KABUL — Two people were killed and about six others injured Sunday in continuing protests against an American pastor’s plan — abandoned two days earlier — to burn copies of the Muslim holy book.
Violence stemming from the threat by little-known pastor Terry Jones illustrated the depth of outrage inspired in the Muslim world over his church’s declared intent to desecrate the Koran to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The episode also showed the difficulty of tamping down anti-Western sentiment in Afghanistan once popular fury has been whipped up by religious leaders and other organizers — a particular hazard in a country where many people are illiterate and word of the cancellation of the Koran-burning spread slowly.
Sunday’s clash occurred in Lowgar province, south of the capital, Kabul. The province had been the scene of a protest a day earlier that attracted more than 10,000 people.
Initially peaceful, Saturday’s protest took a violent turn as demonstrators hurled stones and tried to storm the provincial governor’s compound.
The demonstration Sunday followed a similar pattern: Hundreds of protesters tried to overrun the local government’s headquarters, and Afghan police opened fire.
Days of unrest over the threatened Koran-burning coincided with rising tensions in advance of next Saturday’s parliamentary elections. Many observers fear that vote will be plagued by fraud and violence.
Taliban fighters have vowed to try to disrupt the balloting for the lower house of parliament, the second such vote since the austere Islamist movement was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion nearly nine years ago.
Western leaders have characterized the elections as a means of strengthening and showcasing Afghanistan’s still- young democracy. But the insurgents, capitalizing on already potent anti-government sentiment in many parts of the country, have denounced the balloting as a farce meant to prop up a corrupt central government.
As with last summer’s presidential election, the mere act of casting a vote places ordinary Afghans at considerable risk. The massive vote-rigging that accompanied the balloting of August 2009 left many people reluctant to take their lives in their hands to vote.
