The Danish envoy to Syria and his staff have temporarily left the
country as Damascus cannot guarantee their safety, Denmark's foreign
ministry says.
Syria was condemned for failing to stop the Danish embassy attack
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The embassy will close and its consular interests will
be handled by the German embassy in Damascus and its own office in
Amman, it said in a statement.
Relations between Denmark and Syria have been strained since the Danish embassy was stormed last weekend.
Crowds protested at Danish cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad.
The Danish diplomats "have provisionally left Syria
because Syrian authorities reduced their protection to an unacceptably
low level", the foreign ministry statement said.
Last Saturday, hundreds of protesters in Damascus hurled
stones at the Danish embassy before scaling it, amid chants of "God is
great". They then moved on to attack the Norwegian embassy.
Copenhagen urged its nationals to leave Syria at once
and, along with Oslo, condemned Syria for failing to stop the attacks
on the embassies.
The US also criticised Syria, saying it was "inexcusable" for such damage to be inflicted on diplomatic missions.
Editor given leave
A day after the attacks, Syria's foreign ministry issued
a statement expressing "its regret over the acts of violence which
accompanied the protests."
Damascus has not commented on the departure of Danish diplomats.
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CARTOON ROW
30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons
20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM
10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons
26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador
30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology
31 Jan: Danish paper apologises
1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons
4 Feb: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus
5 Feb: Protesters set alight Danish embassy in Beirut
6-7 Feb: At least eight killed in Afghanistan as security forces try to suppress violent protests
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Meanwhile, the Danish editor who commissioned the cartoons that were published last year has been sent on leave.
Flemming Rose, culture editor of the Jyllands-Posten
newspaper, got the order after saying he might print Iranian cartoons
of the Holocaust.
The Danish cartoons, seen by many Muslims as insulting to their faith, have sparked worldwide protests.
Earlier this week, an Iranian newspaper said it was holding a contest inviting cartoonists to depict the Holocaust.
Hamshahri said it wanted to test the boundaries of free
speech, echoing the reasons Jyllands-Posten and other European papers
have given for publishing the caricatures.
The Jyllands-Posten newspaper, which has expressed
regret for offending Muslims over the cartoons, said it would "in no
circumstances" publish Iranian Holocaust pictures describing it as a
"tasteless media stunt".
Mr Rose later apologised for his comments, saying he was "100% with the newspaper's line" on the issue.
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