Marxist
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Question: Why were they going to hold the Miss World pageant in the middle of the 3rd World?
What's next, Iron Chef live from Ethiopia?
From the AP Wire:
Nov. 22, 2002 | KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) -- Officials canceled the Miss World pageant in Nigeria Saturday and announced it would be held in London, after rioting over newspaper reports on the event sparked rioting that has killed about 100 people and injured 500.
Organizer said the pageant would be held in London on Dec. 7 "in the overall interests of Nigeria and the contestants."
The brief announcement, which did not elaborate on the decision to change the venue, came after three days of rioting triggered by the pageant and a newspaper's reference to the prophet Muhammad.
The bloodshed was worst in the northern city of Kaduna, where it started Wednesday, but on Friday it spread to Abuja, the capital, where the beauty contest was to be held.
Red Cross officials said about 100 people had been killed and 500 injured in three days.
Fueling the clashes are long-standing hostilities between the various tribes of Muslims and Christians in Africa's most populous nation, where rioting and fighting between the groups is commonplace. Previous riots in Kaduna have escalated into religious battles that have killed hundreds since civilian government replaced military rule in 1999.
Islamic groups have complained for months that beauty pageant scheduled promotes promiscuity.
Things worsened after ThisDay newspaper in Kaduna published an article Saturday suggesting that Islam's prophet would have approved of the pageant.
"What would Muhammad think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from among them," Isioma Daniel wrote.
After Muslims called it offensive, the newspaper published a brief front-page apology Monday, and a lengthier retraction Thursday that said the passage had run by mistake.
Muslims gathered after prayers outside the national mosque in the usually placid capital 225 miles northeast of here and then stormed through town, burning cars and assaulting bystanders they believed to be Christian outside plush international hotels.
Police firing tear gas restored calm in Abuja within hours. But the melee in Kaduna, a religiously mixed city of several million people, continued in defiance of a round-the-clock police curfew.
Bands of Muslims, some armed with ceremonial daggers, stabbed and set fire to passers-by. Young men shouting "Allahu Akhbar," or "God is great," ignited makeshift barricades of tires and garbage. Christian youths smashed windows and burned mosques.
Plumes of smoke rose over Kaduna Friday as both sides burned and demolished homes in the segregated ethnic neighborhoods across this bustling market city. In one Christian minority district, an old woman sifted through the smoking ruins of her house to retrieve pots and plans.
Nearby, Tunde Adeyemi, a 25-year-old Christian, related how he and friends fought off Muslims. "We had only stones. They were shooting us, and we were stoning them," he said.
But Joe Adamu, a Muslim tailor, said Christians were armed with automatic weapons, while the Muslims had only stones and knives.
Five churches and an undetermined number of mosques had been burned by Friday. Red Cross workers retrieved burned bodies for burial.
Through the violence, the Miss World contestants remained under Nigerian police and army guard in the Nicon Hilton in Abuja, the nation's fanciest hotel. President Olusegun Obasanjo said their security would be tightened.
What's next, Iron Chef live from Ethiopia?
From the AP Wire:
Nov. 22, 2002 | KADUNA, Nigeria (AP) -- Officials canceled the Miss World pageant in Nigeria Saturday and announced it would be held in London, after rioting over newspaper reports on the event sparked rioting that has killed about 100 people and injured 500.
Organizer said the pageant would be held in London on Dec. 7 "in the overall interests of Nigeria and the contestants."
The brief announcement, which did not elaborate on the decision to change the venue, came after three days of rioting triggered by the pageant and a newspaper's reference to the prophet Muhammad.
The bloodshed was worst in the northern city of Kaduna, where it started Wednesday, but on Friday it spread to Abuja, the capital, where the beauty contest was to be held.
Red Cross officials said about 100 people had been killed and 500 injured in three days.
Fueling the clashes are long-standing hostilities between the various tribes of Muslims and Christians in Africa's most populous nation, where rioting and fighting between the groups is commonplace. Previous riots in Kaduna have escalated into religious battles that have killed hundreds since civilian government replaced military rule in 1999.
Islamic groups have complained for months that beauty pageant scheduled promotes promiscuity.
Things worsened after ThisDay newspaper in Kaduna published an article Saturday suggesting that Islam's prophet would have approved of the pageant.
"What would Muhammad think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from among them," Isioma Daniel wrote.
After Muslims called it offensive, the newspaper published a brief front-page apology Monday, and a lengthier retraction Thursday that said the passage had run by mistake.
Muslims gathered after prayers outside the national mosque in the usually placid capital 225 miles northeast of here and then stormed through town, burning cars and assaulting bystanders they believed to be Christian outside plush international hotels.
Police firing tear gas restored calm in Abuja within hours. But the melee in Kaduna, a religiously mixed city of several million people, continued in defiance of a round-the-clock police curfew.
Bands of Muslims, some armed with ceremonial daggers, stabbed and set fire to passers-by. Young men shouting "Allahu Akhbar," or "God is great," ignited makeshift barricades of tires and garbage. Christian youths smashed windows and burned mosques.
Plumes of smoke rose over Kaduna Friday as both sides burned and demolished homes in the segregated ethnic neighborhoods across this bustling market city. In one Christian minority district, an old woman sifted through the smoking ruins of her house to retrieve pots and plans.
Nearby, Tunde Adeyemi, a 25-year-old Christian, related how he and friends fought off Muslims. "We had only stones. They were shooting us, and we were stoning them," he said.
But Joe Adamu, a Muslim tailor, said Christians were armed with automatic weapons, while the Muslims had only stones and knives.
Five churches and an undetermined number of mosques had been burned by Friday. Red Cross workers retrieved burned bodies for burial.
Through the violence, the Miss World contestants remained under Nigerian police and army guard in the Nicon Hilton in Abuja, the nation's fanciest hotel. President Olusegun Obasanjo said their security would be tightened.
