Riots in the Islamic world erupt over Charlie Hebdo cartoons. Yahoo/Reuters

Protesters clash against riot police in Algeria. Yahoo/Reuters

Protests erupted in several countries with Muslim populations over the latest Charlie Hebdo magazine cover. Yahoo/Reuters. In Niger, four people were killed, three civilians and one police officer, in a riot where protesters burned a French cultural center and Christian churches. The Muslim protesters also attacked Christian owned shops with clubs and firebombs. The government said that they would protect Christians "at all costs". Protesters yelled that Charlie Hebdo was the work of the Devil and that anyone who supports the magazine should burn in Hell. In Pakistan a protest of 200 people was broken up by riot police wielding water cannons. Protests in Algeria resulted in a few injuries.

My Comment:

The protesters aren't doing a lot to help their cause. Attacking people that have nothing to do with Charlie Hebdo isn't going to win them any friends. Of course getting upset over a harmless cartoon is completely irrational and stupid. The picture in question wasn't even offensive. For reference, here it is. 

Charlie Hebdo. Translation: All is forgiven. 

That's it. Just a picture of Mohamed. He isn't doing anything but holding a sign and crying. Yet that is enough for people to protest and attack people, most of which had nothing to do with any of this. The whole situation is disgusting and they only way I can see to fix this is for Islam to have some reform movement. The iconoclastic rules against the depiction of Mohamed have to go away and go away forever. It's fine if Muslims choose to not depict Mohamed. But the rest of the world is not Muslim and does not and will not follow their rules. 

This is a problem that is going to go on for a long time. The only response that the Western world can have is to show these cartoons because banning them would utterly destroy our most cherished of freedoms. We value expression over everything else, at least in theory. Art must be allowed to be offensive to some people because all art is offensive to someone. If we let Muslims say "no depictions of Mohamed" then the government can say "no protests against the government". Or some other group can say "hey this is offensive to us" and get away with whatever they want. That can not be allowed to happen. No matter the cost.