The Fury
Religious fury threatens to wrest control from secular governments
By Robert Fisk
02/06/06 "The Independent" -- -- After Syria, the fires fanned by Denmark's
anti-Prophet cartoons spread to Lebanon yesterday with sectarian intensity.
Anger flashing through the Muslim world over the weekend saw protesters
burn Danish flags and attack buildings from Lahore to Gaza. The Islamic
Army in Iraq, one of the main insurgent groups, made a blood-curdling call
yesterday for violence against citizens of countries where caricatures of
the Prophet Mohamed have been published.
"We swear to God, if we catch one of their citizens in Iraq, we will cut
him to pieces, to take revenge for Prophet," it said in an unverified
internet statement.
In Lebanon yesterday, 2,000troops fought demonstrators in the heart of
Christian Beirut during the day as the Danish consulate was set on fire and
a large church was attacked by a mob. Other demonstrators headed for the
Lebanese foreign ministry. One protester at the consulate was trapped by
flames and died after jumping from the third floor.
Yestereday's violence may have been inspired by the previous day's assaults
on the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus - or were perhaps
encouraged by the same Baath party which must have originally permitted the
Syrian demonstrations to take place.
More likely, the crowds in both cities were allowed by the authorities to
stage protests, but the demonstrators quickly became overwhelmed as Sunni
extremists - in Lebanon, perhaps from the Salafist Hezb al-Tahrir party in
Tripoli, and equally Wahhabi-minded Palestinians from the Ein el-Helweh
refugee camp - arrived with sticks and stones to assault the Danish
property and then to attack the St Maroun church and march on the Lebanese
foreign ministry.
If this is true, it shows how quickly two nationalist Arab governments can
be challenged by Islamists within their own countries. The 2,000-strong
Lebanese security forces had to be deployed in east Beirut to fire tear gas
and live rounds into the air to hold back the rioters.
For Lebanon, divided along sectarian lines as it has been since its
creation by the French in the 1920s, it was a grim and bitter day - perhaps
the worst since ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated on 14
February last year - which brought Muslim demonstrators into the centre of
Christian east Beirut where the Danish consulate is - or rather was -
located. Burning fire engines and smashing cars parked in the streets,
however, brought back ugly memories of the 15-year Lebanese civil war.
Little wonder, then, that Charles Rizk, the Justice Minister, asked
angrily: "What is the guilt of the people of Ashrafieh for cartoons
published in Denmark?'' Ashrafieh, needless to say, is an almost entirely
Christian sector of Beirut.
Fouad Siniora, the Lebanese Prime Minister - who, under the country's
unwritten constitution, must be a Sunni - insisted that this was not the
way for Muslims to express their anger. One Sunni prelate who appeared on
the streets in a vain attempt to calm the demonstrators remarked that "they
have done more damage to the name of the Prophet today than the cartoons in
Denmark''.
Lebanon's Interior Minister, Hassan al-Sabaa, resigned yesterday, becoming
the first political casualty of the crisis.
At least 30 people were arrested and the Lebanese authorities later
announced - predictably - that most were "foreigners". Whenever any civil
unrest occurs in Lebanon, foreigners are always blamed - just as they were
throughout the civil war - although it will be interesting to see if there
are any Syrians among their number. Christian politicians complain that the
Lebanese government, which knew that there would be demonstrations, should
have dealt more "firmly" with the demonstrators - for "firmly", read
"fatally".
But, in fact, the Lebanese troops managed to avoid shooting any of the
protesters dead; "martyrs" would only have provided room for more violent
demonstrations - and yesterday's battle in east Beirut was in marked
contrast to the way Israeli soldiers deal with Arab demonstrators. The
Lebanese, far from firing bullets into the surging crowds, pushed them back
with water cannons.
There is no doubting that those preposterous cartoons originally published
in Copenhagen last September have lit a small inferno across the Middle
East. In Nablus, Palestinian gunmen stormed the French cultural centre
yesterday. In Qatar, the government announced it would no longer accept
trade delegations from Denmark. Iran recalled its ambassador from
Copenhagen.
Muslim demonstrators could be seen on the streets of Beirut yesterday with
green banners bearing the legend: "Oh Nation of Mohamed, Wake Up!'' The
danger for the West - as well as the dictatorships and semi-democracies of
the Middle East - is that rather a lot of members of the nation of Mohamed
will do just that.
Syria is a largely Sunni nation ruled by Alawites - a branch of Shiism -
and it is not difficult to see how even minimum Baathist encouragement of
Saturday's demonstrators quickly turned into a Sunni protest.The Norwegian
embassy had demanded extra protection from Syria - but was not provided
with the security forces it asked for. There will be many questions asked
about this among Europeans in Damascus; for it is the same old problem: who
runs Syria?
---
"The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating
any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgement of
his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all
totalitarian government whether Nazi or Communist." -- W. Churchill, Nov
21, 1943 (Or whether Christofascist Republican.)
"When the powers of state, that have been mandated to reach out and protect the
interest of people, begin to usurp the Constitution and undermine our laws,
people must rise up and speak against the regime. If the citizens fail to hear
that call, they should be charged with patriotic treason." -- Theodore Roosevelt,
the 26th President of the United States (1901-1909) (Every Bush Republican is
a traitor according to Theodore Roosevelt.)
"President Washington, President Lincoln, President Wilson, President
Roosevelt have all authorized electronic surveillance on a far broader
scale." - AG Christoterrorist Alberto Gonzales, Senate testimony
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