Fresh protests erupted in the Muslim world Wednesday over an anti-Islam film as a French magazine poured fuel on the fire with the publication of sacrilegious cartoons. France braced for a backlash from the blasphemous cartoons, stepping up security at its embassies and banning demonstrations on its own soil as senior officials appealed for calm.
About 1,000 protesters took to the streets in eastern Afghanistan, blocking a key road to Kabul and chanting "Death to America" and "Death to the enemies of Islam." In reaction to the uproar, French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons mocking the film and caricaturing the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The left-wing, libertarian publication's offices were firebombed last year after it published a sacrilegious edition. Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius admitted he feared a backlash over the blasphemous cartoons and said embassies and other French institutions in around 20 countries will be closed Friday for fear of being targeted in protests after weekly prayers.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said anyone offended by blasphemous cartoons could take the matter to the courts but made it clear there would be no action against the weekly. "We are in a country where freedom of expression is guaranteed, including the freedom to caricature," he said.
"If people really feel offended in their beliefs and think there has been an infringement of the law - and we are in a state where laws must be totally respected - they can go to court," Ayrault said. Leaders of the large Muslim community in France said an appeal for calm would be read out in mosques across the country on Friday but also condemned the magazine for publishing "insulting" images. Washington has also moved to boost security in the wake of the protests, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying the US was taking "aggressive steps" to protect diplomatic missions world-wide.
Among those killed in the protests so far have been four US diplomatic staff in Libya, including ambassador Chris Stevens. On a visit to Lithuania on Wednesday, Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul condemned the film and blasphemous French cartoons as provocations.
"We are living in a world where everybody should respect the belief of others," he said. "We need to make sure that a minority of people cannot disturb the peaceful co-operation that we are building with the world as a whole." Muslim men and women in Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka also staged their first demonstration on Wednesday, with several hundred gathering in the capital Colombo near the US embassy to denounce the film. Women used broom sticks to beat photographs of Obama while men threw slippers at US and Israeli flags. Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan blocked access to YouTube following the site's release of the clip of the film.