AP reported. Abdullah is a Muslim scholar, and his country heads the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference. Late Thursday, Malaysia's Internal Security Ministry issued a statement saying it was an offense for anyone to publish, produce, import, circulate or possess the caricatures, AP reported. The ministry, headed by Abdullah, said it was issuing the order to curb the circulation of material that could cause uneasiness among Malaysians and disrupt public order. The ministry also ordered a small Malaysian newspaper, the Sarawak Tribune, to stop publication indefinitely after it reproduced one of the caricatures last weekend. The Tribune's publishers apologized for what they called an editorial oversight, but the ministry said the newspaper had to be penalized because its action was "irresponsible and insensitive" to Muslims, AP reported. At Friday's rally in the Malaysian capital, speakers condemned European newspapers for publishing the caricatures and demanded an apology from the Danish government. The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper last September. Elsewhere Friday: CNN is not showing the negative caricatures of the likeness of the Prophet Mohammed because the network believes its role is to cover the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons while not unnecessarily adding fuel to the controversy itself. CNN Producer Prithvi Banerjii contributed to this report. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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