Muslim mob destroys Christian-owned businesses after Friday prayers

[MercZ]

For those of you who give a damn about the specific events rather than discussion over religion is the most dumb.

The mullah who is most blamed for the events is trying to deflect blame from himself and claim that he had never said anyone should attack these buildings. Criticizes the 'unfair' attacks perpetrated on the Islamic Union offices as taking advantage of the riots to settle accounts. It's a lengthy article so I'll take selections of it.

[url]http://www.rudaw.net/english/kurds/4203.html[/url]

[quote]ZAKHO, Iraqi Kurdistan— The preacher blamed for inciting widespread riots last week in Dohuk province has denied accusations that he provoked his followers into destroying businesses deemed un-Islamic.

Following Mala Ismail Osman Sindi’s Friday sermon in which he claimed prostitution was occurring in massage parlors in the Kurdish border town of Zakho, a group of young men set alight the town’s only massage parlor, a dozen liquor stores and three hotels. Many of the businesses were owned by minority Christian Assyrians and Yezidis.

The violence later spread to the city of Dohuk and Sumel, where rioters torched the offices of the Kurdistan Islamic Union, ransacked.

In an interview with Rudaw, Sindi said, “I’m not the only one talking about massage parlors. Everyone else is talking about it and I may have been the last person to address that issue. In my sermon, I only said that instead of massage parlors, people should build mosques.”

Saeed Ibrahim, a resident of Zakho who attended Sindi’s service, told Rudaw, “After the mullah spoke about massage parlors, one man stood up and shouted ‘Since there are haram (un-Islamic) things in Zakho, we should not tolerate it and we should destroy them.’”

Sindi confirmed that someone indeed stood up and encouraged people to burn the massage parlors.

“But I told him that if he left to attack the parlors before the Friday sermon was over, his prayers wouldn’t be accepted (by God),” said Sindi. “The person was a member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union.”

...

Later on Friday, a group of people torched an Islamic Union office in Zakho. Later the Islamic Union’s offices were stormed in Duhok, Sumel and Kasrok.

Ismail Ravandi, a member of the Islamic Union’s leadership, told Rudaw, “In total, 10 of our party offices were destroyed in Duhok province, among them radio, TV stations and newspaper offices.”

Ghazi Saeed, the head of the Islamic Union’s branch in Dohuk, estimated the damage was about US$10 million.

Following last week’s unrest, the Islamic Union and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), which controls Dohuk province, exchanged sharp words and accusations.

The KDP held the Islamic Union responsible for causing the violence and the Islamic Union said the people who attacked its offices were members of the KDP.

Abu Zerro, KDP’s acting representative in Zakho said, “It’s so obvious. A few days before the incidents, plans (for the attack) had been drawn up inside the local offices of the Islamic Union; therefore, the Islamic Union is responsible for what happened.”

...

But Nasraddin Saeed, head of the Islamic Union’s branch in Zakho, rejected the KDP’s claims, saying, “It was only an excuse to attack our offices.”

Saeed said, “We heard the KDP was planning to attack our offices and we immediately called the city’s police chief, but he said ‘You are behind the unrest and you’ll have to pay the price.’”

A statement by the party read, “The Islamic Union does not have any preachers in that city (Zakho) to justify the violence.”

Ravandi, of the Islamic Union, said, “Why did the police and security forces not seal off the offices of the Islamic Union? Not only that, the police stood among the people and looked on, without doing anything to stop them.”

KDP’s Abu Zerro in Zakho said, “The riots were huge and there weren’t enough security forces to control it all. The security forces were busy maintaining the city’s security and if there were enough of them to protect the Islamic Union offices, they would have also been able to protect the liquor stores and massage parlors.”

On Saturday, Kurdistan Region President Massoud Barzani released a statement in which he condemned the incidents of Zakho.

“Unfortunately, on Friday some mullahs and a group of youth committed unlawful acts and caused instability in Zakho,” Barzani’s statement read. “They attacked some tourist locations especially those of Christians and Yezidis and it seems the attacks had been pre-planned.”

Barzani said instability in the Kurdistan region is unacceptable and that a special committee will investigate Friday’s incidents and bring the perpetrators to justice.

“Protecting harmony among Kurdish communities is not only the responsibility of Kurdistan government,” he said in his statement. “It’s everyone’s responsibility and we won’t allow anyone to threaten this harmony.”

Barzani also described the attacks on the Islamic Union as “an unjust act.”

[/quote]

Basically it's a matter right now of whether the Islamic Union could be connected to the riots, which the ruling government prefers to show them as dangerous to society, or the Islamic Union's perspective that this was independent of them and the KDP used it as a means to attack their offices again as 'punishment' for the riots.

What ever the case it's pretty much exploded a political debate over the role of the mosques. For the time being there are those that are 'pro-Government' and others that are sympathetic to the Islamic Union. These events can be used as a pretext by the government to reign them in.

I'm unfamiliar with the policies of the KIU though from what little I know they're a run of the mill religious party, similar to the Muslim Brotherhood as I explained in my wall of text. But of course from my perspective the major issue to me will continue to be- how can you improve the social terrain that those groups exploit? This stuff won't be resolved until social services and education can help the youth and adequate jobs and housing are brought forth, as well as an end to corruption from the government and the domination of corporations, particularly with oil sector.

Edit: As for comparisons to Kristallnacht and Afghanistan under Taliban, I must point out again this wasn't government sanctioned or encouraged. Just an unfortunate event that exploded from the fuel built up from economic and social problems resulting from the corrupt politics and abusive economy.

[Megafan]

[QUOTE=Drsalvador;33581301]I spare no love for Christianity but i can safely say WOW. Fuckheads like that mob are what is propagating the FALSE fact that the U.S. is a battleground. Morons.[/QUOTE]

This was in Iraq.