Bamako - (AFP) Thousands took part in a protest demonstration Friday in Bamako after the broadcast of a video containing "blasphemous phrases and actions" against the Koran and Islam, an AFP journalist reported.

The demonstration was organized on the initiative of the Supreme Islamic Council of Mali, the main Islamic organization in the country, on Istiklal Avenue in the center of the capital, Bamako.

"What happened is unforgivable. Those who made blasphemous statements must be arrested and prosecuted," Imam Abdullah Fadiga told AFP, amid a crowd of demonstrators.

Police estimated the number of demonstrators in the thousands, but organizers told AFP that "more than a million people" were present.

"We want dialogue between religions, and for each person to respect each other's religion," said Happy Diallo, who is about forty years old and works as a teacher in a Quranic school.

On the banners carried by the demonstrators, phrases such as "No to blasphemy" and "No more attacks on Islam and the Prophet Muhammad" were written.

On the same day, the public prosecutor's office in Bamako told AFP that six people, including a writer, had been placed in pre-trial detention on the grounds of "an insult of a religious nature liable to cause a disturbance of public order."

The Public Prosecutor said in a statement that these arrests come in the wake of the broadcast of a video clip on social media, "showing a man making insulting statements towards Muslims and performing actions insulting to the Qur'an, the Prophet Muhammad, and Islam."

An investigation was opened on Monday and the man who made the offensive remarks is still at large. A source in the prosecution told AFP that the six for whom an arrest warrant was issued on Thursday are accused of complicity, mainly because they refused to tell the authorities the whereabouts of the hiding person.