The Afghans torched an effigy of US President Barack Obama and hurled stones at police during a mass protest over allegations that Western troops set fire to a copy of the Holy Qur’ān. Around 1,000 demonstrators, mainly university students, marched through the streets of Kabul before gathering in front of the Parliament building and hurling stones at riot police as well as an armoured vehicle, which had blocked them from going down one street.
Police responded by firing into the air, dispersing the crowd for a brief period before they massed again. The demonstrators, almost all men, chanted: “Death to America, death to Jews and Christians!” as they burned a model of Obama and a United States flag. U.S. soldiers, according to locals, during operations against Taliban militants in Wardak province, 40 km west of Kabul, had raided a mosque and burnt a copy of the Qur’ān. The protesters in front of parliament building, called on government to arrest and punish those soldiers who had burned the holy Qur’ān.