OSLO (Reuters) - Norway will complain to the United Nations about Syria's failure to protect its embassy in Damascus from being torched by demonstrators angry over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said.
"We condemn what happened in Damascus strongly, it's totally unacceptable and we are going to raise the question with the United Nations because this is a violation of international law," Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview.
"We hold the Syrian government responsible for the safety of Norwegian diplomatic personnel and we are going to ask for compensation for damage from Syria," Stoltenberg said.
Thousands of demonstrators ransacked and set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus on Saturday, protesting the publication in those countries of cartoons depicting the Prophet.
The embassies were empty at the time and nobody was injured but both Norway and Denmark accuse Syria of not providing the extra security they had asked for as tensions flared over the images throughout the Muslim world.
An Oslo-based Christian newspaper was one of the first publications outside Denmark to reprint cartoons of the Prophet. Many Norwegian newspapers have now published the cartoons.
Islam forbids any depiction of the Prophet.
Norway has already closed its office in the West Bank after death threats and has advised its citizens to leave Palestine and Syria but currently has no plans to close other embassies in the Middle East.
Stoltenberg said Syria had expressed regret but not apologised for the burning of the embassy.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Although the cartoons have been published by newspapers around the world Denmark and Norway have borne the brunt of Muslim anger and in Beirut protestors burnt the Danish embassy on Sunday. Norway does not have an embassy in Beirut.
Iraq's Transport Ministry said it had frozen contracts with Norwegian and Danish companies and Iran has said it will consider doing the same.
"We are in favour of dialogue and respect for different religions and we regret that Muslims gave been insulted by caricatures of Mohammad," said Stoltenberg, head of a left-of-centre coalition that won a parliamentary election in September.
"But in Norway we have freedom of expression and it's not possible for the government to dictate to newspapers what they print."
Moderate Muslims in Norway have also condemned the attacks and Stoltenberg said images of the Norwegian flag being burnt and the embassy in flames were also an insult to them.
"I know there are lot of Muslims in Norway who also condemn it. Norwegian Muslims are also Norwegians and it is their flag and their embassy, and it is their flag and their embassy being burnt."
Norway has a population of around 4.6 million, including about 160,000 Muslims mainly living in the capital Oslo.
An anti-immigration party came second in September's election with nearly a quarter of the vote.
