Cineworld cinemas have pulled a film chronicling the life of the Prophet Muhammad's daughter after protestors branded it "blasphemous".
Hundreds of demonstrators turned out in Bradford, Bolton, Birmingham and Sheffield to picket theatres following screenings of "The Lady of Heaven" over the weekend.
The movie opens with the invasion of Iraq by ISIS and features a graphic jihadist murder. It then goes on to document the life of Fatima, daughter of the founder of Islam, during the seventh century.
Islamic tradition forbids the direct portrayal of religious figures and the film's director Eli King depicts Fatima as a faceless character, shrouded by a black veil.
But protestors have accused film makers of inaccurately depicting religious history and negatively portraying three of Islam's most important figures - and other critics claim negative characters were portrayed by black actors, which they say 'stems from the racial bias against darker skinned people".
Those who came out to peacefully protest screenings on Monday said they were "offended" by the film and the way it illustrated the life of revered religious figures.
Now, following four days of protests, it is understood that the film has been pulled from several Cineworld and Vue theatres up and down the country.
One protester in Bradford, West Yorks., said: "We are very offended. We have a right not to be insulted.
"You talk about freedom of speech but where does your freedom of speech go when it goes to criticising your policies, when it goes to making critical analysis of your version of history.
"You have no right to tell us our history. We will not let this film go on further."
Others carried signs saying: "It's not ok to offend 1.8 billion #handsoffoursuperheroes" and "Stop the screening", while using megaphones to get across their message.
In Bolton, the local chairman of the Council of Mosques, Asif Patel, wrote a letter to his local branch of Cineworld, where he called the film "blasphemous".
He said: "You many well be aware of the recently released film 'Lady of Heaven' which has caused much distress to Muslims across the globe.
"It is underpinned with a sectarian ideology and is blasphemous in nature to the Muslim community.
"It grossly disrespects the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in many ways and is deeply disturbing to every Muslim.
"It also misrepresents orthodox historical narratives and disrespects the most esteemed individuals of Islamic history.
"The storyline begs the question to what extent the producers had considered the huge impact of this film upon the Muslim community and notions of sacredness dearly held by them.
"In Bolton, we are a very diverse community and are very respectful of each other's culture and honour on community cohesion."
A spokesperson from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) called for "respectful dialogue" between protesters and the film supporters.
They said: "The MCB, which proudly represents affiliates from across the different schools of thought in our faith, supports those scholars and leaders who are advocating for greater unity and for the common good, as commanded by our Holy Prophet (peace be upon him).
"The MCB has always advocated for respectful dialogue of intra-faith relations.
"There are some - including many of this film's supporters or those engaging in sectarianism in their response - whose primary goal is to fuel hatred.
"We must not let them succeed."
But London based Malik Shlibak, excutive producer of The Lady of Heaven, called the decision to pull the film by the cinema chain "unacceptable".
He said: "We think that the protests have brought a lot of new found attention to the film that did not exist before from people who hadn't heard about the film, and we are okay with the fact that people protest.
"But I believe it's actually unacceptable in this country what they are calling for - that is the removal from this film from the cinemas due to them being offended.
"That is something quite silly, because everyone has the ability to share their thoughts and enact their freedom of speech.
"I genuinely believe from all sides, from the cinema perhaps from the Muslim Council of Britain, that there is this succumbing and bowing down to these radical extremists and their demands.
"I think this is more than The Lady of Heaven as an individual film, this is about our British values and how much these mean to us.
"These groups have now been given the power to dictate what the British public can and cannot watch at their local cinemas."
Following the protests, Cineworld in Bolton released a statement saying the film would be "pulled" from the schedule.
A Cineworld spokesperson said: "Due to the protesting outside the Bolton Cineworld, we will be closing the cinema doors and only allowing those in with proof of ticket purchases.
"We have pulled the film and it will no longer be showing at this cinema."
