LEBANON: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denounces burning of the Danish embassy in Beirut

Record ID: 344543

  • Title: LEBANON: Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denounces burning of the Danish embassy in Beirut
  • Date: 5th February 2006
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF ANGRY CITIZENS SHOUTING AT SINIORA SINIORA LEAVING
  • Embargoed: 20th February 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Lebanon
  • Country: Lebanon
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2ICKOXVISZ2PVD6U9215XZ211
  • Story Text: Angry Lebanese demonstrators torched the Danish consulate in Beirut on Sunday (February 5), further escalating a violent turn in protests over the publication by European newspapers of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
    Thousands of protesters, some carrying green Islamic flags, chanted "God is Greatest" outside the burning building as thick black smoke billowed into the sky.
    Some stood on top of a fire engine, one of three damaged by protesters to prevent fire fighters extinguishing the blaze.
    It was not immediately clear if the building was empty.
    Lebanese security forces had fired tear gas at a crowd of about 20,000 as they marched towards the Danish consulate.
    Witnesses said security forces also fired shots in the air and used water cannon to disperse the protesters, who burned two civil defence vehicles, a police car and an army jeep.
    A Reuters witness said several Muslim clerics were on the streets trying to urge restraint and asking protesters to leave the scene of the violence.
    Visiting a church in Beirut that was damaged by the violence, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denounced the trouble.
    "What happened today is not acceptable under any circumstances, and it is a denounced act by all Lebanese and Muslims. This is not the way to defend the prophet. With what had happened today we have caused harm to the prophet and Islam, those people who did these acts meant to produce unrest among Lebanese," Siniora said.
    The uproar over the cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper and were then reprinted in a number of other European countries, has swept across the Muslim world. One depicted the Prophet Mohammad with a turban resembling a bomb.
    Islam forbids any depiction of the Prophet Mohammad.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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