Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
The SpaceX mission
A privately owned unmanned rocket blasts off on a mission to be the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. Slideshow
Swedish Mohammad cartoonist attacked at lecture
Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks poses before an interview with Reuters in Stockholm in this March 10, 2010 file photo.
Credit: Reuters/Bob Strong
STOCKHOLM |
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Lars Vilks, a Swedish cartoonist whose sketch of the Prophet Mohammad enraged many Muslims, was head-butted on Tuesday while giving a lecture about freedom of speech, he said.
A video of the incident was posted on Swedish newspaper websites and showed an angry crowd in the lecture hall with many people on their feet and shouting. Police were at the front of the hall and one policewoman used pepper spray on a man.
Vilks, who depicted the Prophet Mohammad with the body of a dog in 2007, said he was assaulted by a man sitting on the front row as he spoke at the University of Uppsala, about 70 km (44 miles) from Stockholm.
"He head-butted me and I fell into the wall and lost my glasses," Vilks was quoted by news agency TT as saying. He added he was unharmed.
The video, which mainly showed what happened after the assault on Vilks, showed the lecture hall in complete tumult with dozens of people on their feet and shouting.
Cries of "Allah is Great" in Arabic could also be heard from one woman in the crowd.
Swedish media said the incident happened after Vilks began to show a video involving sexual and religious images.
The video posted on the website of Aftonbladet newspaper showed Vilks's clip was entitled "Allah ho Gaybar."
A spokesman for Uppsala police said two people were detained in the incident.
Vilks was not immediately available to comment further. He says he has received death threats since his Prophet sketch.
In March an American who called herself "JihadJane," was charged with plotting to kill the Swede and using the Internet to enlist co-conspirators.
In January, a Somali man was indicted for terrorism and attempted murder for breaking into the home of Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard and threatening him with an axe.
A cartoon by Westergaard in 2005 which depicted the Prophet Mohammad with a turban shaped like a bomb sparked outrage across the Muslim world, with at least 50 people killed in riots in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.
Most Muslims consider any depiction of the founder of Islam as offensive.
(Reporting by Patrick Lannin; Editing by Maria Golovnina)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
Question – What is the only thing worse than an incompetent liberal President?
Answer -A competent liberal President.
Right because everyone secretly carrying guns makes for a more secure society. If that had been the case instead of a head but/shouting match there would have been a gun fight. Much better. And to the argument that Nazism led to the anti-jewish sentiment held in the arab world, I believe there has been religious discord between the two groups for much longer, anyone with a simple grasp of history would know that, not that I’m doubting their use of propaganda in the Mid-East. We can also see the dangers of a bad conservative leaders in the form of mr. bush who, lets face it, was in many ways set the bar for future political failure. Good job at proving how much of a dumbass you really are.
Follow Reuters