10 Killed in Libya Protest, Italian Minister Unrepentant

ROME/TRIPOLI, February 18, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Italian Institutional Reform Minister Roberto Calderoli was unrepentant on Saturday, February 18, as Libya blamed him for sparking deadly protests that claimed the lives of ten people by wearing a T-shirt of the Danish cartoons satirizing Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

"I can be sorry for the victims, but what happened in Libya has nothing to do with my T-shirt. The question is different. What's at stake is Western civilization," the daily La Repubblica quoted him as saying.

Calderoli, a leading member of the Northern League party which will contest a forthcoming general election on an anti-immigration ticket, said his gesture was part of a "battle for freedom and democracy."

"For years now we have been subjected to threats, we've been subjected to terrorism and nobody is calling for reciprocal respect," he argued.

Calderoli aroused uproar by vowing to sport T-shirts displaying the cartoons, first published in September by Denmark's mass circulation daily Jyllands-Posten and then reprinted elsewhere in Europe.

This came as Europe raced to defuse anger in the Islamic world over the drawings which included portrayals of the Prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban and another showing him as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.

Adamant

As news unfolded of a mounting death toll in protests outside Italy's consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said late Friday, February 17, Calderoli "must resign."

"I have spoken to Umberto Bossi and he has also condemned him," he added, referring to the leader of Calderoli's Northern League party.

By early Saturday, there was no sign of an immediate resignation from the minister, despite a chorus of disapproval for his anti-Islamic stance from government colleagues.

"He already asked me last week, and I haven't resigned. And for sure, I haven't changed my mind," said an adamant Calderoli.

He added that he would step down only if asked to by Bossi, adding that he did not feel "responsible" for the rioting.

"If it is necessary that I resign, that I apologize and even that I humiliate myself to achieve a dialogue between the western world and the Islamic world and to put aside arms, bombs and terrorism, then I will resign," Calderoni told the Italian news agency Ansa.

He added, however: "I will do it one second after having received an indication from the Muslim world that this gesture of mine can be useful."

Berlusconi had asked the controversial minister to step down when he first announced his T-shirt campaign.

Italian cabinet ministers last week distanced themselves from previous remarks by Calderoli, in which he scornfully referred to Muslim immigrants to Italy as "Ali Babas" who snapped up jobs and cheap housing from Italians.

Italy Blamed

Libya on Saturday blamed Italy for the deadly protest that left 10 people dead and Rome's consulate in the northern city of Benghazi ablaze, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The Qaddafi foundation, headed by the reform-minded son of Libyan leader Seif el-Islam, issued a statement blaming the riot on the "provocative and outrageous" actions of Calderoli.

It called on Rome to "take urgent measures against this hateful and racist minister", otherwise it would see "its interests and relations with Libya pass into a delicate and decisive reevaluation."

The foundation also urged the opening of a judicial enquiry to uncover who was responsible for opening fire on the demonstrators, saying those responsible should be brought to justice.

"At least 10 demonstrators have been killed according to the police who sent me that toll," the first secretary of the Italian embassy in Tripoli, Dominico Bellatoni told AFP.

"No Italian was hurt when a thousand demonstrators attacked the consular building after Friday prayers and set the first floor on fire."

Private sources contacted from Tripoli said the toll was "between 15 and 25," while "very many injured" had been taken to the Al-Jala hospital in Libya's second city and economic powerhouse.

Police threw teargas grenades and opened fire with live ammunition in the eastern coastal city on the 1,000 demonstrators, some of whom who had overwhelmed security forces to storm the consulate building and set it ablaze.

Libyan television said that 11 people had been "hit, some of them killed" and added that the Benghazi authorities had asked the public prosecutor to open a probe into the police handling of the demonstrators.

Television pictures showed angry demonstrators setting fire to the Italian flag and thick clouds of black smoke billowing into sky from the consulate building.

It was the first action against Italian interests in a Muslim country since protests began against the caricatures throughout the Muslim world.

Muslims protesting against the cartoons set fire to the Danish consulate in Beirut on Sunday and Syrian protesters did the same with the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus a day earlier.

Muslim scholars, including prominent Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, organizations and leaders have been united in condemning the violent attacks against the embassies.