Some 20 Muslim scholars on Saturday called for calm in the Niger capital, where protesters torched seven churches and rampaged through the city to vent anger over French weekly Charlie Hebdo's depiction of the Prophet Mohammed on its cover.
"Don't forget that Islam is against violence. I urge men and women, boys and girls to calm down," one of the Muslim elders, preacher Yaou Sonna, told state television in Niamey.