Rally Against Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad Underway in Chechnya

Hundreds of thousands of people plan to take part in protest against publishing cartoons of Prophet Muhammaf in Grozny, the capital of the Chechen Republic.

MOSCOW, January 19 (Sputnik) – A rally against the publishing cartoons of Prophet Muhammad is underway in the capital of Russia’s Chechen Republic, Russian RSN radio reports.

Chechen head of state Ramzan Kadyrov is expected to take part in the protests against publishing anti-Muslim cartoons. Earlier, Alvi Karimov, Kadyrov’s press secretary, said that hundreds of thousands of people, including prominent clerics from all across Russia, would take part in the rally, held in Grozny.

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Similar events took place all over the world after Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly, decided to put a cartoon depicting Prophet Mohammed holding a "Je Suis Charlie" sign on the cover of its first issue since the January 7 attack.

At least 12 people were killed in Paris on January 7, when two men opened fire in the office of Charlie Hebdo in revenge for the paper's publication of satirical images of the Prophet Muhammad in the past.

Charlie Hebdo's decision to continue publishing cartoons sparked outrage among Muslims.

In recent days, rallies protesting against the cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed were held in the former French colonies of Niger, Mali, Senegal and Mauritania, as well as in Pakistan and Algeria. In Niger, ten people were killed during violent protests on Friday and Sunday.