'Post' cartoon stirs violent protests across Europe

By AL DENTE
ferdnand cartoon spoof (photo credit: )
ferdnand cartoon spoof
(photo credit: )
Tens of thousands of pudgy, middle-aged men with moustaches and pointy hats went on a rampage across Western Europe yesterday after they were offended by the reintroduction of a controversial Danish cartoon by The Jerusalem Post. "We're not going to be made fun of by the Danes," said Enrico Guacamoli as he led the men marching outside the Israeli embassy in Rome who were protesting the reintroduction of the Ferdnand cartoon strip in the Post. The cartoon, created in 1937 by Danish film animator Henning Dahl Mikkelsen and drawn by him until his death in 1982 "is an affront to all men with little moustaches and pointy hats who have nothing much to say," said Giuseppe Antholini, surrounded by men wearing pointy hats, little moustaches and black sweaters. Rome police were out in full force, as hordes of the men surrounded the embassy and threw tomatoes at the editorial page of the newspaper. "The Judeo-Christian axis of evil has struck again," said Federico Foccacia. "We know that for years this cartoon was used to convey top secret messages by the Israeli secret service. If Ferdnand held his right foot in pain, it meant one thing, if his dog was in the strip, another. But we thought we were past all this when we got the strip removed. Now the fiendish thing is back, and the Post has only itself to blame." Riots also broke out in Paris, where pointy-hatted men were threatening to topple the Eiffel Tower if their demands to block the republication of the cartoon strip were ignored. Even as the rioting continued, there was trouble on yet another front for the Post. Gangs of bespectacled men with pocket protectors were reported massing in major urban centers across the US to protest against the Post's plans to bring back Dilbert.