Sign InRegister

Thousands in Asia cartoon protests

Gallery: Muslim protests

• Iran invites Holocaust cartoons

• Danes feel threatened in cartoon row

• Teen dies during protests over cartoons

• Iranians target Austrian Embassy

QUICKVOTE

YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- Thousands of Muslims took to the streets across Asia to protest the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed as Malaysia's leader warned of a "huge chasm" between Islam and the West.

Large rallies were held in India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Bangladesh, while smaller protests occurred in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Protesters carried anti-European and anti-American signs, shouted slogans and burned Danish flags, but there were no immediate reports of violence, according to The Associated Press.

Many of the protests took place after Friday prayers, some outside mosques and others near Danish diplomatic missions.

In Malaysia's biggest protest against the caricatures, some 3,000 demonstrators called for the destruction of Denmark, Israel and the United States as they marched in a steady rain from a mosque to the Danish Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, AP reported.

"Long live Islam. Destroy Denmark. Destroy Israel. Destroy George Bush. Destroy America," some of the protesters shouted.

The march was about 10 times larger than a similar protest after Friday prayers last week, AP said. Riot police guarded the high-rise building where the embassy is located, and a police helicopter hovered overhead.

At a nearby conference, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi spoke of a "huge chasm that has emerged between the West and Islam" and said many Westerners see a Muslim as "a congenital terrorist."

He said Muslims were particularly frustrated at Western policies toward Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinians. He did not mention the Mohammed cartoons.

"They think Osama bin Laden speaks for the religion and its followers," AP quoted Abdullah as saying. "The demonization of Islam and the vilification of Muslims, there is no denying, is widespread within mainstream Western society."

Abdullah also urged Muslims to oppose "sweeping denunciation of Christians, Jews and the West" as well as violence and terror perpetrated by fringe groups, AP reported.

Abdullah is a Muslim scholar, and his country heads the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Late Thursday, Malaysia's Internal Security Ministry issued a statement saying it was an offense for anyone to publish, produce, import, circulate or possess the caricatures, AP reported.

The ministry, headed by Abdullah, said it was issuing the order to curb the circulation of material that could cause uneasiness among Malaysians and disrupt public order.

The ministry also ordered a small Malaysian newspaper, the Sarawak Tribune, to stop publication indefinitely after it reproduced one of the caricatures last weekend.

The Tribune's publishers apologized for what they called an editorial oversight, but the ministry said the newspaper had to be penalized because its action was "irresponsible and insensitive" to Muslims, AP reported.

At Friday's rally in the Malaysian capital, speakers condemned European newspapers for publishing the caricatures and demanded an apology from the Danish government. The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper last September.

One of the cartoons showed Mohammed wearing a turban shaped as a bomb. Many Muslims consider any depiction of the prophet to be sacrilegious.

The cartoons have sparked protests around the world, some of which have turned violent. Protesters in Beirut torched the building housing the Danish Embassy, and angry demonstrations have led to about 10 deaths in Afghanistan.

On Thursday, about half a million Muslims turned a religious ceremony in the Lebanese capital into a peaceful protest against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, as Iran and Syria rejected U.S. accusations they were inciting anger over the caricatures. (Full story)

Elsewhere Friday:

A crowd of up to 6,000 Muslim worshippers in New Delhi, India demonstrated against the cartoons, burning, trampling and spitting on Danish flags while chanting "God is Great" and "Down with Denmark."

About 5,000 supporters of radical Islamic groups protested against the cartoons in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, AP reported. It was the biggest rally there since the protests began. Mian Aslam, a senior leader of a six-party coalition of Islamic groups, gave a fiery speech urging Pakistan to sever ties with all those countries with newspapers that published the drawings.

More than 2,000 Muslims protested in the capital of Bangladesh against the publication of the cartoons, burning a Danish flag outside Dhaka's main mosque, AP reported. On Thursday, Prime Minister Khaleda Zia issued a statement condemning the publication of the cartoons but saying her government does not support any attempt to destroy peace in protesting the caricatures.

In the Philippines, hundreds of Muslims burned a cardboard Danish flag outside a Manila mosque and demanded an apology from Denmark's prime minister. They also demanded that Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo condemn the caricatures, AP reported.

In Indonesia, about 175 students at an Islamic school in Surabaya, in East Java province, signed a pact saying they are "ready to die" for Mohammed and would demand an apology from any Danes they met, said their headmaster, Yusuf Muhajir. Denmark has advised its citizens to leave Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country.

In Rome, Italy, a funeral was being held for an Italian priest shot to death in Turkey, allegedly by a Muslim teenager angered by the cartoons. The Rev. Andrea Santoro, 60, was killed Sunday while praying in his Black Sea coast church. Turkish media, citing unnamed police officials, said the 16-year-old suspect told interrogators he killed Santoro to avenge the publication of the drawings.

CNN is not showing the negative caricatures of the likeness of the Prophet Mohammed because the network believes its role is to cover the events surrounding the publication of the cartoons while not unnecessarily adding fuel to the controversy itself.

CNN Producer Prithvi Banerjii contributed to this report.

Story Tools

Click Here to try 4 Free Trial Issues of Time!

Home Page

Get up-to-the minute news from CNN

CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.

Home Page

Get up-to-the minute news from CNN

CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.