Koran Protesters Torch Christian School in Kashmir

Thirteen protesters killed in clash with police
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 13, 2010 10:59 AM CDT
Koran Protesters Torch Christian School in Kashmir
Firefighters try to put out a fire set by protesters in Srinagar, India, Saturday. Protesters have been raging against the government in Kashmir for days, but turned their anger on Americans today.   (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets in Kashmir today, setting fire to a Christian Missionary school while crying, “Death to the US!” and “Death to Koran desecrators!” No one was in the school at the time, but 13 protesters died in clashes with police, the Christian Science Monitor reports. It was the third straight day of violent protests in Kashmir, though the rest were directed against the Indian government.

But today the protesters shifted their rage to Americans after Iranian TV reported that the Koran had been desecrated over the weekend in the US. They weren’t referring to the aborted Dove World burning, however, but to a small group of protesters who tore pages from the Koran outside the White House. “This is a despicable act,” Shiite cleric and separatist leader Aga Syed Hassan tells the AFP. “The perpetrators should be punished for hurting the sentiments of Muslims.” (More Kashmir stories.)

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