On Friday there was a protest at Lakemba about pictorial dipictions of Mohammed in a magazine.

Below are a few comments of some speakers. Others are in todays press.

Hizb-ut-Tahrir spokesman Wassim Doureihi said Muslims had a duty to respond to the magazine.

"It is unacceptable for a Muslim to remain silent in the face of the attacks on our beloved prophet," he said.

One speaker at the rally, Sufyan Badar, took aim at what he called the arrogant West.

"They force their world view onto us: 'We are the arrogant West and you Muslims have to accept our
world view, you have to accept our freedoms ... to insult your prophet'," he told the crowd.

He dismissed the defence of freedom of speech.

"We rejected freedom yesterday, we rejected freedom today and we reject your freedom tomorrow," he said.

One wonders why muslims remain here if our society is so alien to them. The door is open, they are not forced to stay. But last time I looked it was still our country and we make the rules.

So do we change to accommodate muslim desires, remain as is or put measures in place to encourage those that do not like it to leave?

Obviously many are unhappy and this is not good for community cohesion.

Yes, Banjo...it would appear that they are taking advantage of their freedom of expression to protest at someone else's freedom of expression.

From the headlines (Google News): Hundreds of Muslims rallied in Sydney yesterday night to protest against negative media coverage of Islam and French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s depictions of Prophet Mohamed.

So,
1.Muslims are against simple reporting of facts and events. They want us to pretend that the hate and violence Muslims do has nothing to do with Islam, in spite of all evidence to the contrary;
and
2. Muslims protest against any negative portrayal of their dear prophet, a man that attacked his neighbors for 10 years, committing all manner of atrocities against them.

Then Muslims cannot quite figure why they have problems. They cannot understand all the negative coverage of their religion.

In other words, Muslims want others to be as stupid, blind, dishonest and immoral as they are. This is why Muslims cannot live in peace, in numbers, with non-Muslims.

Islam is a cancer.

Oh yes, and our leaders always blame us for any problems that Muslims have. It is always the 'other' that must change, that must be more understanding, that should do more to integrate Muslims. Never do they ask Muslims to change, to be more honest, to be respectful of others.

Good onya Poirot for trying to re-frame it in a nice PC way!

<<it would appear that they are taking advantage of their freedom of expression>>

It reminds me of what is said about islamists getting democratically elected << “one man, one vote, one time>>

If the Lakemba mob ever got their way --their little protest would be the last example of freedom of expression.

Piss weak governments are what is to blame. They are too worried about offending others and forget to stand up for the rights of their own people.

This was Auatralia, F knows what we should call it today.

Let's think a little about this.

The Lakemba mosque is the home of the Sydney Lebanese community. The Sydney Lebanese community has been copping racist and religious abuse from "welcoming" Australians since the Whitlam Government introduced the Family Reunion provisions of the Immigration Act and there was an influx of new immigrants from the Lebanon, many of whom were escaping the turmoil of civil war and Israeli aggression. They were to a very large extent poorly educated and poor, so they didn't qualify for immigration through the normal channels. They clung together and they became ghettoised to some extent, much like the Chinese had done. Unlike the Chinese, who came from a Confucian culture where doing as you're told is the most honourable way to behave, the Lebanese are a lot more like the Irish, coming from small rural communities where local loyalty is strong and outsiders are welcome guests as long as they know how to behave. If they stretch the friendship, all bets are off - ask the Poms, or the Israelis for that matter.

Most of the people commenting here would be able to claim Irish descent. Your ancestors would be rolling in their graves to see the sort of weak-minded pissants their descendants have become.

We need to show these people we want them here and they are welcome guests or they will treat us like enemies. They are tough, strong-willed people and they come from a very old culture (no, not Islam, but Assyrian). We want them to be our friends, not because we are scared of them as enemies, but because they are good friends.