'Draw Muhammad' contest, rally planned in Phoenix

(Image credit: Twitter.com/WashTimes)

published 29 May 2015

Police in Arizona are preparing for a "Draw Muhammad" contest and rally planned for Friday outside of a Phoenix mosque.

The event's organizer, Jon Ritzheimer, has put together two other protests in Phoenix over the past few weeks, with some supporters arriving with profane anti-Islam t-shirts and signs, News 12 reports. The event is being called a "Freedom of Speech Rally," and is taking place three weeks after a similar event in Garland, Texas, where two men who allegedly were supporters of ISIS were killed after shooting a security guard. "I want this to be about pushing out the truth about Islam," Ritzheimer said.

Usama Shami, president of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, told News 12 that the FBI and local police have notified him about the event, and says the protesters have the right to assemble. "Everybody has a right to be a bigot," he said. "Everybody has a right to be a racist. Everybody has a right to be an idiot." Shami is urging members of the mosque to attend prayer services Friday night, and to avoid engaging with protesters. "They're not looking for an intellectual conversation," he said. "They're looking to stir up controversy and we're not going to be a part of it."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.