Friday, February 10, 2006
Syrian protesters encouraged by Islamic study centres via SMS
Syrian protesters encouraged by Islamic study centres via SMS
Syrian protesters who burned and looted the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus were encouraged to organise by the Syrian authorities, and received text messages from Islamic study centres urging them to gather, according to participants in the riot, reports The New Zealand Herald.
"The sheikhs told us to send five text messages to every true Muslim we knew urging them to participate," said a student from the Abu Nour Islamic Institute in Damascus.
"The authorities gave a green light for us to organise the gathering in public and to participate in it."
The publication of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad was the spark that lit the fuse to a tinderbox in the Middle East. But the fury displayed by crowds in Syria, and Lebanon may also have been exploited by some Muslim countries to settle scores with the West. "
Related articles:
-- Danes apologise for cartoons as embassies burn
-- False SMS leads to burning of embassies in Damascus
