Posted on 02/07/2006 3:42:56 PM PST by traumer
Denmark's PM has described the row over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad as a "global crisis", as he called for Muslims to refrain from violence.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen said extremists seeking "a clash of cultures" were exploiting the dispute over the images, which first appeared in Denmark. Protests continued worldwide on Tuesday, spreading to West Africa.
In Afghanistan at least three demonstrators died as they tried to storm a Norwegian-led base. The satirical cartoons - which have been reproduced in a number of European newspapers - have been denounced throughout the Islamic world. They include an image portraying Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.
Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits any depiction of Allah and the Prophet.
'False picture'
Mr Rasmussen told a news conference in Copenhagen "we are now facing a growing global crisis" over the cartoons.
CARTOON ROW 30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons 20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM 10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons 26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador 30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology 31 Jan: Danish paper apologises 1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons 4 Feb: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus 5 Feb: Protesters sack Danish embassy in Beirut
How the row unfolded Cartoon row: Your views
He urged Muslims to refrain from violence, saying the row was being exploited by extremists.
"We need to resolve this issue through dialogue, not violence," he said.
He condemned the attacks on Danish embassies by Muslim protesters angered by the cartoons.
"The Danish people are not enemies of Islam," he insisted.
"We're seeing ourselves characterised as an intolerant people or as enemies of Islam as a religion. That picture is false. Extremists and radicals who seek a clash of cultures and religions are spreading it," Mr Rasmussen said.
"[This] is a very unpleasant situation for Danes, we're not used to this," he added.
Danish PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen I want to appeal and reach out to all people and countries in the Muslim world - let us work together in the spirit of mutual respect and tolerance Anders Fogh Rasmussen
He thanked international leaders who had offered support, including US President George W Bush, who "called to express support and solidarity with Denmark", the PM said.
Earlier, Denmark said it held Iran responsible after its Tehran embassy was attacked by hundreds of people protesting about the cartoons.
Iran has banned Danish imports and halted trade ties.
European Commission spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said it was considering its response as "a boycott of Danish goods is by definition a boycott of European goods".
The European Union is Iran's main trading partner, although only 170 million euros ($204m; £116m) of the 11.8 billion euro trade in 2004 was with Denmark.
Separately, a Danish aid group has suspended operations in war-torn Chechnya after the Russian-backed administration there banned all Danish organisations.
The Danish Refugee Council, which provides food to tens of thousands in Chechnya, said it hoped the suspension would be temporary.
Base stormed
The anti-Danish protests have been repeated across the Muslim world, and have led to at least eight deaths in Afghanistan and one in Somalia.
The latest three deaths in Afghanistan came on Tuesday in an exchange of gunfire with Afghan police and Nato peacekeepers in the north-western town of Meymaneh, witnesses said.
Nato peacekeepers sent 120 British reinforcements to the town after hundreds of Afghans protesting at the cartoons attacked a Norwegian-led base.
At least 30 people were hurt, the director of health for Faryab province told the BBC.
A Nato spokeswoman said the crowd tried to break into the compound, where about 100 soldiers from Norway and Finland are based.
She said Nato troops fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse the protesters, but the troops did not fire into the crowd. Protesters threw stones and at least one hand grenade in response, she said.
The provincial deputy governor, Sayed Ahmad Sayed, told AFP news agency that Afghan police had opened fire in response to gunfire from the crowd.
But a senior Afghan police officer, Muhammad Naim, denied to the BBC that police had shot the demonstrators.
Nato said order had been restored by early evening.
On Tuesday, Nato insisted its planned expansion of 6,000 extra troops into restive southern and western areas this summer would go ahead despite the protests.
Global protests
Protests have also spread in Africa.
Lawmakers in mainly-Muslim Kano, in northern Nigeria, burnt Danish flags.
Tens of thousands of Muslims protested peacefully in Niamey, the capital of Niger, waving placards reading "Down with Denmark and her allies".
In other tension:
* About 5,000 people take to the streets in Peshawar in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province
* Several hundred Muslims protest in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir
* Hundreds of Muslims gather in Cotabato, in the southern Philippines, demanding Denmark punish the newspaper that initially published the cartoons
* Norway demands compensation from Syria after its embassy in Damascus is set on fire on Saturday
* In Indonesia, protesters target the Danish and US consulates in Surabaya, the country's second-largest city. Protests are also held in the capital, Jakarta
Heh...yeah, that too :-}
LOL!
I would add, there wouldn't be a city left standing anywhere in the world.
are we keeping track of deaths caused by protests stirred up by imams?
We have to be up to a few dozen, what with teh koran in the toilet and this and all.
The global crisis is that most of the world does not see that islam is trying to destroy everything that is not muslim.
Wake up, I don't have enough ammo to take care of this by myself!!!
LOL! Forget the U.N. In tantrum mode, Iran may just end up imposing economic sanctions on itself. Suits me. And I'm sure the millions of restive, Western culture oriented, Iranian youth will love suddenly being cut off from consumer goods, and the jobs that trade creates.
The alarm clock went off a long time ago, but they tossed it out the window and went back to sleep.
The next thing that goes off will wake them up all right--but too late. Europe is sitting on a time bomb.
P.S. MESSAGE TO EUROPEANS: Don't count on the Yanks to come to the rescue. You're on your own. We warned you.
The West needs to stop wringing their hands over these idiots with PC nonsense, and spell it out to them: "It's called FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION. Learn to live with it, learn to enjoy it, and if you cannot accept it, cannot protest whatever you find offensive in a PEACEFUL manner, get out of our countries and go back to the sandy sh!tholes from whence you came. We'll even help you!"
Imagine what the world may have been like if Mohammed wasn't deprived of a sense of humor. The Koran must not contain any verses about hypocrisy. Whud they use for tent poles? Femurs?
Sick of it? Already? This is the most fun I've had since the liberals went insane over Bush's re-election.
No...basically, I want to live in peace. I want to go to work, watch movies, attend parties, do the banal things that we all take so much for granted, but that our men in uniform would give their left arm (and some have) to do.
But I feel angry. I feel that everything is waiting...everything is sitting on the edge. I feel like we are in Europe in 1938. Everything is going to happen, we just don't know it yet.
I am tired of watching these animals pretend to be upset about damned cartoons. I was pretty upset about the Tom Toles cartoon the other day, but I am not about to kill people over it.
But these FRIKKING Islamofacist lunatics are. It makes me REALLY wish there wasn't a moral obligation not to drop cluster bombs on idiots setting buildings on fire because of a cartoon. Instead of "Why can't we all get along?" I am thinking "Why can't we call in coordinates?".
I am sick and damned tired of this Islamofacist bullshit. I have no problem with Muslims, I know a few, they are wonderful people-they are Americans who happen to be Muslim. They may disagree with some things in American society or the world at large that they find in conflict with their religion, but they aren't ready to kill over it. Hell, I see a lot of things I disagree with, but I am not going to set cars on fire, attach a sheet of islamofacist rantings to somebody's chest with a knife, or fly planes of screaming people into buildings.
But these EFFING lunatics are. And I am losing my patience. When is the rest of America, the Islamic community, and the world going to lose patience with these jerkoffs?
I hope it is before we have a mushroom cloud over one of our cities, and we are forced to cover some country or countries with mushroom clouds.
So, yeah. I am sick and tired of this. And we only have a lifetime to go.
I have. It's time to reduce the world Muslim population, by a lot.
Did any US newspaper publish some of those cartoons ?
I believe that even New Zeland did...
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