From: <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/wikileaksdokumenter/article3959710.ece">Aftenposten</a><br>
Date:  5. 2. 2006. ANTI-EUROPEAN RIOTS HIT 
DAMASCUS, AS FOUR EMBASSIES ARE STORMED

<pre>
Classified By: Charge dAffaires Stephen A. Seche, per 1.4 b,d. 

1. (C)
Summary: Mobs 
angered about cartoon depictions of the prophet Mohammed published in 
Europe ransacked and set on fire the Norwegian Embassy and the building 
housing the Danish, Chilean, and Swedish Embassies in Damascus in the 
late afternoon of February 4, destroying the first and heavily damaging 
the other three diplomatic missions. A few hundred Syrian riot police 
guarded the American Embassy against crowds of several hundred 
demonstrators, with no injuries or damage to property. Denmark has 
recalled its Ambassador and, along with Norway, is urging its citizens 
to leave Syria immediately. Despite any miscalculation, loss of control,
or embarrassment it may have suffered, the regime seems to have 
benefited from the rioting with enhanced legitimacy in several ways. End
Summary. 

2. (C)
Damascus February 5 awoke to the ugly aftermath
of some of the worst rioting the city has witnessed in recent memory. 
The previous afternoon angry crowds stormed the building housing the 
Danish Embassy, as well as the Swedish and Chilean missions, ransacking 
all three and setting the building on fire. All three Embassies suffered
extensive damage, with the first-floor Chilean Embassy suffering the 
worst. The Chilean DCM reported that the Embassy was completely 
destroyed by fire and vandalism. The streets outside were strewn with 
the embassys official papers. Rioters were kept out of parts of the 
Danish and Swedish Embassies (except the waiting rooms)
by security doors and reinforced glass. 

3. (C)
The mob then marched to the 
Norwegian Embassy, in the Mezzeh suburbs, and, after clashing with 
Syrian security forces hurriedly posted to defend the Embassy, tore down
the security barriers and trashed the entire building. Rioters then set
the building ablaze, gutting it entirely. Rioters at both sites raised 
the green religious flag favored by Hamas supporters. 

4. (C)

FRENCH EMBASSY SPARED: Rioters also tried to storm the French Embassy 
but hastily summoned riot police and other security forces used tear 
gas, water cannons, and truncheons to beat back the mob, which dispersed
after two hours of volatile demonstrations. MFA Chief of Protocol told 
the Charge February 5 that SARG security forces had nearly lost control 
of the situation at the French Embassy as they had elsewhere. According 
to First Secretary Benedicte de Montlaur, the Embassy suffered no 
damage. De Montlaur attributed the lack of damage at the Embassy to the 
fact that the Ambassador lives on the Embassy compound, allowing the 
French to call for additional SARG protection more quickly than 
diplomats at the other three missions, which were closed for the weekend
and empty. No looting or vandalism was reported anywhere except at the 
sites of the four diplomatic missions. 

5. (C)
THE AMERICAN 
EMBASSY: A few hundred Syrian riot police guarded the American Embassy 
against crowds of several hundred demonstrators. Although a few scuffles
were reported, there were no serious attempts to penetrate the police 
line. No injuries or damage to property was reported. (See septel for 
RSO report of February 5 EAC.)


6. (C)
DANISH EMBASSY REACTION: 
The Danish government has decided to recall its Ambassador to protest 
the SARG failure to protect its mission has decided to withdraw all 
non-essential personnel at the Embassy, including family members, 
according to a Danish diplomat. It is also encouraging all Danish 
citizens to leave Syria immediately and is helping to organize the 
evacuation via air transport later today. 

7. (C)
THE NORWEGIANS:
The Norwegian Embassys Admin Officer Marie-Louise Hansen reported on 
February 5 that the Embassy is also arranging to evacuate Norwegian 
citizens in Syria on flights out of Damascus International Airport. 
Hansen said that no decision has been made yet about whether the 
Embassys diplomatic personnel would also leave. The Norwegian Ambassador
was in Jerusalem when the rioting occurred. It is not known yet whether
he will be recalled. 

8. (C)
THE SWEDES AND CHLEANS: The Swedish
Embassy is not ordering any drawdown in personnel and had made no 
decision as of mid-morning about whether it would recommend non-official
Swedes to leave the country, reported Swedish diplomat Eva Nillson. The
Chilean DCM told Polchief that he had not yet received instructions 
from his government but that he expected it to come back with 
instructions to lodge a protest and demand extensive compensation. With 
only two diplomats resident in Damascus, he did not expect to see a 
recall or other personnel measure, especially since the Chileans were 
not specifically targeted but just happened to be the most accessible 
mission in the building with the Danes. 

