Imams urge faithful to contribute to "calm people down"

ALGIERS- Many imams of the mosques of Algiers have urged on Friday the faithful to contribute "calm people down" and end the protests recorded the past days in the capital and other regions of the country. On the occasion of the Friday Prayer, the imam of El Houda Mosque in 1st May Square underlined that "destroying public building or private properties to demand some rights is incompatible with the precepts of the Islam." "You as parents, brothers and neighbours should advise these young people who went out in the street of Algiers and other cities to destroy and set fire to public and private properties. You should told them that these acts have nothing to do with reason or religion," the imam said. Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and does not encourage "Muslims to destroy and burn their own houses to express their disapproval of the high cost of living, unemployment and other social scourges," he added.