Malaysian Muslim activists in Rushdie protest

About 300 Islamic opposition party activists staged peaceful protests outside the British and US embassies in Malaysia today, denouncing Salman Rushdie’s knighthood and Washington’s policies in the Middle East.

Dozens of riot police backed by a water cannon-equipped truck guarded Kuala Lumpur’s diplomatic enclave, as members of the fundamentalist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, the country’s main opposition group, marched to the British High Commission following afternoon prayers at a nearby mosque.