Turkish Islamic party condemns newspaper's cartoon of Prophet Muhammad

Dozens of protesters from a small Islamic party staged a demonstration in front of the Danish Embassy Wednesday to protest caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad first published by a Danish newspaper, sparking outrage in Muslim countries. About 200 riot police watched the crowd from the Felicity Party as they chanted pro-Islamic slogans outside the embassy building.

The caricatures published in September in Denmark's largest broadsheet, Jyllands-Posten, offended Muslims both because of their critical content and because Islam forbids representations of Muhammad out of concern they could lead to idolatry.

On Wednesday, some newspapers in France and Germany reproduced the drawings saying that religious dogma has no place in a secular society and arguing that a "right to blasphemy" was anchored in democratic freedoms.

The Danish paper had apologized, reports the AP.

D.M.