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from FaithWorld:
Banned Paris “sausage and wine” party goes ahead at Arc de Triomphe
(Photo: Protesters at the Arc de Triomphe, 18 June 2010/Benoit Tessier)
A "sausage and wine" party went ahead in Paris despite a police ban but was staged near the Arc de Triomphe instead of in a neighbourhood with many Muslim residents as originally planned. Friday's event had been criticised as highly provocative because it was planned for the day of weekly Muslim prayers and the World Cup soccer match between England and Algeria, a former French colony that is majority Muslim.
The mayor of Paris had said the event was "clearly inspired by extreme right-wing movements." Paris police banned the party in the multiethnic Goutte d'Or neighbourhood because it risked sparking disturbances. The French daily Le Parisien estimated that 600 to 800 people gathered on the Champs Elysées near the Arc de Triomphe to eat pork sausages and drink wine at what organisers called a "giant cocktail party."
The event was announced on Facebook late last month and drew criticism from politicians and civic groups because the Facebook page contained thinly veiled anti-Muslim slogans. A similar party planned for a largely Muslim area of Lyon in eastern France was cancelled after pressure from the police, the organiser said on the event's Facebook page.
(Photo: Protester (in tan hat) waves pork sausage at a "sausage and wine party" on 18 June 2010/Benoit Tessier)
from Our Take on Your Take:
Protest in Azerbaijan
News is always happening around the world. However, due to resource limitations, news organizations aren't always able to cover everything. But with the advent of citizen journalism, ordinary people can step in and help fill the gaps, whether it's in countries that have been heavy in the news like Iran, or ones not quite on the radar like this photo in Azerbaijan.
Your View contributor Abbas Atilay captured a dramatic moment during a protest for free parliament elections in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, a country located in the Caucus mountains region in Asia. There is determination both in the face of the protester and in the faces of the police who're arresting him.
from FaithWorld:
Ultra-Orthodox protest against Israeli ruling to integrate Jewish schools
Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews protested in Israel Thursday against a court order to desegregate a religious school and force Jewish girls of European and Middle Eastern descent to study together.
Demonstrations were held in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak, a Tel Aviv suburb with a large population of religious Jews, before some 80 Ashkenazi parents, Jews of European origin, were to report to jail for defying the Supreme Court ruling.
from FaithWorld:
Paris bans open-air “sausage & wine party” over Muslim concerns
A giant "sausage and wine" party planned later this week in a Paris neighbourhood with many Muslim residents risks sparking disturbances and will therefore be banned, police in the French capital announced on Tuesday.
The event, announced on the social networking site Facebook late last month (see page here in French), had drawn growing criticism from politicians and civic groups in recent days as its page containing barely disguised anti-Muslim slogans attracted over 7,000 members.
from Global News Journal:
In line of fire at Bangkok protests
It was 2 a.m. on a Friday morning and we were stuck in the Reuters office on the 35th floor of the U Chu Liang Building. Thai anti-government protesters had begun rioting after their military strategist, a flamboyant major-general known as "Commander Red" was shot in the head as he was being interviewed by the New York Times at the "red shirt" protest encampment that occupies a huge chunk of expensive real estate in the Thai capital.
The protesters had swarmed into our parking lot, troops hot on their heels. One red shirt was shot dead, taking a bullet through his eye, outside our office. Our managers had ordered us to evacuate, but we had to wait until the violence died down outside. I strapped on a 10 kg flak jacket and helmet emblazoned with "press stickers", took a ride down the cargo elevator in a building under emergency power, and stepped carefully into the parking lot, looking around to see if it was safe for the remaining people in the newsroom to leave. It was quiet, as I crept around the parking lot, dodging from car to car, feeling slightly ridiculous. A taxi was parked just outside. I was beginning to understand what gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson meant when he said in his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
from FaithWorld:
Ultra-Orthodox Jews lose grave battle in Israel
Israeli police arrest an ultra-Orthodox Jew protesting in Ashkelon on May 16, 2010/Amir Cohen
A heavily guarded operation to dig up ancient graves to make way for a new hospital emergency room has exposed traditional tensions between Israel's Jewish secular majority and ultra-Orthodox minority.
from Our Take on Your Take:
Looking Thailand in the eyes
The tense standoff in Bangkok continues to produce some memorable photos, including this one by Seila Montes of an injured anti-government "red-shirt" protester. The light captured in the man's eye gives the photo a focal point and a point of connection with the audience.
from FaithWorld:
With new Catholic leader in Hanoi, a breakthrough in sight?
Protesters wave banners in support of Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet of Hanoi outside the city's cathedral, 7 May 2010/Nguyen Huy Kham
Hanoi Catholics held a ceremony last Friday to welcome the man who is expected to become their new archbishop, but for many on hand – priests and faithful alike – it was a moment of sadness. There were no flowers at the altar of Hanoi’s 124-year-old cathedral welcoming Peter Nguyen Van Nhon, 72, to the role of coadjutor bishop. Outside on the steps, several dozen people brandished banners in protest of what his papal appointment represented.
from FaithWorld:
French foreign minister gets ready for criticism over planned burqa ban
(French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Europe 1 radio, 2 May 2010/Dailymotion)
France hasn't even presented its draft bill to outlaw Muslim face veils yet -- in contrast to Belgium, which has started voting on its ban -- but Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is already preparing for the wave of criticism from abroad it will provoke. He told Europe 1 radio on Sunday that he'd already warned the government at a cabinet meeting about what to expect.
from FaithWorld:
Can saffron be red in Thailand?
(A monk walks along a red shirt barricade in Bangkok's business district on April 25/Sukree Sukplang)
At the sprawling red shirt encampment in central bank, Buddhist monks clad in their distinctive saffron robes mingle with men wearing helmets walking around with sharpened bamboo sticks.
