DAMASCUS, Feb 4: Several thousand Syrian demonstrators set the Danish and the Norwegian embassies on fire on Saturday in protest at the publishing of cartoons lampooning Islam by European newspapers.

The protest marked an escalation in the Muslim world’s anger roar over the cartoons, which have been reprinted in a number of European publications. The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten.

Reacting to the incidents, the Danish and Norwegian governments warned their citizens against travelling to Syria and urged all those presently in that country to leave immediately.

Norway has already pulled aid workers and diplomats out of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip after protests there.

The fire badly damaged the Danish embassy’s building. Fire-fighters later managed to put out the blaze.

Chanting ‘Allahu Akbar’, the protesters first stormed the Danish embassy; threw stones and shattered its windows; burned the national flag and replaced it with another flag reading ‘No God but Allah, Mohammad is His Prophet’.

The protesters also set the Norwegian embassy ablaze. It was soon brought under control by fire-fighters. 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 told CNN. He said staff at the embassy were safe.

A small Norwegian Christian newspaper was one of the first newspapers outside Denmark to publish the cartoons.

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 Arab world and cooperates closely with the embassy, told reporters the Danish embassy was empty because the protest had been expected.

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.

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 few days. —Reuters