Anti-christian riot in Lebanon

A bit more from the Bangkok Post:

Angry protestors started throwing stones at a nearby Christian Maronite church, breaking its windows and prompting the priest at the church to protest.

Lebanese Justice Minister Charles Rizk condemned the attack on the church, saying " this is an unacceptable act by the demonstrators. Christian churches have nothing to do with the issue of the cartoons."

The protestors also set ablaze two cars belonging to the police and civil defence. Police continued battling to disperse the angry demonstrators who were chanting "God is great, our prophet is great."

Demonstrators also broke the windows of cars and shops in the Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh. About twenty cars of residents of the area were damaged.

The clashes have caused panic in the streets of Christian areas and residents of the Ashrafiyeh area were angry at being targeted by the Muslim demonstrators.

"They broke my car for no reason ... we are against the cartoons that defamed Islam ... we (Christians) have nothing to do with it," said a Christian woman whose car windows were shattered.

"We call on the government to intervene immediately to protect the Christians in the Ashrafiyeh area," one woman shouted from her balcony.

Fearing a new civil war (the third since 1958), politicians were quick to "understand" and "explain" the riot:

Meanwhile, Lebanese Christian and Muslim leaders condemned the attacks and stressed that the demonstration was aimed at protesting the cartoons published in a Danish newspapers and not against the Christians in the eastern part of the capital.

Christian leader Samir Geagea called "on the people of Ashrafiyeh to be aware that the demonstration is not aimed at them."

Im sure that is a great consolation for them.

UPDATE:

It is important to understand, that this is not a new development. Christian Lebanese have been fleeing from Moslem opression for generations, to the point where there are more of them abroad than in Lebanon. Especially Latin America took in many - Brazil alone contains three times more christians of Lebanese descent than there are Christians left in Lebanon. For the most well-known, think of fex. actress Salma Hayek and singer Shakira.