Lebanon cartoon riots revive tensions over Syria




By Salim Yassine
AFP
BEIRUT
Petroleumworld.com 02 07 06

Lebanon pointed the finger at Syria Monday after the Danish consulate was torched during violent protests over controversial Prophet Mohammed cartoons that left one rioter dead and led to the interior minister's resignation.

Some cabinet ministers have called for a formal complaint against the regime in neighbouring Syria to be lodged with the United Nations, according to the press, accusing Damascus of stoking the riots to try to destabilize Lebanon.

Muslim anger over the cartoons originally published in a Danish newspaper last year and deemed offensive by depicting the Prophet Mohammed has erupted into violence in several countries across the globe.

Lebanese political and religious leaders condemned the violence and appealed for calm to prevent enflaming sectarian tensions in a country wracked by civil war from 1975-1990 that pitted religious communities against each other.

Police said one demonstrator involved in setting the Danish consulate building ablaze during the protests on Sunday was found dead and almost 50 people were injured, including 19 members of Lebanon's security forces.

Lebanese security forces detained more than 300 people, as several politicians blamed foreign agitators for the troubles.

The interior ministry said its forces had arrested 174 people, including 76 Syrians, 35 Palestinians and 25 stateless bedouins. The army said it made 160 arrests but gave no breakdown by nationality.

European diplomats, in a meeting Monday with Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, said Lebanese authorities had taken "inadequate" security measures and called for "more effective" steps to be taken in case of further demonstrations.

The prime minister expressed his "regrets" and condemned the "unjustifiable violence", according to a statement issued by the European Union.

Interior minister Hassan Sabeh announced his resignation after coming under fire over the violence, which occurred despite the presence of about 1,000 riot police who had initially used tear-gas and batons to keep protestors at bay.

Sabeh, who has been replaced temporarily by Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Fatfat, complained that Lebanese internal security "lacked unified political decisions as well as lacking the necessary personnel and equipment."

He said he had refused to give security forces the order to fire on the protestors because "I did not want to be responsible for any carnage.

"Despite the intervention of more than 1,000 members of the security forces, we were unable to impose order because of the determination of the protestors, who numbered several thousands."

The government has apologized to the Danish government and launched an inquiry "into the involvement of foreign intelligence agencies" in the violence, according to a statement issued after an emergency cabinet meeting.

Newspapers reported that several ministers have called for a formal complaint to be lodged with the United Nations against Syria, the former powerbroker in Lebanon which pulled out its troops in April after a 29-year military presence but retains strong influence through its allies in Beirut.

Siniora, a member of the anti-Syrian majority in parliament, on Sunday had accused groups "seeking to spread disorder" of being responsible.

And an anti-Syrian political movement known as March 14, after the date of a massive public demonstration in Beirut last year over the killing of former premier Rafiq Hariri in a February bomb blast, also targeted Syria.

"The signal was given in Damascus on Saturday," the movement said, referring to similar riots in the Syrian capital which saw angry mobs storm the buildings housing the Danish and Norwegian embassies.

The offending caricatures, which included depictions of the Muslim prophet as a knife-wielding bedouin and another as wearing a time bomb-shaped turban, have sparked widespread protests across the Muslim world.

AFP 02 06 06

 

Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved

 

 

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