Afghan protesters attack US-led base

Thousands of protesters have attacked a US-led NATO base in northeastern Afghanistan to condemn a Florida-based churches plan to burn the holy Quran.

Thousands of people took to streets in Faizabad town, capital of Badakhshan Province, On Friday to hold an anti-US demonstration.

They were chanting slogans against the United States and hurled stones to show their anger over a plan by a Florida evangelical church to set fire to hundreds of copies of the Muslim holy book, Press TV correspondent reported.

The demonstrations began after Eid al-Fitr prayers marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

Terry Jones, pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, was planning to burn the holy Quran on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

He however, retracted from his decision after the infuriated international community condemned the blasphemous plan.

US President Barack Obama condemned the plan, branding it as “destructive and dangerous.”

“If he [Terry Jones] is listening, I hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans, that this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance,” Obama said in an interview broadcast Thursday on ABC’s Good Morning America program.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Thursday slammed the plan to burn the Quran, warning of the response of the Muslim world and the followers of other religions.

“The US officials should carry out their duties to guarantee the basic right of American Muslims and prevent the promotion of such offensive acts,” Mottaki said.

Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, earlier urged Obama to personally intervene and to stop the plan to burn Quran.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said, “Anyone who even thought of such a despicable act must be suffering from a diseased mind and a sickly soul. It will inflame sentiments among Muslims throughout the world and cause irreparable damage to interfaith harmony and also to world peace.”

India has also called on the US authorities to take “strong action” and prevent the event.

A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said on Wednesday that “we strongly condemn any kind of attempt of this kind.”

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon slammed the plan saying, “Such actions cannot be condoned by any religion.”

Afghanistan, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Pakistan, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the NATO have also condemned the plan.