|
BEIRUT, Feb. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Lebanon's Interior Minister Hassan Sabeh resigned
hours after demonstrators set fire to the Danish consulate in Beirut on Sunday
to protest against caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad first published by a
Danish newspaper.
 |
| Lebanon's Interior Minister Hassan
Sabei, makes a phone call in Beirut, Lebanon, in Apr.19,
2005 file photo. Sabei resigned Sunday Feb. 5, 2006 hours after
demonstrators set fire to the Danish consulate in Beirut to protest
against caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad first published by a Danish
newspaper.
(Xinhua/Reuters) |
He said
he had refused to give security forces the order to fire on the protestors
because "I did not want to be responsible for any carnage.
"Despite the intervention of more than 1,000 members
of the security forces, we were unable to impose order because of the
determination of the protestors, who numbered several
thousand."
 |
| Lebanese demonstrators gather at the Danish
consulate after setting fire to it in Beirut, capital city of Lebanon, on
Feb. 5, 2006. Demonstrators set fire to the Danish consulate in Beirut on
Sunday in a protest against cartoons blaspheming Prophet Mohammad, which
were first published on a Danish newspaper. (Xinhua
Photo) |
About 2,000
Lebanese staged a sit-in outside the Danish consulate on Sunday and the
initially peaceful protest turned violent as protestors attempted to break
through the security barrier which prompted the police to use tear gas and water
cannons to disperse them, witnesses said.
The angry protestors then torched the building
housing the consulate, said witnesses, adding that dozens of people were wounded
in the clashes with riot police and a number of cars were set on fire.
The violence erupted the day after a similar attack
on the embassies of Denmark and Norway in neighboring Syria over the publication
in their countries of the caricatures of the Muslim prophet.
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