Tehran – Hundreds of angry protesters hurled stones and firebombs at the Danish Embassy in the Iranian capital Monday to protest publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
Police used tear gas and surrounded the walled villa to hold back the crowd.
It was the second attack on a Western mission in Tehran on Monday. Earlier in the day, 200 student demonstrators threw stones at the Austrian Embassy, breaking windows and starting small fires.
The mission was targeted because Austria holds the presidency of the European Union.
Thousands more people joined violent demonstrations across the world to protest publication of the caricatures of Muhammad, and the Bush administration appealed to Saudi Arabia to use its influence among Arabs to help ease tensions in the Middle East and Europe.
Afghan troops shot and killed four protesters, some as they tried to storm a U.S. military base outside Bagram – the first time a protest over the issue has targeted the United States. A teenage boy was killed when protesters stampeded in Somalia.
The EU issued stern reminders to 18 Arab and other Muslim countries that they are under treaty obligations to protect foreign embassies.
Lebanon apologized to Denmark – where the cartoons were first published – a day after protesters set fire to a building housing the Danish mission in Beirut. The attack “harmed Lebanon’s reputation and its civilized image,” Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said.
There has been a wave of protests across the Islamic world over caricatures first published in September by a Danish paper. They have since been reprinted by other media, mostly in Europe.
The drawings – including one depicting the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb – have touched a raw nerve in part because Islamic law forbids any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.
The worst of the violence in Afghanistan was outside Bagram, the main U.S. base, with Afghan police firing on 2,000 protesters as they tried to break into the heavily guarded facility.
Two demonstrators were killed and 13 people, including eight police, were wounded. No U.S. troops were involved, the military said.
Afghan police also fired on protesters in the central city of Mihtarlam after a man in the crowd shot at them and others threw stones and knives, Interior Ministry spokesman Dad Mohammed Rasa said. Two protesters were killed and three people were wounded, including two police.
