| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran | |
| Iranians hurl petrol bombs at Austrian embassy | |
| 2006-02-06 | |
The protesters, chanting "God is Greatest" and "Europe, Europe, shame on you", smashed all the diplomatic mission's windows with stones and then tried to hurl petrol bombs inside. Austria currently holds the presidency of the European Union. Protesters also waved placards and shouted slogans against the EU's stance on Iran's nuclear program. The bombs exploded in flames against metal grilles guarding the windows. But the building did not catch fire and the flames were quickly put out by police with fire extinguishers. Iran has withdrawn its ambassador to Denmark and Iranian Commerce Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said on Monday that all trade with Denmark had been severed because of the cartoons, first published in September in a Danish newspaper. "All trade ties with Denmark were cut," he was quoted by the Iranian student news agency ISNA as telling a news conference. Mirkazemi said from Tuesday Iran would stop any Danish goods from entering its customs' areas. Iran imports some $280 million worth of goods a year from Denmark. Trade ties were under review with all countries where the cartoons were published, he said. Islam prohibits any depiction of the Prophet Mohammad. Further demonstrations were planned for later on Monday outside the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Tehran. Danish diplomatic missions in Syria and Lebanon were set ablaze and ransacked over the weekend because of the cartoons. The Austrian Foreign Ministry said the Austrian cultural center building was also damaged but no injuries resulted. The demonstration was announced in advance and organized by members of the official Basij militia, a volunteer force affiliated to the hardline Revolutionary Guards. EMERGENCY MEETING Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of the Islamic Conference to discuss Islamophobia in the West. "Insult to Islamic values and Muslims' sanctity in the West has become a main challenge facing Islamic nations now. It is vital to seriously confront this challenge," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized the argument of freedom of speech employed by European newspapers to justify publication of the cartoons. "If your newspapers are free why do not they publish anything about the innocence of the Palestinians and protest against the crimes committed by the Zionists?" the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted him as saying. More than 200 lawmakers from Iran's 290-seat parliament also denounced the cartoons. "Apparently, they have not learned their lesson from the miserable author of the Satanic Verses," they said in a statement carried on the official IRNA news agency. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, spiritual father of the 1979 Islamic revolution, passed a fatwa in 1989 ordering the killing of British writer Salman Rushdie for his book "The Satanic Verses" which many Muslims deemed blasphemous. Although the Iranian government promised Britain in 1998 that it would not send an assassin to kill Rushdie, Iran's hardline Revolutionary Guards pledge on every anniversary of the fatwa that Muslims will one day carry it out. | |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #4 Boys will be boys. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-02-06 20:30 |
| #3 "You mean this isn't the AUSTRALIAN embassy? Sorry about that!" |
| Posted by: Perfesser 2006-02-06 18:08 |
| #2 I have changed my name to scmeichel, up the danes:) |
| Posted by: Ding Dangalang 2006-02-06 15:03 |
| #1 "Trade ties were under review with all countries where the cartoons were published, he said. Islam prohibits any depiction of the Prophet Mohammad." They were published in France. Dare ya to cut off trade with them. Double dare ya. |
| Posted by: liberalhawk 2006-02-06 14:36 |