Cartoon row: Denmark closes 2 more embassies

Denmark announced on Saturday it had closed two more embassies in Muslim countries.

Denmark announced on Saturday it had closed two more embassies in Muslim countries as protests eased in favour of official pressure to prevent a repeat of the furore over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.

HT Image

Iran has demanded an emergency meeting of the 57 Muslim countries comprising the Organisation of Islamic Council (OIC), which announced it would call on the European Union (EU) to pass laws to counter hostility to Muslims.

"The OIC member countries expect the EU to identify Islamophobia as a dangerous phenomenon to be scrutinised and combated as is the case with xenophobia and antisemitism," the council said in a statement to AFP on Saturday.

Europe had to create "appropriate mechanisms of surveillance and to look again at its legislation with the aim of preventing in the future repetition of recent unfortunate events", the statement said.

The EU's senior foreign policy official, Javier Solana, is due to meet OIC secretary-general Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu in Saudi Arabia on Monday in an attempt to defuse the crisis triggered by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten's publication of 12 Mohammed drawings almost five months ago.

Considered by Muslims to be blasphemous, the cartoons were reprinted worldwide as the row exploded into an international incident pitting Western ideas of freedom of expression against Islamic beliefs.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid said his country as IOC head supported Iran's demand for a special meeting of foreign ministers.

"I think many countries are worried. The idea is how do we contain these feelings and emotions," he told reporters at an international conference.

Denmark said it had closed its embassies in Iran and Indonesia and ordered its diplomats to leave following "concrete threats" against its staff.

The closures follow that of its Syrian embassy on Friday and of its consulates in Lebanon and Tunisia.

Lars Thuesen, spokesman for the ministry's crisis unit, said the ambassadors and their staff had gone to other countries that Denmark did not wish to identify.

Muslims marched peacefully in several European cities Saturday as organisations sought to distance their outrage from violent protests in recent weeks which saw Danish and Norwegian diplomatic missions set on fire.

In Germany, about 2,000 people marched on the Danish consulate in Duesseldorf, while about 1,200 people protested in Berlin and about 130 in the northern city of Leer.

In London, where recent protests aroused controversy through some of the slogans used and the simulation of a suicide bomber's vest, between 3,500 and 10,000 people marched, according to police and organisers' estimates.

The mayor of London Ken Livingstone backed the protest.

"I am supporting this event because, unlike much of the media coverage, it will allow the views of the mainstream Muslim community to be properly heard," he said.

In France, where satirical weekly Charlio Hebdo republished the 12 cartoons last week, about 7,000 people demonstrated in Paris and more than 2,200 marched in the eastern city of Strasbourg, according to police.

"We want to show by demonstrating peacefully and legally that we have been deeply hurt by the publication of these caricatures," Union of Muslim Associations spokesman Faycal Menia told AFP in Paris.

An estimated 100 took part in Amsterdam in an unauthorised but peaceful demonstration, about 1,000 marched in Berne, in Switzerland, while other protests took place in Ireland, Austria and Belgium.

In Chad in central Africa police used tear gas to break up a demonstration in the capital NDjamena. Two vehicles were set alight but calm had returned by early afternoon. In Asia, about 500 Muslim protestors rallied in the Indonesian capital Saturday, calling the cartoons part of a "war on Islam".

Members of Hizbut Tahrir (Party of Liberation) Indonesia massed in Jakarta's central traffic circle, waving signs that read "Stop propaganda against Islam" and "The cartoons are proof of Western enmity against Islam."

In Algeria, Islamic scholar Mustapha Cherif, a former minister, called for dialogue between the world's peaceful forces and for resistance "by civilized, legitimate and peaceful means".

In a contribution to the government paper El Moudjahid Cherif said the "vulgar" cartoons had led to "overkill and vague theories by those who believe in the shock of civilizations".