Protests over cartoons spreading

BERLIN — Flags burned and protesters chanted from Europe to South Asia as outrage over satirical cartoons of the prophet Muhammad spread Friday from the Pakistani parliament to the streets of Gaza to a meeting between Danish leaders and Muslim diplomats.

The cartoons reprinted this week in European newspapers lampoon Muhammad, with one showing him as a jihad warrior wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. The caricatures have been condemned by imams as an attack on Islam and have underscored the widening suspicions between Europeans and millions of Muslim immigrants.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with ambassadors from Middle East countries in an effort to calm the furor that began in September when the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten first published the cartoons. The 12 drawings have since appeared in newspapers across the continent, becoming emblems in a battle between Western values of free speech and Islamic reverence for the prophet.

"Neither the Danish government nor the Danish nation as such can be held responsible for drawings published in a Danish newspaper," Rasmussen said after the meeting with envoys. "A Danish government can never apologize on behalf of a free and independent newspaper. ... This is basically a dispute between some Muslims and a newspaper."

The prime minister warned of "unpredictable repercussions" if the protests escalate.

The Egyptian ambassador to Denmark, Mona Omar Attiah, said Rasmussen should do more to diffuse passions. "I want the prime minister to speak with Jyllands-Posten about getting them to give a real apology," she said.

The Pakistani parliament on Friday condemned the cartoons as "blasphemous and derogatory. ... "

Danish flags have been burned and protests, some of them violent, have been staged at European institutions in Indonesia, Gaza, Afghanistan and other countries. Protesters marched following Friday prayers in Baghdad, Iraq, and Tehran, Iran. Boycotts of Danish products across the Middle East are costing Arla Foods, which has operated in the region for nearly 40 years, $1 million a day, according to the company.

Preaching at Iraqi mosques Friday, Muslim clerics called on their followers to condemn the cartoons and for the Danish government to issue an apology.

"We tell our Christian brothers: Those who don't respect others, do not deserve respect. And yet we still respect the followers of Jesus," said Sheik Mahmoud Sumaidaie at Umm Qura Mosque in Baghdad. "We should boycott Denmark, France and Norway ideologically, commercially, politically and diplomatically. To do otherwise is a sin."

European officials are concerned that Muslim anger could lead to extremist attacks and further trouble relations with the newly elected militant Hamas party in the Palestinian territories.

The State Department also criticized the cartoon drawings, calling them "offensive to the beliefs of Muslims."

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.