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Various countries and international organizations appealed for calm over the growing controversy about cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on Monday.

The issue has centered on 12 cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad, which had initially been published in a Danish daily last September, and which were reprinted recently in several other European papers.

The publications sparked an uproar in the Islamic world, as any depiction of the prophet, favorable or otherwise, is considered blasphemous by most Muslims.

Violent protests have erupted in Syria and Lebanon, where angry demonstrators torched Danish and Norwegian missions in their countries.

In Tehran, capital of Iran, hundreds of angry protestors threw stones and firebombs at the Danish embassy on Monday, hours after a similar attack on the Austrian embassy.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, "Indignation in the Islamic world was quite a predictable reaction." But in some countries, the anger was expressed through "unacceptable acts of vandalism against foreign diplomatic missions."

It is now important to unify the efforts of those who act for tolerance and those who aim to establish a broad-based dialogue and partnership between civilizations, the statement said.

The President of the European Parliament, Josep Borrell, said freedom of expression must avoid any insult.

"The European Union upholds the values on which it was founded. Freedom of expression is one of those values, but this must be within the boundaries of respect for the religious beliefs and cultural sensitivities of others," Borrell said in a statement.

Borrell condemned the use of violence and incitement to violence against EU property and citizens.
 
Britain and France also condemned the "unjustifiable" attacks on European embassies in Damascus and Beirut.

"The Government understood the offense caused by the cartoons depicting the Prophet and, of course, regrets that this had happened," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a statement, adding, "nothing could justify the violence aimed at European embassies or at the country of Denmark."

French President Jacques Chirac, in a phone conversation with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, "condemned acts of violence aimed at Danes and Danish representatives overseas, and voiced his solidarity with Denmark," said Chirac's spokesman for the French presidency, Jerome Bonnafont.

The French president "called for full light to be shed on this violence and recalled that, under international law, local governments are responsible for the safety of foreign persons and goods," he said.

In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country intends to work towards heading off the violence over the publication of the cartoons.

Also on Monday, the Copenhagen Post reported Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller calling upon all sides involved in the caricature conflict to use dialogue to resolve the situation.

At a press conference in Copenhagen, Moeller emphasized that the escalating crisis about the caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad extends beyond Denmark now, and the situation was no longer something that Denmark alone could control.

Radio Sweden reported on Monday that Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds called on the European Union and the Arab world to act together to head off further violence over the cartoon row.

Speaking to Swedish Television News, Freivalds said, "(We need)a statement, to stand together to say that this conflict does not promote our common interests and does not reflect the situation we are in, where we are trying to develop a closer cooperation between these lands."

Meanwhile, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported that the Foreign Ministry has stepped up security at Norwegian embassies in several Muslim countries.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on national television that Norway would file a formal complaint with the United Nations and claim compensation from the Syrian government, after Syrian police failed to prevent an angry mob from storming the Norwegian embassy on Saturday.

In Finland, about 200 Muslims held demonstrations against the publication of the caricatures.

Also on Monday, thousands of Egyptian students protested against the cartoons, the official MENA news agency reported.

In Afghanistan, three protestors have been killed over the last two days in demonstrations against the alleged blasphemy of Islam's Prophet.

For the Turkish part, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul called for restraint and no protest against publication of the caricatures.

"Turkey respects freedom of the press, but press freedom does not give the right to write or draw anything without limit," Gul said.

He cautioned that the situation could grow out of control as angry protestors in Syria and Lebanon set fire to the diplomatic missions of Denmark whose press first published the cartoons.

"Turkey is exerting great efforts to secure more dialogue and cooperation between different religions and communities," Gul added.

(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2006)