 Several hundred Iranian protesters showed their anger at Denmark |
Several hundred angry Iranians hurled stones and fire bombs and were forced back by police with tear gas.
The attacks came as Iran said it was cutting all trade ties with Denmark.
The anti-Danish protests have been repeated across the Muslim world, and have led to at least five deaths in Afghanistan and one in Somalia.
Many Muslims are angry at the publishing of cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish paper.
Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits images of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.
The cartoons published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten, and since reprinted in Norway and other European countries, included an image portraying Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.
With tension rising:
Trade pressure
On Monday evening a crowd of about 400 demonstrators bore down on the Danish embassy in Tehran, which Denmark had closed the day before.
They burned Danish flags and chanted "Death to Denmark".
 | CARTOON ROW 30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons 20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM 10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons 26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador 30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology 31 Jan: Danish paper apologises 1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons 4 Feb: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus 5 Feb: Protesters sack Danish embassy in Beirut  |
The embassy gate and two trees caught fire, before Iranian police intervened, forcing the protesters back with tear gas.
At least nine protesters were hurt, police said.
Denmark's foreign minister, Per Stig Moeller, told a Danish radio station that he would hold Iran responsible for any damage to the embassy, and was asking for security guarantees for its citizens still in the country.
But Mr Moeller said he could do little about the trade embargo, under which Iran has banned all Danish imports as well as any other business dealings.
Iran currently imports $280m (£160m) worth of goods from Denmark each year. That works out at about 0.3% of Denmark's total exports.
 Some 200 protesters took to the streets in the Afghan capital Kabul |
Denmark's embassies in Damascus, Syria, and Beirut, Lebanon were set on fire by protesters at the weekend.
Earlier on Monday protesters attacked the Austrian embassy in Tehran, breaking windows and starting small fires. Austria is the current president of the European Union.
Tehran has already recalled its ambassador to Denmark and has also summoned the ambassadors of Denmark, Norway and Austria to express its anger.
The offending cartoons first appeared in a Danish newspaper last September.
Last week the row escalated after a number of European newspapers republished the pictures, saying they were defending freedom of expression.
Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 February 2006, 11:29 GMT  |
| Blair warning to Iran on weapons | ||
But the prime minister insisted that the potential for military action against Iran "is not on our agenda". He told the Commons liaison committee that the problem could be dealt with by "peaceful and diplomatic means". The United Nations nuclear watchdog has voted to report Iran to the Security Council over its nuclear activities. Mr Blair told MPs: "There is a real concern about Iran at the moment - there has got to be - not just on nuclear weapons, but in respect of their support for terrorists." But he insisted that "Iran is not Iraq", in an attempt to allay fears about future military action. However, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes comments that "Israel must be wiped off the map", it increases concern about whether Iran can be trusted not to develop nuclear weapons, he said. | ||
| Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 February 2006, 11:18 GMT |
| Iran paper seeks cartoon revenge | ||
Hamshahri says it wants to test the boundaries of free speech, echoing the reasons European papers gave for publishing the caricatures. There have been protests about the images across the Muslim world, where they are seen as insulting and racist. One showed Muhammad, whose image is banned in Islam, as a terrorist bomber. "Does the West's freedom of expression extend to... an event such as the Holocaust or is this freedom of expression only for the desecration of the sanctities of divine religions?" the best-selling paper said in its announcement. It also asks for cartoons covering "America and Israel's crimes and plundering". Iran's conservative rulers are supportive of so-called Holocaust revisionist historians, who argue that the systematic slaughter of Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II has been exaggerated for political ends. Hitler formula Graphics editor Farid Mortazavi, who announced the contest, challenged Western newspapers to publish the Iranian cartoons as they did the European ones. As the row has escalated, Tehran has cut trade ties with Denmark because of the cartoons, first published there last September by the conservative Jyllands-Posten newspaper, and recalled its ambassador in Copenhagen. Hamshahri is offering gold coins to the best 12 artists - the same number of cartoons that were commissioned by Jyllands-Posten. It claims to be "keeping its distance from vindictive or irrational conduct" and says full details will be published on 13 February. The dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human rights and educational organisation, condemned the competition. "They're following the classic formula of Adolf Hitler, which says if there's a problem, it's the fault of the Jews," said Rabbi Marvin Hier in an interview with AFP. | ||
John Carolan was sitting on his porch in the thick, humid darkness just before midnight Tuesday when three or four young men, one with a knife and another with a machete, stopped in front of his fence and pointed to the generator humming in the front yard, he said.
One said, "We want that generator," he recalled.
"I fired a couple of rounds over their heads with a .357 Magnum," Mr. Carolan recounted Wednesday. "They scattered."
Nice man, he decided not to shoot them. Maybe next time they won't be so lucky. No loss....
A tragic note from the homefront. One of the baby racoons that we are fostering fell and apparently broke her neck. It was very sad. They love to climb and by giving them the opportunity to climb around they can gain some of the skills that they need to survive in the wild. After 3 years of rehabbing racoons with 20+ successfully released we have had our first tragedy. I realize that with all the death and destruction in the Gulf it pales in comparison, but a small helpless creature like this.......
Sort of a switch, tragic loss of a baby racoon from "lets' just shoot the looters..." In my defense I would have to answer that the racoons don't know any better....the looters, well.....
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