CAIRO: Protests against remarks about Islam by Pope Benedict XVI tapered off in the Middle East on Tuesday but anger remained and there were calls for demonstrations on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer. Angry protests against the pontiff s remarks seen as critical to Islam were held from Indonesia to Iraq on Monday and his comments were notably denounced by Iran s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Although an apology by the pontiff was widely rejected as insufficient, anti-pope protests seemed to subside on Tuesday, with the only planned event a rally by non-Iranian theology students in the holy Iranian city of Qom. Only a few dozen people turned up for a demonstration in Tehran on Monday, throwing yellow flowers at the mission of the Holy See in what a newspaper said was a response of love and affection to the pope s impoliteness.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad late on Monday also struck a more conciliatory tone towards the Vatican than that taken by Ayatollah Khamenei, who accused the pope of involvement in a conspiracy of the Crusaders.
Speaking in Caracas before leaving for the UN General Assembly in New York, Ahmadinejad expressed respect for the pope and noted the pontiff had modified his remarks that offended Muslims worldwide. We respect the pope and all those interested in peace and justice, Ahmadinejad said. I understand that he has modified the remarks he made.
On Sunday, the pope said he was deeply sorry for the reaction to a speech he made last week in which he quoted an obscure medieval text that criticized some teachings of the Prophet Mohammed as evil and inhuman.
The speech sparked several days of protests in Muslim countries against the leader of the world s 1.1 billion Roman Catholics. The pope was burned in effigy in several cities and Al-Qaeda in Iraq said on Monday that it would smash the cross and wage a jihad, or holy war, until the defeat of the West. The relative calm on Tuesday came as the Vatican launched a diplomatic offensive to mend ties with Muslims and attention shifted to New York, where the UN General Assembly was expected to focus on crisis in the Middle East. U.S. President George W. Bush was also scheduled to give a much-anticipated speech aimed at the region on Tuesday and Arabic television channels devoted much of their coverage to events at UN headquarters. Bush weighed in on the controversy himself on Monday telling Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in New York the pope s apology for his remarks was sincere, the White House said. The official Bernama news agency said Abdullah, chairman of the Organization of Islamic Conference, had accepted the apology but urged the pontiff to avoid making hurtful remarks against Muslims in the future. Egyptian-born Islamic scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a Sunni Muslim, was among the Islamic leaders who rejected the apology, calling on followers to hold a day of peaceful anger on Friday. AFP
