Syrians burn Danish, Norwegian embassies over cartoons

Hundreds of Syrian demonstrators stormed and set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday in protest against cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad published by newspapers in the two countries.

The protestors were broke up by the riot police using tear gas and water cannons when they moved to the French embassy.

Saturday's demonstration in front of the Danish Embassy in downtown Damascus went on peacefully at first, but angry protestors later stormed the embassy building and set it on fire, said witnesses.

The Danish embassy was closed on Saturday for fear of protests and there was nobody in it when the attack happened.

The demonstrators then marched on to the Norwegian Embassy, about one kilometer from the Danish embassy, and broke through police barriers and torched the building.

Syrian Minister of Islamic Endowments Mohammad Ziyad al-Ayoubi condemned the protests turning violent, causing severe damages, but no casualties despite strict security measures taken by the authorities, the official SANA news agency reported.

The cartoons were first published by the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, last September and republished in Norway and other European countries last month.

One of the cartoons depicts the prophet wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.

Soon after the attacks, the Denmark and Norwegian governments urged their nationals to leave Syria immediately.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian government called the incident completely unacceptable, saying it had received an apology from the Syrian government.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara "distanced himself from the attack and he apologized", Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told public television NRK.

And Sweden, whose embassy is in the same building as Denmark's, said it would lodge an official protest with Damascus.

"We are calling (Syria's) ambassador in Stockholm tonight and I am trying to get in touch with my Syrian counterpart," Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds told Swedish news agency TT.

"I will voice our protest at how this could go so far. We expect the kind of protection that we are entitled to," she said.

Earlier this week, the Danish Embassy was reportedly evacuated after hearing an anonymous telephone bomb threat.

Embassy staff returned to the building after an hour-long search by security forces who failed to find any explosive device.

Damascus has recalled its ambassador to Denmark for consultation over the matter, SANA reported on Wednesday.

Earlier this week, the Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned the cartoons as an offense to Muslims and Arabs and demanded the Danish government punish the paper.

The Danish ambassador to Syria met late Thursday with Syria's grand mufti Sheikh Ahmed Badr al-Dean Hassoun and conveyed Denmark's apology for the offense caused by the cartoons.

SANA quoted the Danish ambassador as saying that the majority of the Danes were very sorry for this situation which the newspaper has put them into.

According to Islamic tradition, realistic depictions of prophets were prohibited and caricatures of them were considered profane.

Source: Xinhua