Shame. Shame. Shame.

What happened in Damascus today is just shameful. I had expected the protest to be peaceful and civilized. Mobs ran into the streets, shouted and attacked embassies, without realizing the severity of the damage they inflicted to "their" cause and to Islam's image. Mobs controlled the protests today, and people who were there to peacefully protest were shocked and had to hide in their homes. I felt a bitter disappointment. Having expressed my opinion about the cartoon controversy, I must stress again that I am against any form of violence or vandalism. I think we owe the Danes and the Norwegians an apology. The people who disgraced us today do not represent Syria.

More pictures from today's protests

Comments

[Shadi]

How could an irrelevant attack on diplomats and embassys support the Muslim cause??? Instead of civilised demonstration, the whole thing turned into a mess. Instead of people stressing that insulting relegious feelings is unacceptable, we came to give our enemies a perfect excuse to call us BARBARIC and UNCIVILISED. At the end, we allowed rogue elements to take over and turn it to a unorganised expression of hatred towards the west. It is the last image we need to give about ourselves in these turbulent times. I am ashamed to see these photos posted on the net for every one to see how civilised are the Syrians!!!

[Yazan]

I ca not say more ayman. Shocked, ashamed, and furious!

[A]

"I think we owe the Danes and the Norwegians an apology". Well, what about the swedes and the people from chile? They have nothing to do with this controversy and they also got their embassies burnt down. You're right. This will only make the thing worse.

[Chet]

I know how a few can harm the whole. I want you to know that today after I heard about it I was talking to a friend of mine and my cousin. Like me they want you to know that you are not the blame for what a few hotheads did. Our prayers and hearts are with you. It is not happening fast enough for me but I am beginning to see people in my country getting tired of what the media says and them taking the truth out of what really happens. God Bless You All.

[maria]

Hey Ayman,
I agree with you that we should be ashamed of our selves.In fact, We owe our religion an apology before owing the Danish and the other European people the same apology. We had failed to represent our Islam correctly. Here I want to blame “our” government as well. What happened today demonstrated how people are thirsty to express their anger, beliefs and feelings because they never had the chance to do so. Now I can conclude that we want the democracy that America is talking about!!!!

[Gottfried Stutz]

Ayman,

Don't be ashamed. You didn't do this yourself. Those who ransacked and burnt the embassies are criminals in my opinion. Funny how they can show muscle in such cases, but very few are in sight when it comes to defending political prisoners who are their fellow citizens. I have the impression that the police tried to do its best, but again the security apparatus seems paralised when facing the mob, but powerful when it comes to arresting a peaceful person calling for a bigger role for the civil society. May be that is precisely the reason why such a protest turns to a violent one? May be some of those demonstrators are like a pressure cooker about to explode?

Al-Jazeera says that the Syrian government apologised to Norway. Well, it should to the other countries whose embassies were damaged, and frankly it should launch an investigation and offer to finance the rebuilding of the embassies. A lot of damage was done today, and the Syrian government needs to repair it.

[norman]

It is unfortionate what happend to day is Syria but why to we blame the victum it the Danmark and norway who started the attack and if they were to appoligies and and establish a law to protect religous figures like the ones they have to prevent antisemetism then i can see that they are trying to prevent insult against the prophet ,what happened in the EU is declration of war against Islam,now are the muslems going to take it as usual or not that is the question.

[Omar]

I think that we have reached the point of no return my friend... I don't know of what I am more ashamed now: the disgusting scenes on TV of those mindless mobs, the cheap employment of religion to serve the hidden political agendas and intentions, the way the syrian crowds act agains their better judgement (if they still use logic anymore)..

today was -officially- the worst day in the Syrian history.. and the most shameful one... and what's even more embaressing is the scilence of the government officials who didn't waste a chance before to give statements on TV, regardless if it is usefule or (as usual) not at all

[DigitalOasis74]

Thanks to these fake muslims, the world sees Arabs and Islam as a definite enemy. Who can blame them? A grave disservice has been committed against Muhammad and Islam today by some Syrians. Today, I wish I was never born into this nation.

