BEIRUT, Feb 5: The Danish consulate building in Beirut was set ablaze on Sunday in clashes that left at least 28 people injured, as the row over controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) spiralled out of control.
The Danish government called on its nationals to leave Lebanon after demonstrators set fire to the building housing its consulate, only a day after a similar attack against the Danish and Norwegian embassy buildings in neighbouring Syria.
Both Copenhagen and Oslo began evacuating their nationals from Lebanon and Syria, while Western nations ratcheted up security across the Muslim world amid the increasing.
The 12 cartoons at the heart of the furore were first published last September by the conservative Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and later by other European and Western media, fuelling Muslim anger and renewing debate weighing freedom of expression against respect for other beliefs.
Denmark on Sunday roundly blamed Syrian security forces for failing to prevent the violence at its embassy in Damascus.
“Syria failed in its duty. It is completely unacceptable that the embassy was not protected by the Syrians,” Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said in a written statement.
In Beirut on Sunday, protesters attacked property and shops in the Christian area of Ashrafiyeh, throwing stones, breaking windows and overturning cars, an AFP journalist said, adding that police rebuffed crowds in front of the consulate with tear gas.
There were chaotic scenes as hundreds protesters marched through the area, knocking down barricades. Stones were thrown at a church as Islamic leaders were seen appealing for calm.
The violence follows similar scenes of rage Saturday in the Syrian capital where crowds stormed the building housing the Danish embassy in Damascus, setting it on fire.
No staff were in the embassy premises, which is on the third floor of a building also housing the Swedish embassy on the second floor and the Chilean mission on the first.
Some demonstrators then went on to the nearby Norwegian embassy building, where they set fire to the second floor after sacking the offices and throwing furniture out of the window.
Denmark has been targeted across the Muslim world in recent weeks as the cartoon controversy has grown to a fever pitch.
Locals from Afghanistan to Iraq have railed against the country, while some Danish flags have been burnt and Danish commercial products boycotted. Several Muslim countries have recalled their ambassadors.
Stig Moeller said in a newspaper interview that Syria had actively contributed to the escalation in Damascus.
“The Syrian government has contributed to stirring up the situation, and now it is its duty to stop it,” he told Denmark’s Tv-Avisen paper on Sunday.
The United States on Saturday also said that the Syrian government had known about, and supported the violent events.
Norway also criticized the Syrian government for the Syrian embassy attack, with Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere calling it “completely unacceptable”.
Gahr Stoere said his Syrian counterpart, Faruq al-Shara, had apologised.
Sweden, stopping short of asking its nationals to leave, nevertheless told Syria that it should have prevented the attacks. It obtained a guarantee from Syria that “Swedes can feel safe”, according to Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds.
In Britain, the main opposition Conservative Party meanwhile called for police action against demonstrators who carry violent slogans during protests in London against the cartoons.
EVACUATION: Denmark and Norway said on Sunday they had begun evacuating their nationals from Syria after protesters torched their embassies in the country as tensions rose over the caricatures.
“About 70 Danes live in Syria. Some left last (Saturday) night, others this morning,” Danish foreign ministry spokesman Lars Thuesen told AFP on Sunday.
Those who had not yet left were advised to stay indoors “until we have found a way to get them out of there”, he said.
Denmark and Norway told their nationals to leave Syria after attacks on their respective embassies by demonstrators on Saturday in protest at the publication in both countries of cartoons depicting the Prophet (PBUH).
On Sunday, Danes were also told to leave Lebanon after protesters there attacked the Danish consulate.
“We have been working all night to contact our people and get them out” of Syria, Norwegian foreign ministry spokesman Oeystein Boe told AFP.
Of up to 90 Norwegian nationals in Syria, 12 will leave Damascus for Oslo via Vienna on Sunday, while 26 Norwegian families have opted to stay in Syria for now, he said.
Norway’s ambassador, who was in Jerusalem at the time of Saturday’s attacks, has returned to Damascus and embassy staff were operating from a hotel in the Syrian capital.
Following the violent protest in Syria and further attacks in Lebanon, where the Danish embassy was set ablaze Sunday, Norway told all its embassies in Muslim countries to tighten security.
“We have sent out a precaution order to embassies in the Middle East and other countries with a large Muslim part of the population to review their security contingency plans, to get in touch with the authorities and ask for extended security,” Mr Boe said.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.