Afghans Attack NATO Base in Quran Burning Protest

Afghans in a remote northern part of the country attempted to breach security Friday at a NATO base in an apparent demonstration against a Florida church's tentative plan to burn Qurans on Sept. 11, sparking a fight with local security that reportedly left as many as three people dead.

Brig. Gen. Hussain Safawy, the acting police chief of Badakhshan, told CBS News' Fazul Rahim that a peaceful protest march after Friday prayers at the local Mosque turned tense as the demonstrators reached the German-controlled base.

Safawy said protesters broke down the first perimeter gate surrounding the base and beat Afghan security guards and police on duty with sticks. The police fired warning shots in the air before allegedly receiving fire from the direction of the crowd.

Police officers then returned fire, Safawy said. Five protesters and two police were injured in the melee, but Safawy was unable to confirm media reports that as many as three protesters were killed in the gunfire.

He told Rahim that the German troops stationed at the base never became involved in the clashes, remaining at all times behind the outpost's interior perimeter.

CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark reports there were also protests against Gainesville Rev. Terry Jones' plan to burn the Qurans in Afghanistan's capital city. In north Kabul, the main road was blocked for a couple hours by a small demonstration which remained peaceful.

Meanwhile, appearing on CBS' "The Early Show" Friday, Rev. Jones said the planned bonfire was on hold, "right now."

More Quran Burning Coverage:

Minister: Quran Burning Might Not be Canceled
Rev. Jones Stands Down; Quran Burning Canceled
Koran Burning Plans Halted
Pastor Sparks Taliban Leaflets
Quran Burning Canceled by Fla. Pastor
Robert Gates Urged Terry Jones to Call Off Quran Burning
The Perils of Covering the Quran Burning
Taliban Calls on Afghans to Avenge Quran Burning
FBI Agents Visit Fla. Pastor over Quran Burning
Quran Burning Plan Prompts U.S. Travel Warning

[Fareed17]

These staged and instigated Afghanistan protests are a smoke screen to divert focus on the rampant Afghanistan corruption the Karzi government finds itself under.

[thebob-bob]

The only way to allow for freedom of religion is separate church from state. If you want a bible-based society, like Pastor Jones then freedom of religion goes out the window. Claiming a "Christian" country and then arguing that Christianity has evolved further than Islam is besides the point. Some Christian still advocate book-burning, subservient women and death to homosexuals.

A constitutional democracy that refuses religious intrusion into politics is our only hope. That goes for rightwing radical Christianists like Pat Robertson and Pastor Jones as well as radical Islamists like bin Ladin, Al q'ida and the Iranian revolutionary guard.

[kamsack50]

This whole event is the result of media networks like the one we are writing in now. They've been looking for any event to bring things to a boil, especially something to portray the problem as Christian vs. Islam., when really it's secularism vs. Islam.

[f16poor]

CIA reports that 72% of Afghans can NOT read.

You wonder: How would these illiterate Afghans in a remote northern part of the country know that an American pastor is exercising his CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to burn a Koran in the far-away America? For God?s sake, they don?t even have electricity or TVs there.

Who are these Islamic Terrorist Ring Leaders?

These Islamic Terrorist Ring Leaders are responsible for inciting those illiterate youths and they're threatening our Constitution and our way of lives.

[f16poor]

BGen. Hussain Safawy, the acting police chief of Badakhshan, .... said protesters broke down the first perimeter gate surrounding the base and beat Afghan security guards .......

@@@

Badakhshan province was where 10 Christian medical Aid workers were killed last month - even though some of these American doctors have been in Afghanistan for up to 30 years helping those poor Afghan Muslims ...

The killers were NOT Afghans -- they were Pakistani terrorists.

[tsigili]

Take strong military response to any threat from the Islamists!