[The Syrian Brit]

I despair…

What the hell is wrong with our People??...

What on Earth do they think they achieve when they burn flags and torch embassies??... What do they think this uncontrollable demonstration of venom and hatred says about Islam and Muslims?..

I tell you what they have achieved.. they have confirmed, in a most convincing fashion, to the whole world that WE ARE the terrorists.. that WE ARE the blood-thirsty thugs.. that WE ARE everything our enemies describe us as.. and worse..

How can any of us now say ‘Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance’??..

It might be said that these hideous acts were carried out by ‘agents provocateurs’, It might be said that those who did it are regime puppets.. it might even be said that they are foreign agents with a different agenda.. Nevertheless, these acts were carried out in the name of Islam, under the guise of defending it.. What a sickening farce.. I say to all those bastards who attacked the Embassies and burnt flags and vandalised properties.. ‘Not in my name.. Never..’

I have never in my life felt ashamed to be Syrian.. I do now… yesterday was a dark day in Syria’s modern history..

I just despair…

[Amr]

I don't blame the mobs, because in every place on earth when there is a demonstration some ignorants or extremists try to make it violent.
I blame the police for not protecting the embassys as they should.

[Craig Hinchcliffe]

When I heard about the cartoon I was taken back. I am not a Muslim and only have a superficial knowledge of Islam. Still, respect must be given to all religions. I would venture to say that any can be twisted to include violence in its name (lest we forget the Crusades or even the Troubles on Northern Ireland). Perhaps a reading of Jonathan Swift's GULLIVER'S Travels might highlight the absurd.

My point is that I was struck first at the disrespect the editors showed. Then dismayed byt he violent reaction of Muslims. Finally I was disgusted by my own prejudicial thoughts.

Violence is not a Muslim trait. It is a human trait. The degree is probably a result of the percentage of fringe/extremeists in a crowd.

After all, people go crazy evena t sports events...how many riots in America when a city's team wins a championship?

[Don Cox]

Does anyone know who exactly were the mob in Beirut? Hizbollah members, perhaps? There is always a rent-a-crowd available when it is needed.

[Don Cox]

"a law to protect religous figures like the ones they have to prevent antisemitism"

These are not equivalent. The laws against anti-Semitism are there to protect human lives. That is quite different from laws to prevent to criticism or mockery of ideas, religious or otherwise.

It is perfectly OK to say that Judaism is an absurd religion, that God does not exist, Moses is a fictitious character, or whatever. It is perfectly OK to make rude cartoons about this or any other religion.

It is not OK to threaten people with physical violence or murder.

Telling somebody "You are a fool to believe all that rubbish" is OK. Telling someone "I will kill you if you do not convert to my religion" is not.

[Chet]

Amr I agree with you. Yes we have our share of crazys in America too. Violence is definetly not a Muslim trait. It knows no boundries. I can't help think of the race riots and more recently the burning of churches. No one is to blame for what happened to the Embassies but the radicals. When all is said and done I hope that we can come together as one and then we might be able to make an impact on the world in a positive way. I am not an educated man so I hope you all understand what I am trying to say.

[The Dmachine]

The muslim world has done enough to attack what is right and what is good. Countless terrorist attacks have still left Arabic embassies safe in our countries. The muslims have the nerve to cry and become violent over a few cartoons. I agree the cartoons were poor taste, but suck it up, suicide bombing is allso poor taste.
I have no sympathy for Muslims.
NONE.
I do support the war in Iraq, I would allso support a war with Iran and Syria.

I am Canadian by the way.

[annie]

I fault the government for not having protected these embassies. They let it happen.
OTH I understand the rage and the despair.

