If this police officer had been making arrests at a church and said something that Christians regarded as blasphemous, would it have become a much-covered news item, and would the Police Minister have apologized? What do you think?
“SAPS orders probe into officer who made demeaning remarks about Muhammad,” by Charles Cilliers, The Citizen, April 25, 2020 (thanks to Damian):
The suspects were in a building in Pretoria West on Friday where they had been found praying, allegedly in breach of lockdown regulations. The men were released on bail on Saturday.
The SA Police Service (SAPS) has ordered an investigation into finding out who insulted the Islamic Prophet Muhammad on Friday in Pretoria.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo has reportedly said that the utterances were both unfortunate and unacceptable and police management had ordered for the male officer responsible to be held to account.
In a statement on Saturday evening, the Council of Muslim Theologians Jamiatul Ulama also said they had been left “appalled” at what they had seen in a video being widely circulated since Friday after the SAPS stormed a prayer gathering and arrested 17 men.
In the video, the group of Muslims can be seen at Friday prayers ahead of Ramadan with no one observing any social distancing measures….
Controversially, one of the officers can then be heard challenging the worshippers with a comment asking: “Are you bigger than the president? Heh? Or Muhammad is bigger than the president?”
Jamiatul Ulama secretary-general EI Bham said in a statement that they accepted the officers had had a right to enforce the law, but they found the “abusive and heavy-handed nature of the SAPS officers … unacceptable”.
“Apart from the verbal abuse which is demeaning of the name of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), the SAPS officers are also seen entering the prayer room in their heavy boots. Such images are distressing to Muslims who consider prayer places sacred and entered upon only without shoes.”…
They called on the SA Human Rights Commission and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate to investigate the officers’ conduct.
“Cele apologises for police’s blasphemous comment about Prophet Mohammed during mosque bust,” by Riaan Grobler, News24, April 26, 2020 (thanks to Damian):
Police Minister Bheki Cele has issued an apology to the Muslim community for blasphemous remarks made during the arrest of congregants in Mpumalanga.
He said the incident was “a matter that is currently under an urgent investigation by the SAPS to establish the identity of the person behind such sacrilege”.
Cele said he wished to emphasise that police have a constitutional obligation to enforce the laws of the country, a duty to be executed within the confines of the same laws, applied with no prejudice against any gender, race or creed.
He was reacting to a video which circulated on social media at the weekend in which police are seen entering what appears to be a mosque, seemingly hurling abuse at congregants who are ordered to lie on the floor.
Police Minister Bheki Cele has vowed to crack down on illegal alcohol sales – and booze shop raiders, who have struck since lockdown began. Cele visited Paarl and Cape Town’s Northern Suburbs on Saturday on a tour to inspect shopping precincts.
In the video, a man asks congregants: “Are you bigger than the president? Is Mohammed bigger than the president?”
The Council of Muslim Theologians, Jamiatul Ulama South Africa, has condemned the police’s “abusive tactics”, saying that the verbal abuse of the Prophet Mohammed, as well as police entering the prayer room with their boots on, were “distressing to Muslims”.
It urged the South African Human Rights Commission and the Independent Police Investigative Directorate to investigate the incident, while calling on Muslims to observe the regulations of the national Covid-19 lockdown….
The video in question was not taken in Pretoria West as earlier believed, but in Mpumalanga. In an updated statement issued on Sunday, national police spokesperson Vishnu Naidoo said that there were indeed two separate incidents where Muslim congregants were found by police to be contravening lockdown regulations….
Naidoo said the comments about the Prophet Mohammed are “unfortunate and unacceptable”….