Thousands demonstrate in Grozny, capital of Russia’s largely Muslim region, over ‘vulgar and immoral’ depictions of prophet

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Tens of thousands of people have staged a rally in Russia’s Chechnya region in protest against French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, which the predominantly Muslim region’s leader denounced as “vulgar and immoral”.

Carrying signs declaring “Hands off the prophet Muhammad”, demonstrators shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is greatest”) as they streamed down the main thoroughfare of Chechnya’s capital, Grozny.

Charlie Hebdo last week published a picture of Muhammad weeping on the cover after gunmen stormed its offices, killing 12 people. The gunmen said the attack was revenge for cartoons the magazine had published mocking Islam.

“We will launch a decisive protest against the vulgarity, immorality, lack of culture and shamelessness of those who drew the caricatures of the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him),” the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, wrote online before the rally. “We publicly warn that we will not tolerate similar actions.”.

Kadyrov said he expected up to 1 million people to attend the rally. The Kremlin-backed leader, who opposes an insurgency that aims to carve out an Islamist state in the mostly Muslim North Caucasus, has cultivated his own brand of Islam that critics say contradicts Russian law.

Mass rallies organised in the region have been used to show Kadyrov’s allegiance to Moscow. About 100,000 people were estimated to have marched in Grozny at a rally organised for the birthday of President Vladimir Putin last year.

Some participants in other rallies have criticised Chechen authorities, saying they were forced to attend.

Some state-controlled and Kremlin-friendly media in Russia, which has passed a law making it illegal to offend religious sentiment, have questioned the value of free speech since the Paris killings.