From early morning, thousands of believers from all over the North Caucasus have been arriving in Grozny to attend the "Love for the Prophet Muhammad" rally in defense of Islamic values.
The event has been organized at the initiative of Chechnya’s religious leaders and is expected to draw over one million people.
Originally, only 500,000 people were expected to gather. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov urged all to come for the protest and, according to the latest information, the number may exceed one million. People from other Russian regions will also participate in the demonstration.
"I call on everyone who appreciates peace, stability, consent, spirituality and religious feelings, to come to Grozny and join the ranks of those who will fend off the attempts to create rivalry against religions and peoples of the world," Kadyrov wrote on his Instagram page.
Kadyrov said earlier that he considered as his personal enemies all those who supported the right of the French weekly Charlie Hebdo and other publications to offend the religious feelings of the 1.5 billion Muslims of the world. "We must not yield to provocations. Violence is not a way out. It is not our method of struggle against immoral people. We must show our unity and love for the Prophet. It is the best response," the head of Chechnya said.
The protesters are marching from Minutka Square to the central mosque 'Heart of Chechnya', named in honour of Akhmat-Hadji Kadyrov, where the faithful will pray. The event is being attended by a delegation from the Russian Council of Muftis, led by Ravil Gainutdin.
At the moment, an endless stream of people are moving through the square in front of the mosque. Kunta-haji's murids are making dhikr [an Islamic spiritual act in which prayers are repeatedly recited silently or aloud - VK]. A day off was declared in Chechnya on the occasion of a large-scale rally in Grozny against publication of Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The central avenues and streets of the Chechen capital have been blocked since the morning. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said that the shootings at Charlie Hebdo's offices could have been arranged by Western intelligence agencies, to address the problem of Islamic State recruitment."Today, we can see that Europe has not reached the proper conclusions from the bloody events in Paris. Instead of condemning those who opened fire, and those who gave occasion with their cartoons, the French authorities organized a street show in support of permissiveness," Kadyrov said. "We will not allow the name of the Prophet to be insulted with impunity. We can see that European journalists and politicians offend the feelings of believers. "Freedom of speech", they say - Russia condemned the terror of America and Europe against Syria, Iraq and the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and Western countries and the United States have applied sanctions against Russia. Can this be called freedom of speech?" Ramzan Kadyrov said to the demonstrators. The head of the Chechen Republic recalled that the first to publish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was a Danish newspaper. According to Kadyrov, this has caused a protracted political crisis in the world. At the same time, Russia has taken a principled position; in particular, the State Duma adopted the Federal Law on the Protection of the feelings of believers. "Muslims will not allow themselves to be used to rock the situation in the country. We have always been defenders of Russia; especially, our country has created the ideal conditions for believers, there are thousands of mosques and Islamic schools," Ramzan Kadyrov said.At the moment, an endless stream of people are moving through the square in front of the mosque. Kunta-haji's murids are making dhikr [an Islamic spiritual act in which prayers are repeatedly recited silently or aloud - VK].
A day off was declared in Chechnya on the occasion of a large-scale rally in Grozny against publication of Charlie Hebdo's cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. The central avenues and streets of the Chechen capital have been blocked since the morning.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said that the shootings at Charlie Hebdo's offices could have been arranged by Western intelligence agencies, to address the problem of Islamic State recruitment.
"Today, we can see that Europe has not reached the proper conclusions from the bloody events in Paris. Instead of condemning those who opened fire, and those who gave occasion with their cartoons, the French authorities organized a street show in support of permissiveness," Kadyrov said.
"We will not allow the name of the Prophet to be insulted with impunity. We can see that European journalists and politicians offend the feelings of believers. "Freedom of speech", they say - Russia condemned the terror of America and Europe against Syria, Iraq and the outbreak of war in Ukraine, and Western countries and the United States have applied sanctions against Russia. Can this be called freedom of speech?" Ramzan Kadyrov said to the demonstrators.
The head of the Chechen Republic recalled that the first to publish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad was a Danish newspaper. According to Kadyrov, this has caused a protracted political crisis in the world.
At the same time, Russia has taken a principled position, in particular, the State Duma adopted the Federal Law on the Protection of the feelings of believers.
"Muslims will not allow themselves to be used to rock the situation in the country. We have always been defenders of Russia; especially, our country has created the ideal conditions for believers, there are thousands of mosques and Islamic schools," Ramzan Kadyrov said.
