Danish Embassy On Fire

[Xàbia Shrimper]

Lebanese protesters have set the Danish embassy in Beirut on fire in protest at the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Thousands of people rallied outside the building and security forces fired tear gas in an attempt to keep them at bay. But smoke was later seen rising from the building housing the Danish mission after demonstrators broke into it. The demonstration in Beirut descended into violence when Islamic extremists tried to break through security barriers protecting the embassy. Some 2,000 army troops and riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse them and fired their weapons into the air. But the onslaught continued and the embassy building was set ablaze. Witnesses said at least 10 injured people were taken away in ambulances, the AP news agency reported. The embassy building, which also houses commercial offices, was believed to be unoccupied.

Some people in the crowd are not happy with the violence, thinking this was going to be a peaceful demonstration, reports the BBC's Jim Muir from the scene of the violence. He says some of the wilder elements in the crowd have succeeded in turning it into a very angry and quite violent demonstration. There were also reports of damage to property in a Christian area of the city.

WS
Jávea

 

[EastStandBlue]

Quote[/b] (Xàbia Shrimper @ Feb. 05 2006,12:34)]There were also reports of damage to property in a Christian area of the city.

WS
Jávea

Like I've said before, This will go completely unpunished... Yet any retaliation, such as the burning of a Mosque or Arab embassy and it'll be seen as an act of war.

IMO, this has showed the majority of people that double standards are rife within Arab states and Islamic opinions/views. Yet, if we started to refuse immigrants at the doors of Britain, we'll be slammed as a racist nation and be attacked because of it. This has gone too far now, with apologies from all governments of nations who published the cartoons, even though it IS only a satirical cartoon. I watched Celebrity Big Brother once last fortnight, and Dennis Rodman was jokingly referring to a white attitude, yet you don't see me or any other British White people going to burn down the American embassy...

 

[FeedTheGoat]

I heard an interesting conversation on the radio this morning, basically a muslim saying that our press should be focusing on the large, peaceful demonstration that took place in london on saturday, as opposed to the violent ones threatening to kill the entire population of london and revoking extremely painful memories of one of darkest days in the history of our great city. He said that we are taking it out on all Muslims because of the attitude of a minority.
To which the interviewer responded that the Muslims crying death to the West and threatening another 7/7 (which i see as threatening death to London) was in response to the drawings of one man and yet they're threatening virtually an entire continent.
the muslim guy's response? to reiterate that saturday's big demonstration was peaceful and that the press were missing the point.