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Obscene cartoon sparks debate

Weekly publishes anti-Islam caricature; France to shut down embassies, offices in 20 countries fearing backlash

AFP, Paris
France yesterday stepped up security and appealed for calm after a weekly published defamatory cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad that risked fanning outrage in the Islamic world.
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Security was reinforced at French missions in countries where there could be a hostile reaction.
Embassies, consulates, cultural centres and international French schools in around 20 countries will be closed tomorrow for fear of being targeted in demonstrations following weekly prayers.
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius admitted he feared a backlash in the Muslim world, where tempers are already running high over an anti-Islam film made in California and posted on the Internet. The protest has killed 31 people so far.
Police were deployed outside the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine which published the cartoons.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault urged "responsibility" and said anyone offended by the caricatures could sue.
Leaders of the large Muslim community in France said an appeal for calm would be read out in mosques across the country tomorrow but also condemned the magazine for publishing "insulting" images.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby called the drawings provocative and outrageous but said those who were offended by them should "use peaceful means to express their firm rejection".
The Vatican's official daily Osservatore Romano also condemned the French weekly's decision to publish the cartoons as "fuel on the fire".
"The debatable initiative by the French magazine threatens... to add more fuel to the fire after the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi," the newspaper said.
The weekly carries a total
of four cartoons which include images definitely intended to represent Mohammad, as opposed to any other Muslim. In two of them, the Prophet is shown naked.
The film references were an attempt to satirise the crudely-made short film "Innocence of Muslims" which has triggered the worldwide protests.
But the explict, arguably vulgar, nature of the drawings made it inevitable they would cause offence.
Ayrault said anyone offended by cartoons could take the matter to the courts but made it clear there would be no action against the weekly.
“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.