[Hassan]

How can YOU give the Danes and the Norwegians an apology, when it was not YOU who is guilty of setting the embassies a blaze, but the mob of the street goated on by their leaders, and the police who was not able/willing to stop the madness.

In the same way with what right can we demand an apology from the Danish, Norwegian, German, French, and all the other countries who have posted these insulting cartoons? It is not the people of these countries who are responsible, nor the elected governments of these countries. It is privately owened newspapers which according to the european laws cannot be censored.

So should we insist on the european governments to censor the newspapers, to put people in prison who break such a censorship? I think not! If we muslims with roots in the arab world, has not learned that allowing governments and the secret police to edit the contents of newspapers is a sure road to desolation and doom, then what has we learned?

And this boycot of danish products, what will come out of this? Nothing but us having to eat butter of lower quality and drink milk that is less rich! And what about the danes and norwegians, should they now boycot our countries because of the crimes committed toward there embassies by our people? Where will this madness end? No where unless we follow the example of the holy profet Muhammed, peace be upon his name, and undertake the most heroic act of forgivness!

[Rob]

What has happened is truly sad and unfortunate. I do think that freedom and liberty and free speech are key to peace. Western societies have had centuries to come to terms with working within free societies. The means to coping in a free society is developing a thick skin. Unfortunately, the middle east has not had that luxury of experience thanks to oppresive governments and religious fanaticism. It is clear that many do not understand the implications of a free and independant press as this is a concept they themselves are not familiar with. With freedom of speech comes the possibility of being offended or being offensive. The cartoons, while in bad taste, were a nonviolent expression of frustration about terrorism in the middle east. Islam is by far not uniquely the only nor the first religion to be caricatured or defamed by political or artistic commentary. The difference is that in western societies this does not result in death and destruction. Offense taken and given, to be sure, but not violence. The problem is that free societies cannot survive and thrive in environments where even the smallest perceived slight results in a violent backlash. In western culure we have an expression "to agree to disagree". This means that I may not agree with your point of view, but we can still work togeter (at least not kill each other). Only when people can agree to disagree are free societies possible. I think the middle east is coming to realize this, unfortunatley there are still a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch.

[Anne]

The only way we will ever achieve understanding between cultures is through an open exchange of ideas by "ordinary citizens." I am writing today because of this belief. I am an American citizen, and I believe (according to democratic values) that Muslims who were offended by the cartoons have every right to demonstrate and protest--this is how people learn about each other--but I don't feel they have any right to behave violently toward others. However, as some others on this site have mentioned, violence is a human trait and not a trait of any one particular culture, nationality, or religion. Here in the U.S. we have our own sordid history of violent riots. Let's remember that we are all humans together in the world, and that base of humanity is much stronger than race, religion, ethnicity, or political belief. Every one of us has experienced love, anger, pain, pride, longing, shame, hunger, and all other human experiences. We all work each day to earn money to feed ourselves and our families; we all want to find someone to love and to love us; we all will face death one day.

Let's all keep talking together--it's the only way anything is ever going to change.

[American]

I am encouraged by most of the statements here. It is great to see that there are INDEED normal people and citizens around the world. This is stuff you don't see or read about on mainstream media and the cable networks. All as we see here in America, of the middle eastern countries and of the Muslims is violence. I love hearing of the rare stories of good news and positive things. I guess good news doesn't sell.

Anyway, I would rather come to sites like this and get different perspectives of people like you. Keep up the good work.

[Ole]

Your apology is long time accepted :)

I believe both the Norwegian christian fundamentalists and the muslim ones need some new propaganda ministers, because this cartoon stuff does not put any of them in a good light.

To learn why a Norwegian fundamentalistic christian magazine with 50 readers had to publish the cartoons check out:

http://kingkills.blogspot.com/2006/02/allah-akhbar.html

who are you to apologise on behalf of syria and syrians? The people in the picture dont support your view...hence you cant represent them..dont make collective statements. You speak for yourself, and only yourself