9. (U)
THE SARG 
REACTION: The Minister of the Awqaaf and the Grand Mufti both issued 
statements condemning the riots and insisting that Islam encouraged 
dialogue as a way to deal with controversies between cultures over 
religious issues. The official Syrian press reported the incidents on 
the front pages of several Arabic-language newspapers and in the 
English-language Syria Times, emphasizing popular anger at the purported
insults to Islam and the fact that the burning of the embassies 
occurred despite the extensive efforts of the SARG security forces. Only
the Syria Times printed a photo actually showing the rioting in front 
of an embassy. 

10. (C)
When asked by the Charge to explain how 
the SARG had failed so miserably to protect diplomatic facilities, MFA 
Chief of Protocol Amir Smadi responded repeatedly that at least the SARG
had protected the U.S. Embassy. He also tried to discount the damage 
suffered at the Danish and Swedish Embassies, but had nothing to say 
about the destruction the Chilean Embassy suffered. He noted that FM 
Sharaa had spoken with the Norwegian FM about the attack on the Embassy 
and had explained that the SARG had not expected demonstrations on the 
day they occurred. Smadi said the USG statement on the caricature of 
Mohammed issued several days before the rioting had been "very good, 
very balanced." 

11. (C)
SYRIAN CONTACTS REACT: Several of our 
contacts expressed shock and dismay at the violence. Typical of them, AP
bureau chief Albert Aji told Polchief "I cant believe that Syrians did 
this." Many contacts insisted that the SARG had to have been involved in
facilitating the initial stages of the demonstrations, noting that 
Syria is a police state where there is no right of assembly without 
government sanction. Many of the banners put up the day before the 
rioting, for example in Rawda Square, adjacent to the Embassy, had the 
look of official productions. Nearly all the banners had religious 
slogans, such as "Allah suffices you, he is all-hearing and 
all-knowing." A thirty-foot banner draped over the front of the biggest 
building near the Embassy carried a slogan, "I have not been sent to 
give curses. I have been sent as a mercy." 

12. (C)
SUSPICIONS OF
SARG INVOLVEMENT: Civil society contacts noted that SMS text messages 
were sent to cellphones two days before, announcing a demonstration on 
February 4, in front of the Danish Embassy. These contacts also 
insisted, and an imam confirmed to Poloff, that the SARG (probably 
through its security services)
had issued a "suggested" sermon for all 
imams to use in the mosques for the Friday prayers that preceded the 
Saturday rioting. Some contacts reported buses being sighted bringing in
demonstrators from some of the rougher areas of Damascus, including the
Palestinian camps at Yarmouk, although this could not be confirmed. One
opposition contact said it was ludicrous to think that the SARG could 
not have prevented this rioting -- at least earlier on -- if it chose 
to, noting that when Riyad Seif and several other recently released 
Damascus Spring detainees attempted late last week to hold a press 
conference, the government deployed "three hundred security officers" to
prevent it. Islamist-oriented human rights activist Haithem Maleh 
insisted that it was SARG provocateurs affiliated with the security 
services, rather than Islamists, who had stormed the embassies and egged
on the crowds. 

13. (C)
COMMENT: We concur with contacts that 
the SARG allowed these demonstrations to occur and almost certainly 
helped to facilitate them at the beginning. Somewhere along the way, the
SARG, true to form, seems to have miscalculated and lost control. The 
end result left a deeply embarassed SARG to pick up the pieces and 
trying to explain its incredible security lapses to the disbelieving 
Europeans and Chileans. Despite any miscalculation, loss of control, or 
embarrassment, the minority Alawite regime seems to have benefited from 
the rioting, enhancing its legitimacy in several ways. It offered its 
religious Sunni population an opportunity to vent on an issue of 
visceral populist concern and it put itself in the vanguard regionally, 
demonstrating to the Arab street that Syria can be counted on to defend 
Islamic dignity. The rioting also helped the SARG in its recurring 
attempts to convey to the international community that "we are 
the only thing standing between you and the Islamist hordes." Some argue
that the riots also serve as useful distraction from recent price hikes
and general hard times. 
</pre>