A Lebanese Islamist chants slogans inside the burning Danish consulate in Beirut on Sunday.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday called for an end to violent protests sparked in the Middle East after European newspapers published disparaging caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
"It is important for us to make clear that the use of violence is not acceptable," Merkel said before a meeting of her conservative Christian Democrats. "I understand that, when religious feelings are hurt, that can be expressed, but violence cannot be a means in the discussion," she told reporters.
On Monday, demonstrators in Tehran, Iran set fire to German flags and attacked the Austrian embassy with molotov cocktails. Newspapers and magazines in Germany have published the caricatures -- some as pure news coverage and others as a statement of solidarity with Denmark's Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that started the firestorm with its publication in September of 10 cartoons depicting Muhammad.
Police in Beirut on Sunday arrested 200 people following violent demonstrations that culminated with an angry mob burning down the Danish consulate. Lebanese Interior Minister Hassan Sabeh was forced to resign following the failure of the police to prevent the arson attack against the diplomatic mission. A day earlier, violent protesters torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus, Syria. A German cultural center in Gaza city was also attacked on Saturday.
"Violence is un-Islamic"
The newly elected chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany (ZMD), Ayyub Axel Köhler, said it was shameful that Muslims across the world had allowed themselves to be provoked to violent rioting. "I call on all Muslims to stop the violence," he told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, "It is un-Islamic." Nevertheless, Köhler described the controversial cartoons, as "blasphemous, insulting and debasing."
According to Rolf Tophoven, head of Essen's Institute for Research on Terrorism and Security Policy and Germany's top terror expert, radical preachers are using the outrage over the cartoons to stir up hatred. Tophoven told the Passauer Neuen Presse that he thought it was possible that the dispute over the pictures of the prophet could "really lead to a clash of cultures." Governments in some Muslim countries have allowed arson and other acts of violence to be carried out, he said. These governments are afraid of becoming the targets of the violence themselves, so they only hesitantly take measures against the demonstrators. He recommended that the German government threaten to stop any cooperation with those countries in which German institutions were not adequately protected.
Christian Democrat and defense official Friedbert Pflüger sharply criticized the publication of the cartoons. Speaking to public TV station ARD on Saturday, Pflüger said: "Freedom of speech and press freedom, like all freedoms, have their limits when it comes to the dignity of others, and I find that this line has been crossed here." At the same time, he said he was appalled at the violent reaction and the calls for boycotts against the west in Islamic countries. "That is a terrible tactic. It is also very organized and not spontaneous." Nevertheless,
western societies should pause for a moment and differentiate between brutal Islamists on the one hand and the peaceful majority of Muslims on the other. "We should have no interest in a culture clash," he said.
The Green Party's deputy parliamentary leader, Hans-Christian Ströbele, also criticized the cartoons. He said that while of course the publication was covered by press freedom, "whether it is right or wise is another question. Every journalist and every publisher should consider what he is doing in each situation."
There are now some concerns in Germany that the violence could spread to Europe.
Bavaria's interior minister, Günther Beckstein, said he believes the rioting in the Middle East could increase the risk of terror attacks in Germany. In light of attacks on European buildings in the Middle East such warnings are not scaremongering, he told a Berlin public radio station. "Those who are ready for violence will certainly be worked up by these kinds of images from the Middle East," he said. "In Germany there now has to a heightened awareness that a broader basis for protest could also arise here."
Post to other social networks:
Stay informed with our free news services:
| All news from SPIEGEL International | Twitter | RSS |
© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2006
All Rights Reserved
Reproduction only allowed with the permission of SPIEGELnet GmbH
