Novelists Salman Rushdie, Hari Kunzru, and Lisa Appignanesi recently spoke out against protests of the filming in London of the movie adaptation of Monica Ali's debut novel Brick Lane, published by Scribner in 2003. Production of the movie was halted on July 26 after protesters threatened to interfere.
The group of authors criticized community groups, the police, and the media for overreacting to what they say is a small group of activists who protested the book and the movie. "We cannot allow small numbers of 'offended' traditionalists the power of censorship," Appignanesi was quoted as saying in the Guardian.
Protesters had threatened to burn copies of Ali's novel at a rally that took place on Sunday in London. Approximately seventy people attended the rally, but no books were burned.
