Posted on 02/05/2006 6:11:04 PM PST by blam
Flame of Islamic fury spreads to Beirut
By Ramsay Short in Beirut and Matt Barnwell
(Filed: 06/02/2006)
Thousands of Muslim demonstrators in Beirut clashed with police yesterday, storming the Danish consulate and setting it ablaze in protest over the cartoons that mocked the Prophet Mohammed.
A day after the Syrian demonstrators set fire to the Norwegian and Danish embassies in Damascus, the violence spread to Lebanon.
A Muslim protester expresses his anger in front of the blazing Danish consulate in Beirut
In the early hours, a large group of mainly Sunni Islamic extremists broke through military blockades in the Christian Beirut suburb of Achrafieh, defying tear gas and water cannon to reach the Danish consulate, which had been evacuated two days ago. Security officials said at least 30 people, some protesters and some policemen, were injured in the clashes.
As furious demonstrations were staged across the Muslim world, from Lahore to Gaza, a Roman Catholic priest was shot dead in a church courtyard in north-east Turkey. There were fears that the murder could be the first death connected to the cartoon protests.
Fr Andrea Santoro, 59, was shot twice in the entrance of the Santa Maria Church in Trabzon after Sunday Mass. The gunman shouted "God is great" as he fired his pistol, said Mgr Antonio Lucibello, the Vatican's ambassador to Turkey. The cry, used in prayer, is often employed as a rallying call by Islamic militants.
The Danish foreign ministry yesterday urged its citizens to leave Lebanon and Syria, saying they should stay indoors "until we have found a way to get them out of there".
As scores of Danes left the Middle East, a foreign ministry spokesman insisted: "The situation is still critical for Danes there. Those who opt to stay must be very careful".
Norwegians there were also advised to remain indoors in the wake of the violence.
The demonstration in Beirut yesterday was the latest in a series of increasingly violent protests across the Middle East in response to the publication by a Danish newspaper - repeated by several European dailies - of caricatures of Islam and Mohammad.
The protesters who had set alight the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus also damaged the Swedish embassy there and tried to storm the French mission but were held off by riot police. Syria stepped up security at western embassies yesterday after being criticised for failing to protect the Danish and Norwegian embassies.
The latest violent protest, in Beirut, began peacefully yesterday. However, thick smoke filled the sky as it degenerated into rioting, with protesters using petrol to start the fire going and climbing ladders to enter the building's upper storeys.
Despite the attempts of clerics to stay the mainly young male crowd, hundreds of men, some carrying green flags with the words "God is Great" written in Arabic, pushed them away and threw cans of tear gas back at police.
The Maronite Catholic church near the Danish consulate was also attacked, prompting fears that the protests could turn into a sectarian clash. By 4pm order had been restored and the 2,000 demonstrators had dispersed.
By the evening however a counter-demonstration of Christian protesters had gathered at the Mar Maroun Church.
The Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora said: "This has nothing to do with Islam at all. Destabilising security and vandalism gives a wrong image of Islam. The Prophet Mohammed cannot be defended this way."
The interior minister, Hassan al-Sabaa, a retired Sunni Muslim officer loyal to the country's anti-Syrian majority coalition, submitted his resignation at an emergency cabinet meeting. "We had two solutions: either to try to keep people away [from the consulate] as we did, or to use weapons against them," he said. "I would never order the use of arms against the Lebanese."
From Paris, the Lebanese parliament's majority leader, Saad Hariri, urged calm. "True Muslims feel ashamed of what happened today," he said. "They went to a demonstration of peace.
But some little-minded people and criminals caused the trouble. We will not let them do this again because we Muslims and Christians are one people and we will do everything to protect this country."
In Turkey, 300 ultra-nationalists marched to the Danish consulate in Istanbul, hurling eggs at the building and burning a Danish flag. In a separate protest, also in Istanbul, 2,000 people shouted slogans and burnt an effigy of the Danish prime minister.
The Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdogan, whose party has roots in Turkey's Islamist movement, said "an irresponsible caricaturist" had "no right" to attack the Prophet. But he cautioned: "Setting fire to embassies and destroying them is wrong. The solution lies in diplomacy, not in guns."
Since the crisis erupted, the cartoons of Mohammed have been reprinted in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Jordan, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway and Poland.
Thing is, these guys aren't the terrorists, they are run of the mill discontents.
Well, it's nice to see there's something that can outrage them.
I suggest they are just ordinary able-bodied muslims...
Just as Hitler effectively tapped into the anger of post WWI, depression-era Germany, islam not only taps into pre-existing anger, it creates its own and inflames it before channeling it toward hatred of the west.
I think islam is incomparably hotter than Nazi Germany. It has been building sexual frustration, inferiority-related resentment, and general violent urges for many generations.
I wish I could say that the Germans were smarter than muslims...but Persians are quite smart.
This war will make Hitler seem like a blip on the radar.
Hitler was just a power hungry maniac pushing nationalism...islam has recreated the ancient HOLY WAR.
These people are psychos. If you live in or near a big city, write up an evacuation plan for every member of your family.
Well, things are cranking up for sure. It's going to be everybody for himself if it goes as bad as it could.
You're lucky you live in Alaska. You should be safe from the fanatics there.
Great graphic! That sums it up - a delusional megalomaniac cutting and pasting. But you forgot the part about the moon god (or goddess, judging by the - er, orifice - in the black rock...). Mo was an equal opportunity plagiarist.
"Flame of Islamic fury" - wow, sounds like a silent picture starring Errol Flynn. I really wish Western reporters would stop lending an air of dignity to these tantrums.
No, it wouldn't be safer in Alaska. There are over 1/2 million people here and enough wild game such as moose to last a weeek. Our only hope is that everybody flees to Canada.
ka'baa gets one of its own...soon:)
Not bloody likely. Muslims have left no stone...er...state unturned.
If this blog is to be trusted the whole thing is a fake.
Gateway Pundit: Islamic Society of Denmark Used Fake Cartoons to Create Story!
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/02/islamic-society-of-denmark-used-fake.html
Apparently the 12 original cartoons weren't getting anyone very upset. They'd been published back in September and there were no riots etc.
So three additional very offensive cartoons were drawn...Mohammed as a pedophile, Mohammed with a pig snout, a dog copulating with a Moslem at prayer....
These were added to the 12 relatively innocuous ones and the Imam put them into the booklet he used to inflame the rest of the Moslem world.
So he conned his co-religionists into acting the fools.
Though I'm Canadian, I'm working on getting into shape in preparation for overseas service in the Great Crusade which is obviously coming.
My Grandfather finished up WW2 as a Major, having fought his way through North Africa, Sicliy, France, and the Netherlands.
I hope to beat his record.
a link to the toons:
http://blog.newspaperindex.com/2005/12/10/un-to-investigate-jyllands-posten-racism/
My neighbors and I (in rural Alabama) have a defensive plan, we're not gonna evacuate.
Many began that journey, most didn't make it.
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