MIDDLE EAST: Muslim mobs torch two Danish embassies
Danish embassies prepare its nationals for evacuation from hot zone areas
South China Morning Post
Monday, February 6, 2006
Denmark evacuated its nationals, including diplomatic staff, from Lebanon and Syria yesterday after angry Muslim mobs torched its embassies in both countries as protests over western caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed intensified.
Denmark has become the focus for Islamic anger because images that Muslims find offensive -- including one of the Prophet with a turban resembling a bomb -- first appeared in a Danish daily in what has become a face-off between press freedom and religious respect.
"The situation in Beirut is not under control," the Danish Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
Syrians torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies on Saturday in Damascus. They also damaged the Swedish embassy and tried to storm the French mission but were held off by riot police.
These attacks underlined a growing fear that other western citizens and embassies might be targeted, especially those from nations where the controversial cartoons have been reprinted.
Media in Norway, France, Spain, New Zealand, Belgium and several other countries -- mainly in Europe -- have reproduced some or all of the dozen caricatures first published by Denmark's Jyllands-Posten daily in September. The cartoons were reprinted in a Norwegian publication last month.
As the peaceful protests turned ugly, world leaders and most Muslim leaders appealed for calm.
"This has nothing to do with Islam at all," Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora told Future television. "Destabilising security and vandalism give a wrong image of Islam. The Prophet Mohammed cannot be defended this way."
Austria, the present holder of the rotating EU presidency, said the attacks "can by no means be legitimised and are utterly unacceptable".
European publications have insisted on their right to print the cartoons, citing freedom of speech.
Protests over the cartoons raged across the Muslim world at the weekend from Lahore to Gaza.
In Beirut, thousands of protesters yesterday rampaged through the Christian area of Ashrafiyeh, throwing stones, breaking windows and overturning cars. At least 28 people were injured.
They defied police firing tear gas to storm the Danish embassy using ladders. They hacked at walls and windows with axes and poles before setting the place ablaze. Denmark's flag was also set alight.
The embassy itself was empty of Danish diplomats, who had evacuated late on Saturday after a similar protest in Syria.
Denmark asked its nationals to leave Lebanon and Syria. Those in Lebanon "should remain indoors until the travel possibilities have been clarified", it said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said of the Damascus protest: "We will hold Syria responsible for such violent demonstrations since they do not take place in that country without government knowledge and support."
In Iraq, militants in Ramadi called for attacks on Danish troops, seizing and killing Danish hostages and the boycott of Danish goods.
Nearly 1,000 people also protested in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, demanding the expulsion of Danish forces.
Oil giant Iran, which is already reviewing its trade ties with countries whose papers have published the cartoons, said it had recalled its ambassador from Denmark as "freedoms should be accompanied by responsibility".
As street protests spread and violence erupted, the diplomatic rows over the cartoons escalated.
Pakistan summoned nine diplomats from several European countries to protest the "derogatory and blasphemous" cartoons.
"We reject the false pretext of freedom of press for publishing these caricatures since freedom of expression does not mean absence of any values, ethics or laws," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
There appeared to be little chance of an apology to quell the anger. EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said it was not for the EU to apologise.
"No, it's not Europe's duty, nor do I think it is the duty of the [Danish] Prime Minister. We don't have the power to apologise in the name of the press."
Date Posted: 2/6/2006