Danes warned against 16 nations
2006-02-06 16:10
Copenhagen - The Danish foreign ministry extended its travel warning from two to 16 Muslim countries after its embassies in Damascus and Beirut were set on fire amid protests against a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Travel agencies have urged thousands of Danes who have booked winter holidays over the next weeks in those countries to make alternative plans.
Citing the foreign ministry's notice, carrier Sterling announced it would halt scheduled flights to Egypt until further notice.
The company operates two flights a week.
Over the weekend, the ministry urged all Danes in Syria and Lebanon to immediately leave the two countries.
Now, it has advised Danes to postpone or cancel all non-essential travel to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Sudan, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Denmark has been the target of protests by Muslims around the world because the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published the cartoons.
That initial publication came in September, but the furore erupted last month when a Norwegian magazine reprinted them.
Security stepped up
Since then, publications in such countries as France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Malaysia and New Zealand have followed suit.
The security services of the police in Denmark, Norway and Sweden said they have stepped up their exchange of information, and security at Danish and Norwegian consulates in Sweden has been raised.
The Swedish foreign ministry said it had ordered staff to review security at facilities shared with Danish and Norwegian diplomats in the wake of the weekend attacks in Syria and Lebanon.
Swedish foreign minister Laila Freivalds was also to inform leaders of the opposition about the ministry's measures.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg criticised the editor of a Norwegian magazine that re-printed the caricatures in an interview published on Monday.
'Crazy act'
The decision by editor Vebjorn Selbekk was "a crazy act," Stoltenberg was quoted as telling the Verdens Gang newspaper.
"What is dangerous in this kind of situation is that extremists use a crazy act to justify another crazy act," Stoltenberg said.
The premier added that Selbekk's magazine could partly be blamed for fuelling angry sentiments that resulted in the attack over the weekend in Syria where the Norwegian embassy was set on fire.
Stoltenberg underlined that although the government could not decide what Norwegian media should print, he had noted that other newspapers did not print the caricatures.
Finnish Lutheran Archbishop Jukka Paarma expressed his sympathy with Finnish Muslims on Monday, and said he disapproved of the caricatures, but also condemned the outbreaks of violence.
- SAPA