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Denmark urges citizens out of Indonesia after threatPulls staff from embassies in Indonesia, Syria and Iran
 A man addresses a rally against the caricatures in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on Saturday. RELATEDQUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Denmark is urging its citizens to leave Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, citing a threat from an extremist group over the publication of drawings of Islam's Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. And in Pakistan, political parties are urging a day of protest on March 3 which they hope will be replicated internationally. Denmark's Foreign Ministry said it had received "a significant and imminent threat to Danes and Danish interests in Indonesia" from the group on Saturday afternoon. The Danish government also removed envoys from its embassies in Indonesia, Syria and Iran because of "concrete" security threats. The personnel will return to the embassies in Tehran, Damascus and Jakarta when things calm down, according to a Danish Foreign Ministry spokesman. In the meantime, Danish consular work will be handled by Finland in Iran, Germany in Syria, and the Netherlands in Indonesia, the Foreign Ministry said. Protests have spread around the world over the drawings, which have subsequently been reprinted in other papers, because depictions of the Prophet Mohammed are forbidden under Islam. In London, thousands demonstrated Saturday in a protest organizers hoped would be peaceful. They want to show that law-abiding, moderate Muslims who are enraged about the cartoons also protest the violence that has greeted the drawings. Several thousand Muslims gathered in Trafalgar Square with placards saying "Mohammed Equals Mercy to Mankind" and "United Against Islamaphobia." This contrasts with recent protests in London and elsewhere, where demonstrators held signs calling for executions and decapitations of anyone involved in publishing the cartoons. London mayor Ken Livingstone attended the rally. He accused the media of devoting too much coverage to the "tiny minority of extremists" who had taken part in the highly publicized protest at the Danish Embassy. Pakistani ruling and opposition parties on Saturday called for a nationwide strike on March 3 to condemn the publication of caricatures of the prophet. The Pakistan Muslim League party and an alliance of religious groups want businesses, government offices and schools to close on what they are calling International Protest Day, in the hope that Muslims elsewhere also will organize strikes. The protests are to be held during Friday prayers, said Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the leader of the religious alliance MMA, who announced the plans at a news conference in Lahore. "There will be a total 'shutter-down' in Pakistan on March 3 to condemn the blasphemous act," he told CNN. Ahmad said the groups have contacted Islamic organizations and government groups outside Pakistan, and they have agreed to observe the day in protest. There have been several large demonstrations already in Pakistan, including one on Saturday by students. Ninety-seven percent of Pakistan's population is Muslim. The ruling Pakistan Muslim League's president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain also attended the conference and said the party will support the strike call if it is peaceful. In Kenya, riot police fired live rounds and tear gas to prevent hundreds of stone-throwing protesters from reaching the Danish Embassy in Nairobi on Friday. One man was shot in the thigh, a witness told Reuters. Also on Friday, Bangladeshi police beat back about 10,000 protesters marching on the Danish Embassy in the capital Dhaka and there were also demonstrations in Egypt, Afghanistan, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Turkey. In Egypt, thousands protested in several cities after Muslim prayers Friday, denouncing the cartoons. Clashes erupted with police who tried to disperse the demonstrators with water canons and tear gas. Earlier, 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. 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's Jim Boulden, Prithvi Banerjii and Syed Mohsin Naqvi contributed to this report. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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