[superdem1]

I am a total liberal but I think open, democratic nations are cutting their own throats by allowing Islam to flourish like other religions. Islam is not like other religions, any more than cancer is like other cells. Islam causes problems wherever it is found, because of its uncompromising totalitarian nature. Just look at how America is kow-towing to the Muslim sensibility right now. I think all religions are crazy, based on impossibilities, with delusional followers, but in America religions are allowed to flourish because they are voluntary and they are - at least symbolically - separated from the political system. In America religions are, so far, relatively harmless to freedom. Islam IS the political system, it is all pervasive, and it demands subservience, it demands acquiescence, there is no peaceful border between the Islamic and non-Islamic tradition anywhere in this world. Americans who extend our traditional tolerance to Islam are welcoming the virus which will destroy our national life. Muslims are not Methodists with headscarves. Islam abhors democracy, even as it uses democratic ideals to spread. I think this Florida Pastor is a Christian lunatic, but his horrible antics prove a valuable point - in democracies you should be able to burn a bra, the American flag, the Bible, or the Koran, if it necessary for free speech. When all of our nation's highest leaders are trying to prevent a two-bit storefront preacher from burning a book, the terrible power of Islam is there for all to see. Freedom of speech is already lost. The Koran is a book, for crying out loud. You should be able to burn a book in America - but obviously, you can't without riots, destruction, and death. Intelligent people, lovers of democracy, must recognize Islam for the danger that it is. Reasonable, rational people must oppose Islam, though others will throw you in with the simple bigots. While I oppose all religions, my careful study shows Islam is the worst, most anti-democratic currently practiced today. It is gangrene to the democratic body. We may think we are promoting freedom with our armies in foreign lands, but back home, Islam is quietly poisoning the homeland. You can't even burn a book in America, as stupid as that might be. You can't do it. That is the strangling power of Islam.

[sophiewack]

Your lack of intelligence is only surpassed by your lack of reason. Please back up your claim that Islam is not a religion and then you educate yourself by either reading the Christian bible or studying history. You are disbarging and insulting every Muslim American. Go back to FOX and post you bigoted bs, you are a true disgrace.

[on_alert247]

My father was shot at several times back in the 1970s trying to protect people who were being massacred by radical black Muslims who believed that their new found faith allowed them to kill the non-Muslim white man. I was just a kid back then and despite having read the Quran and parts of the Hadith, I can't find any redeeming qualities in this militant, intolerant and backward religion.

[USMC-Mom]

We are not going to win this war to just bow out and bring out troops home. I support the Troops just not the cause. If it were working I would, but our own nutty fellow country men (this "pastor" and any others like him) is turning not only against Muslim's, but also against our Troops and thats a traitor to me.

[kippertoo]

I thank goodness every day that I don't have any children that will have to grow up in this crapper of a world we live in now. I also thank goodness I'm old enough that perhaps I won't have to live through much of what is to come.

[Nikos_Retsos]

Jones is not a pastor. He is a buffoon whose congregation numbers was quoted in various media outlets as being between 10 and 50 members. He is, therefore, the epitome of a social insignificance, but he managed to pull the U.S. media by the nose, and created a Muslim poking frenzy of media coverage for the 9/11 anniversary. It was a well-designed campaign to rise the swells of America's anti-Muslim sentiment , and make a fame for himself as the bigot who had the guts to take the Holy Quran up to the altar, lit it, and turn it into ash. And surely he has managed to get more than the proverbial 15-minutes of fame.

I believe the media should have collectively hushed his announcement. But with the media striving for the attention of the readers, whose numbers bring in the commercials revenues, media exploitation has become easy. And that is why bombers blow themselves up, drug lords kill those who stand on their way, and protesters hit the streets. They all vie for the headlines.

Mr. Jones managed to get an avalanche of headlines with the stupid idea of burning the Holy Quran because he ignited it at the right time - just before the impending 9/11 anniversary. As they say: timing is everything. He was successful in obtaining infamy, but he is naive enough to believe that he has attained fame. Now he walks around proud, but with a loaded pistol on his belt - just in case.

Becoming an infamous bigot turned out to be easy for Mr. Jones. But now comes the difficult part of his newly found pride and infamy. He would have to look over his shoulders for the rest of his life. Offending the Holy Quran invites martyrdom in the Muslim world. And Mr. Jones is probably clueless, or he has forgotten what happened to the author of "Satanic Verses," Salman Rushdie. He had to go into hiding after the late Ayatollah Khomeini issued a "death edict" against him for offending prophet Mohammed. Nikos Retsos, retired professor

[Void-Master]

So we should just all forfeit our right to free speech to avoid angering Islam and getting ourselves killed.

Right! That ain't gonna happen. The Muslim world can just get over it.