Niger protesters burn churches in Charlie Hebdo riots

Stone-throwing demonstrators set fire to churches and looted shops in Niger’s capital Niamey on Saturday, in the latest protest in France’s former African colonies at French newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

Reuters reports that a day after five people were killed in the majority Muslim country in protests over the cartoons, demonstrators in Niamey attacked a police station and burned at least two police cars after authorities banned a meeting called by local Islamic leaders.

Police fired teargas at gangs of youths, who responded by throwing petrol bombs and erecting barricades of burning tires. Witnesses said several people were injured but an official toll was not immediately available.

At least six churches were burned or looted. Calm returned in the afternoon but Islamic associations have called a protest march for Sunday.

“They offended our Prophet Mohammad, that’s what we didn’t like,” said Amadou Abdoul Ouahab, who took part in the demonstration. “This is the reason why we have asked Muslims to come, so that we can explain this to them, but the state refused. That’s why we’re angry today.”

Demonstrations were also reported in regional towns, including Maradi, 600 km east of Niamey, where two churches were burned. Another church and a residence of the foreign minister were burned in the eastern town of Goure.

Niger’s 17 million people are almost all Muslims, though its government remains secular. With the influence of moderate Sufi brotherhoods strong, Niger has avoided the armed Islamist uprisings that have shaken neighboring Nigeria and Mali, but in recent years there have been a growing number of protests by hardline Muslim associations over social issues.

Four Muslim preachers who had convened the meeting in Niamey were arrested, police sources said. The French embassy warned its citizens not to go out on the streets.

The death toll from Friday’s clashes in Niger’s second largest city of Zinder rose to five after emergency services discovered a burned body inside a Catholic Church.

Churches were burned, Christian homes looted and the French cultural center attacked during the violence in Zinder on Friday, residents said.

A police officer and three civilians had already been confirmed killed in the demonstrations, police sources said.

Peaceful marches took place after Friday prayers in the capital cities of other West African countries, Mali, Senegal and Mauritania, and in Algeria in North Africa, all former French colonies. In Algiers, several police were injured in clashes with protesters.