So explain to us why is it that their religion alone can produce the sort of mayhem that we now see because of a few cartoons
Satire and cartoonists lambast everyone and everything and whilst many dot like it or appreciate it, no one goes off on a violent tangent.
Cartoons spark angry protests From: Agence France-Presse From correspondents in Damascus February 05, 2006
SYRIAN demonstrators set the Danish and the Norwegian embassies on fire overnight in protest at the publishing of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad by European newspapers.
The protest marked an escalation in the Mu slim world's uproar over the cartoons, which have been reprinted in a number of European publications. One depicted Prophet Mohammad wearing a turban resembling a bomb.
The fire badly damaged the Danish embassy's building, a witness said. Firefighters put out the blaze.
Chanting "God is Greatest," the protesters stormed the embassy; threw stones and shattered its windows; burned the national flag and replaced it with another flag reading "No God but Al lah, Mohammad is His Prophet".
The protesters also set the Norwegian embassy ablaze. It was brought under control by firefighters. Police fired teargas to disperse the protesters and cordoned off the area.
"When the issue came back into the headlines, we asked for increased security for the embassy. It appears we did not quite (get the increased security)," Norway's ambassador to Syria Sven Sevje said. He said staff at the embassy were safe.
Advertisement: A small Norwegian Christian newspaper was one of the first newspapers outside Denmark to publish the cartoons. A Danish paper published them in September. Mu slims find depicting the Prophet Mohammad offensive.
Syrian police also used water hoses to disperse hundreds of protesters who gathered outside the French embassy. Scores of riot police were also earlier deployed to protect the U.S. mission. Jorgen Nielsen, from the Danish Institute in Damascus, which develops cultural ties between Denmark and the Ar ab world and cooperates closely with the embassy, told reporters the Danish embassy was empty because the protest had been expected.
The Danish Foreign Ministry warned in statement on Saturday against travelling to Syria and urged all Danes to leave the Ara b country.
"The situation for Danes in Syria has developed very negatively in the past hours," the ministry said in a statement.
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry has also advised Norwegians to leave Syria. It has already pulled aid workers and diplomats out of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after protests there.
A security official at the scene said the Danish building, located at the upscale Abou Remaneh area, also housed the Chilean and the Swedish embassies. He had no further details.
Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds said the ministry would summon the Syrian ambassador to protest.
"I will convey our protests and that this has escalated too far. We expect to get the protection which we have the right to demand," she told local news agency TT. Denmark has made complaints to the Syrian authorities.
There was no immediate comment from Syria.
European leaders have called for restraint, expressing concern about the firestorm that has erupted over the past days.
