Hundreds of thousands of people protested in Russia’s Chechnya region on Monday against what its Kremlin-backed leader called the “vulgar and immoral” cartoons of the prophet Muhammed published by French newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Mixing pro-Islamic chants and anti-Western rhetoric, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov criticized Europe to chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) as the protesters stood along the main thoroughfare of Chechnya’s capital, Grozny.

Some carried signs declaring “I love my prophet Muhammed” in English and others waved flags, as security service helicopters flew overhead and police stood by.

In a sign that it had President Vladimir Putin’s backing, the rally was shown live on state television. The Kremlin may see the protest as a way to vent pressure from Russia’s Muslims after a similar rally was banned in Moscow.

“If needed, we are ready to die to stop anyone who thinks that you can irresponsibly defile the name of the prophet,” Kadyrov said, wiping away tears on stage.

“You and I see how European journalists and politicians under false slogans about free speech and democracy proclaim the freedom to be vulgar, rude and insult the religious feelings of hundreds of millions of believers,” he said.

“Authorities and intelligence agencies of Western countries may have been behind the [Paris] incident to provoke a new wave of recruiting for the Islamic State,” Kadyrov said, Russian media reported. He did not elaborate on his theory.

His condemnation of those who decide to republish cartoons of the prophet was echoed by the Russian Orthodox Church at the rally.

“All of the Russian Orthodox Church condemns those who make cartoons of the prophet Muhammed. We — the representatives of all the dioceses — say no to the evil that the West is trying to bring between our religions,” the church’s Bishop Barlaam of Grozny and Makhachkala said, the TASS news agency reported.

More here. H/T: Fjordman

NOTE: Video via Sheik Yer’Mami (pbuh)