A rchive Date
[ 05-02-2006 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ Syria ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2006/02/02/1423584-ap.html
Syrian demonstrators torch embassies
By ALBERT AJI
February 4, 2006
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Rage against caricatures of Islam's revered prophet poured out across the Muslim world Saturday, with aggrieved believers calling for executions, storming European buildings and setting European flags afire.
Thousands of outraged Syrian demonstrators stormed the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus, setting fire to both buildings. As thick black smoke rose into the air, police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse the demonstrators, who shouted, "Allahu Akbar!" which is Arabic for "God is great!"
Protesters first gathered peacefully outside the building housing the Danish Embassy. Demonstrators then started throwing stones and broke through police barricades.
Some scrambled up the concrete barriers protecting the embassy, climbed into the building and set a fire. The building is believed to have been empty.
"With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet of God!" the demonstrators chanted. Some removed the Danish flag and replaced it with a green flag printed with the words: "There is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God."
The structure was badly damaged and blackened but remained standing.
Ambulances rushed to the scene and dozens of policemen stood guard, trying to keep the protesters away. There were no immediate reports of injuries
In response, the Danish Foreign Ministry issued a statement advising Danish citizens to leave Syria without delay.
The United States called the burnings "inexcusable" and blamed the Syrian government for security failures.
"Syria must act decisively to protect all foreign embassies and citizens in Damascus from attack," White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said in a statement.
"We will hold Syria responsible for such violent demonstrations since they do not take place in that country without government knowledge and support."
The demonstrators were protesting 12 cartoon caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad that were published in a Danish newspaper in September and reprinted in European publications this week.
The cartoons have touched a raw nerve in part because Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. Aggravating the affront was a caricature of Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse, among other provocative images.
The Vatican deplored the violence but said certain forms of criticism represented an "unacceptable provocation."
"The right to freedom of thought and expression . . . cannot entail the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers," the Vatican said in its first statement on the controversy.
Hundreds of Palestinians protested in the occupied territories, and the leader of the Islamic militant group Hamas, which recently swept parliamentary elections there, told Italian daily Il Giornale on Saturday that the cartoons should be punished by death.
"We should have killed all those who offend the Prophet and instead here we are, protesting peacefully," said a top group leader, Mahmoud Zahar.
Masked gunmen affiliated with the Fatah party called on the Palestinian Authority and Muslim countries to recall their diplomatic missions from Denmark until that country's government apologizes.
In Gaza City, demonstrators hurled stones at a European Commission building and stormed a German cultural centre, smashing windows and doors. Protesters also burned German and Danish flags and called for a boycott of Danish products.
In the West Bank town of Hebron, about 50 Palestinians marched to the headquarters of the international observer mission there, burned a Danish flag and demanded a boycott of Danish goods.
"We will redeem our prophet, Muhammad, with our blood!" they chanted.
At least 500 Israeli Arabs gathered peacefully in Nazareth for the first protest against the caricatures on Israeli soil.
About 500 people rallied Saturday south of Baghdad, Iraq, some carrying banners urging "honest people all over the world to condemn this act" and demanding a European Union apology.
Muslims in Europe have reacted less passionately, but anger swelled there, too, as demonstrators clashed with police in Copenhagen, Denmark, and gathered outside the Danish Embassy in London.
A South African court banned the country's Sunday newspapers from reprinting the cartoons.
The Danish government has tried to contain the damage. Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller has called Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and said the Danish government "cannot accept an assault against Islam," according to Abbas' office.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said his government could not apologize on behalf of a newspaper, but he personally would never depict religious figures "in a way that could offend other people."
Many Muslims consider the reaction inadequate.
In Malaysia, prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the publication of the cartoons showed a "blatant disregard for Islamic sensitivities" but urged citizens to stay calm.
In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono denounced the cartoons as insensitive.
Although many of Denmark's 200,000 Muslims were deeply offended by the cartoons, mass demonstrations have not broken out.
But in Copenhagen, young Muslims clashed briefly with police after they were stopped from boarding a train to go to a demonstration north of the Danish capital. Some of the roughly 300 demonstrators threw rocks and bottles at police but no one was injured, officials said.
In London, about 700 people gathered under heavy security outside Denmark's embassy, shouting slogans to protest the drawings. No violence or arrests were reported at the demonstration, which lasted about 90 minutes.
There were scattered counter-demonstrations, like one outside Copenhagen where about 50 right-wingers held Danish flags and shouted, "Denmark for Danes!"
In Milan, Italy, about 50 supporters of the right-wing Northern League party offered Danish beer and biscuits to passers-by, Italy's ANSA news agency reported.
Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc. All rights reserved.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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