Thousands of Muslims tell Google: “take video down”
Over 10,000 Muslim protestors gathered outside Google’s UK headquarters on Sunday (14 October) to demand that the internet giant remove an anti-Islam video from YouTube.
Demonstrators travelled from across the UK to Google’s offices in London to oppose the presence of the video on YouTube, which is a subsidiary of Google.
Protestors say that the video, entitled ‘Innocence of Muslims’, insults Mohammad and demeans Muslims. A demonstration against the video in Libya last month ended in the death of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
Barricades were erected outside the Google offices whilst protestors held placards which read: “We love our prophet more than our lives" and "Prophet Muhammad is the founder of freedom of speech”.
A number of Imams were present who addressed the crowds in Arabic, Urdu and English. Some in the crowd responded to their exhortations with cries of “God is great” and “Mohammad is the prophet of God” in Arabic.
800 or so Imams were involved in organising the protest which, according to The Telegraph, lasted four hours and “blocked roads almost up to the Queen's doorstep on Buckingham Palace Road”.
The main organiser of the event, Masoud Alam, said: “Our next protest will be at the offices of Google and YouTube across the world. We are looking to ban this film”.
“This is not freedom of expression, there is a limit for that. This insult of the Prophet will not be allowed”.
He added that he hoped the next demonstration, planned to take place at Hyde Park, would be “a million strong”.
YouTube response
A YouTube representative said: “We work hard to create a community everyone can enjoy and which also enables people to express different opinions.
“This can be a challenge because what's OK in one country can be offensive elsewhere. This video - which is widely available on the Web - is clearly within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube”.
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