Viva Zoroaster; R.I.P. Maurice Williams / Western Freedoms

Submitted by Ummah Poppycock (United States), Mar 2, 2008 at 23:29

Zoroaster is more palatable than Muhammad, in any case. At least the 1955 effort to remove the Muhammad statue did not, unlike the release of the 1976 American muslim-made and muslim funded film Mohammed, Messenger of God (which never represents Muhammad's likeness nor voice), exacerbate Hanafi Muslims in 1977 to take over the Washington D.C. B'nai B'rith, Islamic Center, and City Hall, taking 149 hostages, and shooting three people, one fatally (24 year-old radio reporter Maurice Williams).

Theo Van Gogh / Submission; Danish cartoonists / Muhammad political cartoons. Nike Allah flames. Burger King Icecream swirls. etcetera. In the 1977 Hanafi Muslim Siege occurred March 9-11, 1977 three buildings in Washington, D.C. were seized by 12 African-American gunmen. They were held responsible for taking 149 hostages and the death of two people.

After a 39 hour standoff all hostages are released from the District Building (city hall) – now called the Wilson Building, B'nai B'rith headquarters, and the Islamic Center. One of those killed was 24-year-old Maurice Williams, a young radio reporter from WHUR-FM, who stepped off a fifth floor elevator into the crisis. (The fifth floor is where the Mayor and City Council President have their offices). The gunmen also shot security guard Mack Cantrell, who died a few days later in the hospital of a heart attack. Then-D.C. council member, later mayor, Marion Barry walked into the hallway of the District Building after hearing a commotion and was hit by a ricocheted shotgun pellet just above his heart. He was taken out a window and rushed to a hospital.

The gunmen had several demands. They "wanted the government to hand over a group of men who had been convicted of killing seven relatives – mostly children – of takeover leader Hamaas Abdul Khaalis. They also demanded that the movie Mohammad, Messenger of God be destroyed because they considered it sacrilegious."[1] Time magazine noted: "That the toll was not higher was in part a tribute to the primary tactic U.S. law enforcement officials are now using to thwart terrorists—patience. But most of all, perhaps, it was due to the courageous intervention of three Muslim ambassadors, Egypt's Ashraf Ghorbal, Pakistan's Sahabzada Yaqub-Khan and Iran's Ardeshir Zahedi."[2]

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