Jobs •  Cars •  Real Estate •  Apartments •  Shopping •  Classifieds •  Obituaries •  Dating
AzStarNet

Customer Service: Subscribe now | Pay Bill | Place an Ad | Contact

World

Libyans enraged over cartoons torch Italian Consulate

The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.18.2006
TRIPOLI, Libya — Libyans angry over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad rioted at the Italian Consulate on Friday, storming the building and setting it on fire. A diplomat said at least 10 people were killed in clashes with police.
It was the deadliest demonstration yet against the cartoons, which have set off violent protests throughout the Muslim world. At least 29 people have been killed altogether.
In Pakistan, a cleric announced a $1 million bounty for killing the cartoonist. Denmark, where a newspaper first published the cartoons, temporarily closed its embassy in Pakistan and advised its citizens to leave the country.
Libyan security officials said 11 people were killed or wounded during the riot in the eastern city of Benghazi when police firing bullets and tear gas tried to contain more than 1,000 demonstrators hurling rocks and bottles. The casualties included police officers, but the officials declined to say how many people had died.
Rioters charged the consular compound and set fire to the first floor of the building, the Italian Foreign Ministry said. Domenico Bellantone, an Italian diplomat, said 10 or 11 people — all Libyan — had died.
Antonio Simoes-Concalves, an Italian consular official in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, said Libyan police were not able to control the crowd.
"They are still continually firing," Simoes-Concalves said Friday night, speaking on the telephone from inside the consulate where he was holed up.
About an hour after Simoes-Concalves spoke, Bellantone said the rioters had dispersed.
"The situation is calm now," he said.
T-shirt with cartoons
The riot appeared to be a reaction to Italian Cabinet Minister Roberto Calderoli, who said this week he would wear a T-shirt printed with the cartoons. His remark was widely published in Libya.
Calderoli wore the T-shirt beneath a suit on Friday. Hours later, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi asked for his resignation, the ANSA news agency reported.
In Pakistan, cleric Mohammed Yousaf Qureshi said the mosque and the religious school he leads would give $25,000 and a car for the killing of the cartoonist who drew the caricatures — considered blasphemous by many Muslims. He said a local jewelers' association would also give $1 million, but no representative of the association was available to confirm the offer.
"This is a unanimous decision by all imams of Islam that whoever insults the prophets deserves to be killed and whoever will take this insulting man to his end will get this prize," he said.
Qureshi did not name any cartoonist and did not appear aware that 12 people had drawn the pictures.