MohammedScape

Angry Muslim Gamers

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Palestinian gunmen Thursday shut down the European Union's office in Gaza City, demanding an apology from European authorities who blocked worldwide access to the online game MohammedScape.

The gunmen left a notice on the EU office's door that the building would remain closed until the Europeans apologize to Muslim gamers, many of whom consider MohammedScape "the sizznit."

The ban sparked protests in other parts of the Muslim world.

Teenage Muslim gamers consider it blasphemous to restrict access to graphic depictions of Mohammed's glorious wars of jihad and the violent 7th century Muslim conquests of much of the then known world.

MohammedScape allows gamers to become Muslim warriors riding beside Mohammed as he kicks righteous booty against the infidels. With enough skill, they can turn themselves into generals who, after Mohammed's death, take the butt kicking into North Africa, the Middle East, and eventually into Europe. There are options to become merchants who control the overland trade routes between Europe and China too. Gamers can morph themselves into powerful Muslim characters right up until the end of the last Ottoman Caliphate.

The graphics and action, according to those in the gaming industry, are impressive.

Sal Motherboard, industry insider, said, "Dude. The elephants and boiling oil are rampant! One twitch and you're dead meat."

Masked members of the militant groups Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinians' former ruling party, Fatah, fired bullets into the air as a teen gamer from Gaza read the group's demands.

Palestinian officials said the gunmen were threatening to kidnap European workers if the European Union did not apologize and get MohammedScape back online immediately.