Some 200 on Telegraph Road just south of 12 Mile turned out as part of demonstrations U. S.
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To a soundtrack that included “Yankee Doodle, ” “You’ re A Grand Old Flag” and the occasional supportive honks of passing motorists, participants stood along Telegraph Road south of 12 Mile holding posters with messages like “Sterling Heights Says Stop Sharia” and “Honor Kill No.”
American flags fluttered in a cooling breeze on an 86-degree afternoon, and people posed for pictures in front of a 1977 Winnebago covered with Donald Trump campaign posters.
The march was those in cities around the county against Islamic law. Some of the demonstrations drew larger counter-rallies.
Southfield Mayor Kenson Siver had said in advance of the event that he couldn’ t understand either the need for the rally, or the desire to hold it in Southfield.
The city’s largest block of Middle Eastern immigrants are Iraqi Christians, he noted, and he had not heard of any actual incursions of the harsh regulations enforced in some Islamic regions and generally referred to in the U. S. as Sharia.
“This sounds, ” he said, “like a rally against unicorns.”
Hundreds of counter-protesters marched through Seattle to confront a few dozen people claiming Shariah is incompatible with Western freedoms. Local activists set up an “Ask an American Muslim” booth where attendees could meet and learn about their Muslim neighbors.
Scholars say there’s little to no threat to U. S. democracy from Islamic law. In New York and Chicago, a few dozen anti-Shariah demonstrators were outnumbered by counter-protesters.
The group ACT said it supports the rights of those subject to Shariah law and opposes discrimination. But the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, calls it the largest American anti-Muslim organization.
In Southfield, Cecelia Russell, 72, who brought a German shepherd named Bella and a poster reading “No Sharia Law in the USA, ” said she had come from West Bloomfield because “This is our country. If we don’ t stop it, Sharia law will take over.”
Associated Press contributed to this report
