PARIS (AP) — France is stepping up security at some of its embassies. This, after a satirical Parisian weekly published crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
The French government is defending the right of the magazine to publish the cartoons. Riot police have taken up positions outside the offices of the magazine, which was firebombed last year after it released an edition that mocked radical Islam.
But France's foreign minister, while defending freedom of expression, is also warning that the magazine could be throwing "oil on the fire," amid the continuing anger over a movie insulting to Islam. And he says it's up to the courts to decide whether the magazine went too far.
The Foreign Ministry is urging French people in the Muslim world to exercises "the greatest vigilance," avoiding all public gatherings and "sensitive buildings" such as those representing the West or religious sites.
Muslim leaders in France are urging calm. The head of the Grand Paris Mosque said the cartoon is a "useless and stupid provocation," but that Muslims aren't going to automatically "react at each insult."
One of the magazine's cartoonists is defending the cartoon, saying, "It's just a drawing. It's not a provocation."
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GRAPHICSBANK: Cover of "Charlie Hebdo" issue (detail) that features caricatures of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, French satirical magazine, graphic element on black (19 Sep 2012)
APPHOTO MEU105: Publishing director of the satyric weekly Charlie Hebdo, Charb, displays the front page of the newspaper as he poses for photographers in Paris, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. Police took up positions outside the Paris offices of the satirical French weekly that published crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad on Wednesday that ridicule the film and the furor surrounding it. The provocative weekly, Charlie Hebdo, was firebombed last year after it released a special edition that portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a "guest editor" and took aim at radical Islam. (AP Photo/MIchel Euler) (19 Sep 2012)
<<APPHOTO MEU105 (09/19/12)>>
APPHOTO MEU107: Publishing director of the satyric weekly Charlie Hebdo, Charb, talks to the media in Paris, Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012. Police took up positions outside the Paris offices of the satirical French weekly that published crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad on Wednesday that ridicule the film and the furor surrounding it. The provocative weekly, Charlie Hebdo, was firebombed last year after it released a special edition that portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a "guest editor" and took aim at radical Islam. (AP Photo/MIchel Euler) (19 Sep 2012)
<<APPHOTO MEU107 (09/19/12)>>
