Anti-Islam protesters clash with Muslims at Global Rally for Humanity in Dearborn

8:44 PM, Oct 10, 2015

Global rally for humanity in Dearborn

WXYZ

DEARBORN, Mich. (WXYZ) -

Promoted on social media as the “Global Rally for Humanity,” it’s the demonstration that some feared would get out of hand. Anti-Islam protesters clashing with Dearborn’s heavily Muslim population.

Local officials asked residents to ignore the event and stay home. Not everyone listened.

“I wanted to see how many people showed up,” said Dearborn resident Martha Alkayyali.

What she found was not many. The number of participants was likely far fewer than organizers hoped for, but exactly what city officials wanted.

“The mayor asked them to stay home and they stayed home,” said Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad. “I’m proud of that.”

Haddad believes most of those who did show up at the event were from outside of Dearborn. There was a small group of anti-Islam protesters standing inside a barricaded section of the Ford Centennial Library plaza. An even smaller group of open carry gun supporters standing several yards away.

Chanting “Fight, fight, fight! Religion is a human right!” a group of counter protesters were the most vocal participants at the event.

“They’re saying, apparently, that Muslims have no right to exist here in the United States,” said Abayomi Azikwe, a leader of the counter protesters. “(That) goes against what we thought was the actual creed of the U.S. Constitution.”

Marsha Bodary drove an hour from Mount Clemens to be here and show her opposition to the U.S. taking in Syrian refugees.

“We’re $19-trillion in debt right now,” said Bodary. “We can’t afford any more refugees coming in.”

Martha Alkayyali of Dearborn, disagrees.

“My neighbors are Muslim. My neighbors are Christian, some are Jewish,” Alkayyali said. “We have no problems.”

Answer Mawry, also of Dearborn and a Muslim, called the protest an effort to divide the community.

“It’s just trying to provoke the Muslims to do something which is not Islam,” said Mawry.

“People need to be more tolerant of other people’s feelings and beliefs,” said Alkayyalil.