Protests Erupt in Mogadishu Following French President’s Support of Prophet Mohammed Caricature

Somalis protested French President Emmanuel Macron’s support of depictions of the Prophet Mohammed in Mogadishu.

Protests erupted in Somalia after French President Emmanuel Macron defended caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad and praised a French teacher who was publically beheaded by a French Muslim. Demonstrators also objected to the Macron’s recent denigration of Islam as “a religion that is in crisis all over the world today” in an October speech that called for a greater commitment to secularism in France. 

Earlier this month, French middle school teacher Samuel Paty was beheaded after showing his students a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. Eleven of the magazine’s staff were killed in a January 2015 attack by two members of al-Qaeda because of the published depictions of the Muslim prophet. Islamic teachings ban visual depictions of Muhammad.  

Paty was posthumously awarded the Légion d’honneur, France’s highest civilian honor, and was laid to rest outside the Sorbonne University, where Macron spoke highly of the teacher and called for a continuation of the depictions, despite their controversy.

“We will continue, teacher. We will defend the freedom that you taught so well and we will bring secularism,” Macron insisted. “We will not give up cartoons, drawings even if others back down.”

In response, hundreds of Somalis converged on Mogadishu to condemn Macron’s praise for  the offensive artwork. Demonstrators burned and stepped on French flags in protest.

Hassan Bashir, a law student in the country, was deeply upset by Macron’s actions. “He's using Islamophobia as a tactic, trying to change peace-loving patriotic French citizens to hate a religion that only knows peace,” said Bashir.

Many are also calling for a countrywide boycott of French goods. Abshir Mohammed, a trader in the capital, said he was willing to lose money in order to defend his religion.

“I will personally burn any French products in my shop and go on a loss, and urge all Somalis to do the same and boycott their products,” he said.

Some are calling for the Somali government to do more to punish France for what many see as state-sanctioned Islamophobia. “Why the Somali government is silent about France’s naked attack towards our Prophet Mohammed—peace be upon him—and Islam?” Somali protester Hassan Abdullahi Aalim said.

Somalia, whose population is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, is not alone in its condemnation of Macron’s words. Many Muslim-majority countries across the globe have also joined protests against Macron, including Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.

Though the Quran does not outlaw visual representations of the Prophet Mohammed, Islamic scholars throughout history have concluded that such drawings are offensive. Dalia Mogahed, a researcher at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, likened the feelings experienced by many Muslims around the world to those felt by some Americans when their flag is burned.