Number of protesters against caricatures on Muhammad exceeded one million, said Chechen MIA

This morning Grozny has hosted a mass action "We love Muhammad", initiated by Chechen clergy. In this context, the capital of Chechnya had a day-off.

The action began with a march from "Minutka" Square to the square in front of the mosque "Heart of Chechnya" and ended with a rally. The participants of the action made a massive collective namaz prayer there.

The participants of the rally were holding numerous banners and posters reading: "Caricatures on Prophets (peace be upon them) are not freedom of speech, but a sign of barbarism!", "We are Ummah of Prophet Muhammad!" and "Hands off our beloved Prophet Muhammad!"

According to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the rally was over 800,000 strong, while the local MIA claimed over a million, with the total population of the republic, as of January 1, 2014, according to the Russian State Statistics Committee, making 1,346,000 people.

Most of the participants of the action, questioned by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, spoke in support of the stated demands. However, among those, who gathered near the mosque in central Grozny, there were people who said that the event was "voluntary-compulsory" for them.

"People themselves were saying that since Friday in mosques, at work and in state institutions they were explained that they must come; I came across students who sheepishly confessed that their participation was mandatory. But they themselves were not against coming, because everyone said that these caricatures had terribly outraged him or her," the "Kommersant" quotes its correspondent Grigory Tumanov, who was present in Grozny during the action.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.