Pro-Osama marchers: US No. 1 terrorist

MANILA, Philippines—Some 100 Muslims marched on Friday the US embassy in Manila  to protest what they called the “desecration” of Osama bin Laden’s body, with one of their leaders tagging the United States as “the No. 1 terrorist in the world.”

Members of the group Maradeka and the Bangsamoro Supreme Council of the Ulama held the sympathy march condemning Bin Laden’s burial at sea. They said that while the leader of the terror group al-Qaida had been demonized by the US government, he still had the right to a decent burial as a mujahedeen or warrior of Islam.

But the protesters were stopped from reaching their destination by riot policemen.

Supt. James Afalla of the Manila Police District’s Sta. Cruz Station No. 3 had tried to dissuade the protesters from marching from the Golden Mosque in Quiapo toward the embassy. But the protesters, including teenagers and children, pushed on, shouting “Allahu Akbar (God is great)!” at intervals.

“To us, Bin Laden is a holy warrior… He is a Muslim. Thus, he is a brother to all Muslims. We do not believe what they are accusing him of,” Yassin Ebrahim, president of the Muslim Town Public Library, told the Inquirer.

Ebrahim said Bin Laden’s burial at sea—a move that, according  to US officials, was intended to prevent his supporters from making his final resting place a shrine—was “a great disrespect.”

Bin Laden claimed responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States that killed more than 3,000 people. He was killed by US commandos in a raid on his hideout in northern Pakistan on Monday.

<strong>March route</strong>

From the mosque, the protesters marched through Carlos Palanca Street, Ayala Boulevard, Taft Avenue and T.M. Kalaw Avenue bearing a streamer with the message “Stop genocide in Libya! Let Muslims rule their own land. US allies: Stay out of Muslim lands.”

They planned to hold a program in front of the US embassy on Roxas Boulevard but carried no permit from the Manila government.

Some 50 civil disturbance management operatives of the Manila Police District’s Ermita Station No. 5, bearing shields and truncheons and with a fire truck on standby, stopped the protesters from marching past the corner of T.M. Kalaw and Jorge Bocobo Street in front of the National Library.

Tension mounted as the two camps engaged in a shoving match. The protesters eventually dispersed peacefully.

Sheikh Jamil Yahya, chair of the Bangsamoro Supreme Council of the Ulama, declared the protest action a success, noting that the police barricade was in some ways already an acknowledgment of their cause.

Before the march, hundreds attended the midday worship at the Golden Mosque on Globo de Oro Street in Quiapo. The mosque with a capacity of 5,000 was filled by noon, with dozens of other worshippers sitting on the floor outside.

Thirty policemen were deployed within the mosque compound and the vicinity, thrice the usual number.

The mosque, one of the largest in Manila, draws thousands of Muslim residents on Fridays. The usual crowd is estimated at between 3,000 and 5,000.

The Friday midday worship, among the most important weekly prayers in Islam, is a requirement among Muslim men.

Manila has a sizeable Muslim population—about 20 percent of the general populace, based on recent estimates. Quiapo, in particular, has a thriving Muslim community, a remnant of the city’s rich precolonial Islamic heritage.

<Strong>‘No. 1 terrorist’</strong>

In an address that followed the midday prayers, Yahya shouted: “We condemn the brutal killing of Osama Bin Laden!”

Later, addressing the marchers through a loudspeaker on T.M. Kalaw, with riot policemen blocking their progress toward the embassy, Yahya said the United States was the “No. 1 terrorist in the world.”

“America is the one killing civilians. America practices state terrorism against civilians… They are killing civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, now in Libya,” he said.

The event, initially announced to the media as a “memorial service” for Bin Laden, actually focused more on another controversial Muslim leader, Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi, who is known for his strong support of the Bangsamoro struggle in Mindanao.

Indeed, in an earlier text message to a relative, Yahya said what he had been told was that a prayer rally would be held in sympathy with victims of the US-Nato bombings in Libya.

The relative forwarded to the Inquirer in Cotabato City Yahya’s text message stating that after the Friday prayers, there would be a rally at the Golden Mosque and in front of the US embassy “vs US-Nato Libya, killing civilians.”

The relative said it was apparent that Yahya had been misinformed of the real purpose of the protest action, and expressed fear that his participation would create an impression that the religious leader and many other Muslims in the Philippines were Bin Laden fanatics.

<strong>Stop the bombings</strong>

At the midday worship, Yahya led the prayers and delivered the khutbah (sermon), in which he assailed Western interference in the Middle East, particularly the United Nations-sanctioned air strikes on Gadhafi-controlled territories in Libya, which remains a center of conflict.

“He is a brother Muslim. He is our brother,” Yahya said of Gadhafi. “We demand the immediate stop of the indiscriminate bombings against civilians in Libya.”

Yahya did not mention Bin Laden in his sermon and only briefly mentioned the latter in his speeches.

But when prodded by reporters to comment on Bin Laden, he said the decision of US President Barack Obama not to release photos of the slain al-Qaida leader had raised suspicions among Muslims.

“The Muslims are very doubtful… Until we see the body of Bin Laden, we will not believe that he’s been killed by the Americans. Because it is well known that America is a great liar,” he said.

<strong>Sympathy for Bin Laden</strong>

Yassin Ebrahim said that when news of Bin Laden’s killing first broke, the common sentiment in the Muslim enclave in Quiapo was sympathy for the al-Qaida leader and irritation at the United States.

“We were annoyed… The Muslim leaders had discussions about it until we decided on this [protest] action,” he said.

Ebrahim also expressed the belief that publicly expressing support for Bin Laden would not be a cause of conflict with the Christian majority.

According to another Muslim leader, Abdul Maksood Dalupang, conflict only starts when people turn to extremism.

Islam teaches moderation, and a good Muslim is a moderate, he said. <strong><em>With reports from Jeannette I. Andrade and Helen Hoddinott in Manila; Nash Maulana, Inquirer Mindanao</strong></em>

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TAGS: protest, War