March 09, 2008	Sunday	Safar 30, 1429

HERAT, March 8: Thousands of Afghans demonstrated on Saturday in western Afghanistan, shouting angry slogans against Denmark and the Netherlands for insults against Islam.

The protesters walked through the city of Herat on their way to its main sports stadium. They denounced Denmark, where blasphemous cartoons were recently reprinted in several newspapers.

They also criticised the Netherlands, where a lawmaker plans to release a short film critical about Islam, police spokesman Noor Kahn Nekzad said.

He estimated that more than 10,000 people took part in the protest. An Associated Press reporter put the crowd at about 5,000.

Demonstrators shouted “Death to Denmark for insulting our prophet” and “Death to the Netherlands for insulting our religion”. They also shouted “Death to America”.

Last month, Denmark’s leading newspapers reprinted a blasphemous cartoon after Danish police said they had uncovered a plot to kill the artist, whose drawing was one of 12 cartoons that sparked deadly riots across the Muslim world in 2006.—AP