The protest was organized by the Islamic Felicity Party, whose organizers shouted over loudspeakers that the massive crowd symbolized the anger of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims and urged them to "resist oppression." According to the reliable independent news agencies and security sources that total participants of the meeting was nearly one million who came from many other cities of Turkey. Al Jazeera Channels broadcasted the meeting as live from Istanbul.Turkey is a 99 percent Muslim nation and protests of various sizes against the cartoons have been a nearly daily occurrence in the past week. Turkey is also the only Islamic majority country applying to join the European Union.

The protesters called for a boycott of Denmark, where the cartoons were first published in a newspaper in September, and banners could be seen reading, "The Muslim Turkish nation is with its Palestinian and Iranian brothers." The Danish cartoons, including one showing Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban with an ignited fuse, have set off sometimes violent protests around the world. After the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed the caricatures, other newspapers, mostly in Europe, followed suit, asserting their news value and the right to freedom of expression.