Muslims demonstrate with journalists for press freedom

Outside dozens of media outfits on Friday, including both public and private broadcasters and newspapers, Muslim representatives demonstrated with journalists in objection to the religiously violence perpertrated against French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo last week.

At the Springer publishing house in Berlin, Süleyman Kücük, of the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (ditib), said a significant signal had to come from Germany's Muslim community following the attack.

"Our response must be more than just mere words," said Kücük, who was standing with some 50 German Muslim representatives. "As a religious community, We must demonstrate that we stand for the freedom and life of each individual person."

Joint vigils

Kai Diekmann, editor-in-chief of Germany's - and Europe's - most widely circulated "Bild" newspaper, welcomed the demonstrations, organized by ditib.

"We thank you for your commitment to the freedoms and rights of society and for your stance against violence," Diekmann said, standing alongside his colleagues at a number of major Berlin-based newspapers, including the "Berliner Zeitung" and "Die Welt" daily.

Other media organizations around the country that hosted vigils included the weeklies "Der Spiegel" and "Die Zeit" in Hamburg, as well as Germany's largest private TV broadcaster, RTL.

At a demonstration outside the public ZDF broadcaster in Mainz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, state premiere Malu Dreyer said in front of thousands present that press freedom was "one of the founding principles of democracy that we all, irrespective of faith, must defend together."

With regard to the attacks in Paris last week, Dreyer said it was crucial to realize that they were the work of an extremely small minority: "The aim of terrorists is to divide our society. But we will not allow this to happen."

glb/ng (dpa, epd)