Danish ambassador leaves Syria
Syria-Denmark, Politics, 2/13/2006

The Danish envoy to Syria and his staff have temporarily left the country as Damascus cannot guarantee their safety, Denmark's foreign ministry says.

The embassy will close and its consular interests will be handled by the German embassy in Damascus and its own office in Amman, it said in a statement.

Relations between Denmark and Syria have been strained since the Danish embassy was stormed last weekend.

Crowds protested at Danish cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad.

The Danish diplomats "have provisionally left Syria because Syrian authorities reduced their protection to an unacceptably low level," the foreign ministry statement said.

The BBC reported that last Saturday, hundreds of protesters in Damascus hurled stones at the Danish embassy before scaling it, amid chants of "God is great." They then moved on to attack the Norwegian embassy.

Copenhagen urged its nationals to leave Syria at once and, along with Oslo, and condemned Syria for failing to stop the attacks on the embassies.

A day after the attacks, Syria's foreign ministry issued a statement expressing "its regret over the acts of violence which accompanied the protests." Damascus has not commented on the departure of Danish diplomats.

Previous Stories:
  Reactions on cartoons depicting prophet Mohammed   (2/7/2006)
  Grand Mufti of Syria expresses regret over embassies incidents   (2/6/2006)
  Norway, Denmark advise citizens to leave Syria   (2/6/2006)
  Protesters in Syria decry Mohammed cartoons, threaten retaliation   (2/4/2006)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search