EU hesitates on Mohammed cartoon reaction
TERESA KÜCHLER
06.02.2006 @ 10:26 CET
Several European leaders have demanded the EU reacts as a bloc in the Mohammed cartoon case following the past weekend’s violent protests, but the Austrian EU presidency wants to wait and see.
"For the moment we have no plans to call for a crisis meeting. If we call upon the ministers of the 25 member states, we would like to see something coming out of it," an Austrian presidency spokesperson said on Sunday (5 February), according to Nordic media.
"This is a crisis that is much bigger than Denmark," said Danish foreign minister Per Stig Moller (Photo: EUobserver.com)
Earlier the same day in Beirut, some 30 people were injured as crowds armed with stones and sticks seized fire engines, overturned police vehicles, damaged cars and threw stones at a Roman Catholic church.
The mob ended its rampage by setting the Danish consulate on fire.
On Saturday, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian diplomatic missions in Syria faced similar attacks.
Danish minster calling for dialogue
Danish foreign minister Per Stig Moller said on Sunday afternoon that Denmark could not tackle the crisis alone, calling upon all sides in the conflict to establish dialogue.
"This is a crisis that is much bigger than Denmark. This crisis is an attack on co-operation between the Western and Muslim worlds," Mr Moller indicated.
"We have nothing to win from this confrontation. We all stand to lose a lot because it is now in the hands of the extremists and fanatics who do not want a dialogue of cultures and co-operation between the western and the muslim governments," the minister added.
Seven EU leaders meeting in the German city of Dresden also called for a joint EU approach to the problem.
"Violence and threats are not acceptable under any circumstances," the German head of state, Horst Koehler, said speaking for colleagues from Finland, Italy, Latvia, Austria, Portugal and Hungary.
"It is important that we speak with one voice on this issue in the European Union, uphold our common values but also make an effort toward de-escalation," said president Heinz Fischer of Austria.
Press defies politicians
The root of the growing conflict between parts of the muslim world and the west are 12 drawings of the muslim prophet Mohammed, first published in Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and reprinted in Norway, France, England, Spain and other European countries.
The Koran forbids all visual depictions of the prophet, with one cartoon of Mohammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban and another showing him as a knife-wielding maniac sparking fury in Islamic countries.
While politicians have tried to sooth muslim anger and discourage western media from publishing the cartoons, some media have acted in solidarity with the Danish daily and the principle of freedom of expression.
The US had stayed out of the conflict but the US daily Philadelphia Inquirer over the weekend published the controversial image with Mohammed wearing a turban resembling a lit bomb, and added internet links to the rest of the cartoons.
"This is the kind of work that newspapers are in business to do," said Amanda Bennett, the newspaper's editor.
Many TV programmes and news networks including ABC have shown either full or partially obscured images of the cartoons but some of the largest, such as CNN, abstained out of respect for Islam.