Niger protesters burn churches in second day of Charlie Hebdo riots

Niamey: Stone-throwing demonstrators set fire to two churches in Niger`s capital Niamey on Saturday, in the latest protest in France`s former African colonies at French newspaper Charlie Hebdo`s cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.

A day after five people were killed in Niger in protests over the cartoons, protesters in Niamey attacked a police station and burned at least two police cars near the main mosque after authorities

banned a meeting called by local Muslim leaders. Police responded with teargas.

"They offended our Prophet Mohammed. That`s what we didn`t like," said Amadou Abdoul Ouahab, who took part in the demonstration. "This is the reason why we have asked Muslims to come, so that we can explain this to them, but the state refused. That`s why we`re angry today."

Demonstrations were also reported in regional towns, including Maradi, 600 km (375 miles) east of Niamey, where two churches were burned. Another church and a residence of the foreign minister were burned in the eastern town of Goure.

Four Muslim preachers who had convened the meeting in Niamey were arrested, police sources said. Protesters burned the French flag and set up roadblocks on streets in the town centre but no casualties were reported on Saturday.

The French embassy in Niamey warned its citizens not to go out on the streets.

The death toll from Friday`s clashes in Niger`s second largest city of Zinder, rose to five after emergency services discovered a burned body inside a Catholic Church.

On Friday, churches were burned, Christian homes looted and the French cultural centre attacked during the violence in Zinder, residents said.

A police officer and three civilians had already been confirmed killed in the demonstrations against the Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, police sources said.

Peaceful marches took place after Friday prayers in the capital cities of other West African countries - Mali, Senegal and Mauritania - and Algeria in North Africa, all former French colonies.

In Algiers, several police were injured in clashes with protesters angered by the cartoons

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France warns citizens in riot-hit Niger to stay indoors

Niamey: France`s embassy in Niger warned French citizens to stay indoors Saturday as violent

protests against publication of a Prophet Mohammed cartoon by the French weekly Charlie Hebdo spread in the capital Niamey.

"Be very cautious, avoid going out," the embassy said on its website. Rioters torched churches, threw rocks at police and also ransacked several French-linked businesses, including telephone kiosks run by Orange.

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Europe on high alert over terror threats

London: A high alert has been sounded in Europe following anti-terror raids and arrests of suspected militants.

Security has been tightened in several European countries after last week`s attacks in Paris which left 17 people dead.

More than 20 people have been arrested in Belgium, France and Germany. Belgium has joined France in deploying troops alongside police, BBC reported.

There are increased concerns about the return of young Europeans who have gone to fight with Middle East militants.

In Belgium, five people were charged Friday with "participating in the activities of a terrorist group" following a series of raids that began Thursday evening and left two suspects dead.

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Gunman holds 2 hostage in post office outside Paris

Nanterre: An armed man was holed up in a post office outside Paris on Friday with two hostages, police said, though there is no known link with last week's jihadist attacks.

Police cordoned off the area in Colombes, a city northwest of Paris, and a helicopter was flying overhead.

French and German authorities arrested more than a dozen people on Friday with suspected links to the Islamic State group and a Paris train station was evacuated, with Europe on alert for new potential terrorist attacks.

The arrests came a day after Belgian police killed two gunmen recently returned from Syria during one of several raids across the country in a vast sweep against an Islamist network suspected of planning imminent strikes.

Visiting a scarred Paris on Friday, US secretary of state John Kerry met French President Francois Hollande and went to the sites of the city’s worst terrorist bloodshed in decades.

Twenty people, including the three gunmen, were killed last week in attacks on a kosher supermarket and the offices of satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo as well as police.

Hollande thanked Kerry for offering France support, saying, “You’ve been victims yourself of an exceptional terrorist attack on Sept 11. You know what it means for a country. ... We must find together appropriate responses.”

Underscoring heightened fears, police evacuated the Gare de l'Est train station after a bomb threat as Kerry’s motorcade sped from site to site.

The Paris prosecutor’s office, meanwhile, said at least 10 people were arrested in anti-terrorism raids in the region, targeting people linked to one of the French gunmen, Amedy Coulibaly, who claimed ties to the Islamic State group.

Across Europe, anxiety has grown as the hunt continues for potential accomplices of the three Paris terrorists, and as authorities try to prevent attacks by the thousands of European extremists who have joined Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

“The fight against terrorism must be international,” French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said. “Everybody must act: France, Europe and every country.”

Ripples were visible in faraway Pakistan where about 200 protesters clashed with police outside the French consulate in Karachi after a demonstration against Charlie Hebdo turned violent with at least three people suffering injuries.

After the clashes, the protesters, mainly students from a local university, retreated to a nearby area but refused to leave, as police blocked access to the consulate.

The rallies came a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif led parliament in condemning the cartoons, regarded by many Muslims as offensive

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Kerry wants to give Paris 'big hug' after attacks

Sofia: US Secretary of State John Kerry said today he wants to give Paris a "big hug" after last week's

Islamist attacks in the French capital, when he travels there later in the day.

"My visit to France is basically to share a big hug for Paris and express the affection of the American people for France and for our friends there who have been through a terrible time," Kerry said in Bulgaria.

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Pope on Charlie Hebdo: There are limits to freedom of expression

Manila: Pope Francis, speaking of last week's deadly attacks by Islamist militants in Paris, has defended freedom of expression, but said it was wrong to provoke others by insulting their religion and that one could "expect" a reaction to such abuse. "You can't provoke, you can't insult the faith of others, you can't make fun of faith," he told reporters on Thursday, aboard a plane taking him from Sri Lanka to the Philippines to start the second leg off his Asian tour.

Francis, who has condemned the Paris attacks, was asked about the relationship between freedom of religion and freedom of expression. "I think both freedom of religion and freedom of expression are both fundamental human rights," he said, adding that he was talking specifically about the Paris killings. "Everyone has not only the freedom and the right but the obligation to say what he thinks for the common good ... we have the right to have this freedom openly without offending," he said.

To illustrate his point, he turned to an aide and said: "It is true that you must not react violently, but although we are good friends if (he) says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch, it's normal. "You can't make a toy out of the religions of others," he added. "These people provoke and then (something can happen). In freedom of expression there are limits."

Seventeen people, including journalists and police, were killed in three days of violence that began with a shooting attack on the political weekly Charlie Hebdo, known for its satirical attacks on Islam and other religions. Referring to past religious wars, such as the Crusades sanctioned by the Catholic Church against Islam, the Pope said: "Let's consider our own history. How many wars of religion have we had? Even we were sinners but you can't kill in the name of God. That is an aberration."

The Pope was also asked if he felt vulnerable to an assassination attempt or an attack by Islamic extremists.

Earlier this week, the Vatican denied Italian newspaper reports that US and Israeli intelligence officials had informed the Vatican that there could be an imminent attack by Islamist militants. Francis said he was more worried about others - rather than himself - being hurt in an eventual attack and that he was confident about security measures in the Vatican and during his trips. 

"I am in God's hands," he said, joking about having asked God to spare him a painful death. "Am I afraid? You know that I have a defect, a nice of dose of being careless. If anything should happen to me, I have told the Lord, I ask you only to give me the grace that it doesn't hurt because I am not courageous when confronted with pain. I am very timid," he said.

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