UK fiddles while Beirut burns
The BBC reports that the Danish embassy in Beirut has been set on fire in the latest protest over the Muhammed cartoons and that Denmark is urging its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the police are coming under political pressure to explain why no arrests were made during demonstrations in which protesters chanted threatening slogans.
The protests on Friday saw a number of placards and slogans glorifying the 7th July bombings and calling for the “massacre”of “those that insult Islam.”
Shadow Attorney General Dominic Grieve has asked why no-one was arrested, saying that “It’s a clear breach of the criminal law - the existing criminal law, not new laws about incitement. To go out on the street and call for the killing of others is something which is intolerable.”
Police said they were studying footage of the protests but refused to say if any prosecutions would go ahead.
Labour MP Shahid Malik, who is a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee has written to Sir Ian Blair, head of the Met Police, on Friday calling for prosecutions.
“Had they intervened on Friday when I witnessed some of the scenes from the obscene placards and the obscene chants, I think the situation could have got much worse,” he said.
“Police are professionals at dealing with crowd and disorder matters and I think they’re best placed to make those kinds of judgements.
“I believe that prosecutions should follow. No matter how much offence cartoons may or may not cause, it can never justify violence.”
Sunday 05 Feb 2006 | Paul | Denmark, Lebanon, UK
