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Nordic states fear spread of mid east attacks { February 5 2006 }

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   http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b90d681a-9685-11da-a5ba-0000779e2340.html

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/b90d681a-9685-11da-a5ba-0000779e2340.html

Nordic states fear spread of Mid East attacks
By Paivi Munter in Stockholm, Annukka Oksanen in Copenhagen and Roula Khalaf in London
Published: February 5 2006 20:36 | Last updated: February 6 2006 00:30

Nordic countries last night feared that attacks on their foreign missions could spread across the Middle East after demonstrators burned down the Danish consulate in Beirut in protest at the controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

The incident followed attacks in Damascus, Syria’s capital, on Saturday by mobs on the embassies of Denmark, Norway and Sweden. All the Nordic countries sharply condemned the attacks at the weekend and demanded security guarantees for their diplomatic staff in the Middle East.

Per Stig Møller, the Danish foreign minister, said on Sunday: “It is totally unacceptable that governments do not secure embassies in their territory.”

Jens Stoltenberg, Norway’s prime minister, said: “What happened in Syria is completely unacceptable. We are going to ask Syria for compensation and we will take the matter up at the United Nations.”

The US also condemned the attacks. “The government of Syria’s failure to provide protection to diplomatic premises, in the face of warnings that violence was planned, is inexcusable,” the White House said.

A crowd of several thousand demonstrators in Beirut set the Danish consulate alight, angered by the publication of the drawings of the Prophet Mohammed in Jyllands-Posten, a Danish newspaper, in September and the subsequent failure of the Danish government to address Muslim concerns over the cartoons.

The pictures, considered blasphemous by Islam, later appeared in a Norwegian newspaper, making Norway also a target for Muslim radicals.

Reports from Beirut on Sunday said cars were overturned and people were hurling rocks at nearby buildings, in spite of the deployment of 2,000 troops and riot police. Security forces arrested 174 protesters, of whom they claimed almost half were Syrians, while Hassan al-Sabaa, Lebanon’s interior minister resigned last night. Fouad Siniora, Lebanon’s prime minister, said: “Those who are committing these acts have nothing to do with Islam or with Lebanon.”

Denmark’s foreign ministry said it was withdrawing most of its diplomatic staff from Syria, while recommending Danes leave the country. Norway was likewise cutting its diplomatic personnel in Syria. “We contacted the Syrian foreign ministry already last Thursday, requesting additional security measures, but despite this the crowd of demonstrators was able to cross the distance of some five kilometres from the Danish to the Norwegian embassy on Saturday,” the Norwegian Embassy said.

The Iraqi transport ministry said on Sunday it had frozen all contracts with the Danish and Norwegian governments.

Saturday’s protests in Damascus followed reports that text messages were circulating citing plans by demonstrators in Copenhagen to burn Korans. Danish police at the weekend said no such gatherings had occurred.

Additional reporting by Steve Negus in Cairo



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Cartoon controversy spreads throughout muslim world { February 4 2006 }
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Middle east boycott of danish goods hits hard { February 3 2006 }
Muslim leader condemns protesters { February 4 2006 }
Muslim leaders gathered to create response to danish { February 9 2006 }
Nordic states fear spread of mid east attacks { February 5 2006 }
Palestinian gunman threaten european union in gaza { February 3 2006 }
Police shot 2 protesters dead in afghanistan { February 8 2006 }
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Protesters firebomb danish embassy in tehran { February 7 2006 }
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