Cartoon furore grows, fears for NZ

DAMASCUS - Furious Syrians set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies as protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad showed no signs of abating despite calls for calm.

Chanting "God is Greatest", thousands of protesters stormed the Danish embassy, burnt the Danish flag and replaced it with a flag reading "No God but Allah, Mohammad is His Prophet". They set fires which badly damaged the building before being put out. No one was hurt as the embassy was closed at the time.

The row has already had an economic impact with Arab countries boycotting Danish goods, and Iran has now said it is reviewing trade ties with countries that have published such caricatures. The cartoons were printed in two newspapers in New Zealand yesterday - The Dominion Post in Wellington and The Press in Christchurch. 

Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the regime "must revise and cancel economic contracts with the countries that started this repulsive act and those that followed them".

The damage here from any boycott could run to more than $100 million, Newstalk ZB estimated. More than half of that is in exports of butter, while about a quarter is made up of other dairy products and wool.

Exports of manufactured equipment including air compressors and radio gear account for about $10 million a year in trade.

A protest against publication of the cartoons was expected on Auckland's Queen Street this afternoon.

Demonstrators in Syria also set the Norwegian embassy ablaze. It was brought under control by firefighters.

Police fired teargas to disperse protesters there and also used water hoses to hold back others from storming the French embassy. Scores of riot police were also deployed to protect the US mission.

Denmark and Norway advised their citizens to leave Syria.

Denmark is at the eye of the storm as the cartoons that Muslim demonstrators find offensive, one of the Prophet with a turban resembling a bomb, first appeared in a Danish daily.

A small Norwegian Christian newspaper was one of the first newspaper outside Denmark to publish the cartoons. They have now appeared in papers in Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway and Poland.

Sweden, which shares its Syrian embassy with Denmark and Chile, was also dragged into the Damascus protests. It summoned the Syrian ambassador in Stockholm in protest.

Sweden, Denmark and Norway said the Syrian authorities had not done enough to protect their buildings in the capital.

There was no immediate comment from Syrian officials.

Face-off

From Afghanistan to Lahore, demonstrators rallied on Saturday to condemn the cartoons in what has developed into a face-off between press freedom and religious respect.

Newspapers have insisted on their right to print the cartoons, citing freedom of speech.

But Muslims find depicting the Prophet Mohammad offensive.

European leaders have called for calm, expressing deep concern about the furore that has become a lightning rod for anti-European sentiment in the Islamic world.

A black wreath was laid at the Danish embassy in Ankara. About 1,500 people were outside the Danish embassy in London.

About 100 people protested in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz with some shouting "Death to Denmark", a resident said.

Around 500 students of Islamic seminaries or madrasas protested in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, chanting "Down with Denmark" and "Hang the culprits".

Dozens of Palestinian youths tried to storm the office of the European Union in Gaza and pledged to give their "blood to redeem the Prophet".

In South Africa, a court granted a request by a Muslim group to bar publication of the cartoons.

- REUTERS, NEWSTALK ZB