Christian areas and churches attacked in Lebanon. From Christian Today, with thanks to Twostellas:
Lebanon has apologised to Denmark for the burning of its embassy at the weekend during protests against a cartoon of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, in which Christian areas and churches were also attacked. Sunday’s riots in Beirut and similar outbreaks and attacks on Danish and Norwegian missions in Damascus have been among the worst in the worldwide Muslim protest against cartoons published in a Denmark newspaper, and was also reprinted in some other European newspapers.The Lebanese government released a statement after a late-night emergency meeting saying, “The cabinet denounces the riots and the targeting of the Danish Embassy which harms the image of a civilised Lebanon. (We) present our apology to the state of Denmark.”
In addition, Lebanese Christians have expressed outrage over riots by Muslim protestors in the Christian Ashrafiyeh district, where a church, as well as cars and shops were destroyed.
Apologies completely accepted...now PLEASE bring out those angelic Lebanese Protest Babes!
Finally some sense from Lebanon.
Since President Emile Lahoud is pro-Syrian, does he support this as well, given that Syrians and Palestinians are the ones who have been doing this?
Theoretical Sarcastic Moral-Equivalency Statement of the Week:
"Hey, wait, Christians aren't supposed to do anything or say anything. They have to take Islamic violence laying down and not say a word or defend themselves."
Righhht.
When you fight a bully the first punch you throw is aimed sqaurely at his nose. Once you connect the rest is a cake walk.
Christians in lebanon have never for one moment forgotten how much it cost to have a secular society. As such we fight when the time requires and very often give the bully a bloody nose. Mulsims find strength in numbers, it is the mob mentality, and is prevalent among muslims.
The rioters thought that by comming through the Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood in large numbers on the way to the protest they were safe and proving a point to the christians. When they had finished their little tantrum and were comming back through the neighbourhood they started to get rowdy and few monkeys made the mistake of damaging a church.
According to my sources all hell broke loose when that happened because the christians had expected as much and apart from numerous fist fights, at one point there were heavily armed gangs of christians on the roads politely asking the peaceful muslims to take the long way around, even if it meant a 2 mile walk.
The actions of these young men may not end so peacefully in the future but at least it got the desired result this time around. Most of the muslim factions in lebanon immediatley condemned the actions of the rioters or distanced themselves from it all together. Why because they remember what happened the last time they tried to screw with us -> 15 years of civil war. It just so happens this time they know if it happens again the PLO would be the first to be liquidated (every last one of them) and since Syria, Iran, Lybia and Saudi Arabia won't be able to bring in any "army" to restore peace (aka support the muslims and take over the country) it will be "mano a mano"...if they want a fight they will get it.
Long live Lebanon!!!
Shunkleash(PBUH)
Last night, while in the grocery store, I quickly read an account of the Lebanese riots. There were references to the "history of sectarian violence" "a fragile peace" and "young Christian Lebanese men with sticks and baseball bats roaming their neighborhoods." In other words, the slant was a background of Christian violence that would probably erupt again at any moment. Even with Muslims being the story, the article had to paint them with the long brush of victimhood. No suprise. The Christian Lebanese have a long history of NOT being dhimmis. Their fellow believers to the south, the Christians now living under Hamas, should take some quick lessons from the Lebanese. Actually, they should have taken these lessons long ago.
Yes, Shunklease...Long live Lebanon!!
Alone among all the places where violence against Danish missions has taken place, Lebanon has apologized. The distinguishing feature of Lebanon is that it contains a large and powerful Christian presence, and that if Lebanon, forced to describe itself, under Saudi (and American) pressure, as an "Arab nation," is not entirely so. The Maronites are not Arabs, even if they use the Arabic language. And not every other Christian falls for the "if you speak Arabic you must be an Arab" line that has been a staple of Arab imperialism for a long time.
The problem that lead to the current situation in Lebanon was that the Lebanese Christians failed to achieve unity. Supporters of Gemayel, Chamoun, Aoun, the SLA, etc., often were too busy arguing with each other, while the Syrians and muslims took over the country.
It was a Christian President who invited the Syrians in to counteract the Islamists and then realized they'd invited in the wolf to defend the hen-house.
Beyond politics, the Lebanese Christians would get bogged down in bizarre squabbles over who was a real Lebanese, pitting Maronites, Melkites, and Orthodox agaiinst each other. This is a sin that must never be repeated.
That's why Im happy to hear of any case of Christian resistance. Long Live Lebanon indeed, and Long Live Lebanese Christian unity!
There is an excellent photo essay "Muslims pogrom European embassies protesting Muhammad cartoons" at the Newteam section of Pravda.ru showing the attacks on the embassies. You can see it here:
http://www1.newsteam.ru/reports/index.html?1,323,17
As far as I understand, an attack on the country's embassy is an attack on the country itself. The land surrounding the embassy is EU, not that of the country where it is located. Thus, a number of Muslim countries have attacked the EU by attacking and burning their agencies. Will EU retaliate? Of course not.
When US unjustifiably bombed Belgrad and a bomb knocked out some windows in a Chinese embassy, China was talking about an attack and US appologized and said it was a mere accident.
Why isn't anybody talking about this?