COPENHAGEN, February 13, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The vandalizing of a Muslim graveyard outside the provincial town of Esbjerg on Sunday, February 12, in what appears to be a backlash against Muslim protests over cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), drew a rare immediate rebuke from the Danish government.

"I strongly condemn this disgraceful act and I deeply regret the desecration of Muslim graves," Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement.

The deputy police chief of Esbjerg told Danish radio that the attackers had torn down 25 Muslim gravestones before taking to their heels.

He said the damage was limited to the Muslim section of the vast graveyard, while Christian tombs were left intact.

"I have made it clear that the Danish government condemns any expression and any action, which offends people’s religious feelings," Rasmussen said.

He vowed to track down the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

"Malicious damage to places of worship and remembrance is a criminal act, and the Danish authorities will be taking all necessary steps towards finding and bringing the perpetrators to justice."

This is the first time that the prime minister condemns attacks on minority graves, which has become a phenomenon in Denmark over the past few years, says IslamOnline.net's correspondent.

"This act reflects the grudges and hatred harbored by some people towards Muslims," said Akkari.

Ahmad Akkari, the spokesman for the European Committee for Honoring the Prophet, said the tomb desecration is not unprecedented in Denmark.

"This act reflects the grudges and hatred harbored by some people towards Muslims as they had the gall to vandalize tombs," he told IOL.

He called on Danish authorities to protect minority graveyards and bring the vandals to justice.

According to IOL's correspondent, up to 179 Muslim, Jewish and other minority tombs have been vandalized in recent years.

Muslims do not have yet a graveyard of their own in Denmark. Their dead are buried in a demarcated area in public graveyards.

An exclusive Muslim graveyard, however, is under construction and is expected to be inaugurated by year's end.

Sunday's attack is seen linked to global anti-Denmark demonstrations triggered by twelve cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad, which were first published by Denmark's best-selling Jyllands Posten in September and then reprinted by several European dailies.

The drawings included portrayals of the Prophet wearing a time-bomb shaped turban and showed him as a knife-wielding nomad flanked by shrouded women.

Muslims protesting 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, organizations and leaders were united in condemning the violent attacks against the embassies.

Teaching Aid

Mollerup argued the cartoons would be displayed in the context of a study of the whole affair.

The cartoon crisis seems to be slipping out of control, as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice put it on Sunday, with a Danish education publisher saying the 12 offensive drawings will be used as a teaching aid in schools.

"What is happening at the moment has so great a significance that you cannot brush them under the carpet," Peter Mollerup, head of the academic section of the Danish publisher Gyldendal, told the daily Politiken, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"It is essential that future generations know about these drawings," he said.

Mollerup said it was not Gyldendal's intention to provoke Muslims and the cartoons would be displayed in the context of a painstaking study of the whole affair.

Sofie Lene Back of the Royal Library told Politiken that the caricatures were essential for history and "it would be bad historical practice to censure them".

Ervin Nielse, head of the Mediemuseum (media museum) in Odense in the center of the country said he "did not rule out" one day displaying "these drawings that sparked it all off."

Rice expressed concern Sunday that Muslim outrage over the cartoons could "spin out of control."

"Certainly, if governments do not act responsibly, we could face a sense of outrage that spins out of control, and particularly if people continue to incite it, it could spin out of control."