There was a protest against the Danish cartoons here in New York City today. It wasn't as exiciting as the Libyan protest (fortunately) but here are a few shots.

A creative sign

Islam is a religion of peace..

..and it's a religion of wrath..

..and cartoons can cause you to be shot by a friend??

How dare you insult..

..the faith that "WILL DOMINATE!"

..so stop here Danish.

There were quite a few student-types at the rally whose primary concern didn't seem to be any perceived insult against Mohammed. Their anger seemed to be directed at Bush and, of course, evil America.

Posers from worldcantwait.com..

Posers near a sign calling the USA and Britain the "Camp of Evil"

..posers from a group called "Intellectual Thinkers"

Although many speakers were demanding apologies from Denmark, the primary goal of the rally seemed to be to echo the Saudi demand that our laws be changed to 'respect' Islam, to make our laws more like Sharia. The other goal was to recruit new members. Charming children, when they weren't smiling and holding up signs like this..

..were smiling and handing out Korans and pamphlets. I hated to turn them down, but at one point I collected so many that my camera bag exploded and sent them scattering across the street. Of course, the children helped me pick them up.

The crowd was efficiently herded by men like this who told them all when to pray, when to turn around, and when to shout certain phrases...

..unlike a western-style protest group, this group was very docile in response to barked orders from their leaders.

Some people have pointed out that the leaders of Muslim/Arab protests are using these rallies as a means of distracting their followers from their own shortcomings. This is a protest group that needs to learn the concept of "Questioning Authority". As these docile followers learn what it's like to have their voices heard, will they continue to be so obedient?

UPDATE: Mark from the Liberal Hawks group was there for the end of the protest. During that part, it sounds like the ANSWER groups were more active. They went "far beyond the rhetoric about tolerance voiced by the Muslim speakers on the stage. About 600 were there, lots of school buses brought people in."

His photos are here..