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PARIS / MOSCOW (Reuters) – France on Tuesday warned its citizens in several Muslim-majority countries to take extra security precautions as anger erupted over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, and the head of Russia’s Chechnya region said that Paris was pushing people towards terrorism.
In Bangladesh, thousands of protesters marched through the capital, some stamped on a poster of French President Emmanuel Macron, and Iran summoned the French charge d’affaires to register a protest over the cartoons.
But in a sign that some countries want to limit the consequences, Saudi Arabia, while condemning the cartoons, refrained from echoing calls in other parts of the Muslim world to boycott French products.
The dispute has its roots in a knife attack in front of a French school on October 16 in which a man of Chechen descent beheaded Samuel Paty, a teacher who had shown students cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a civics lesson. . The cartoons are considered blasphemous by Muslims.
The French government, backed by many citizens, saw the beheading as an attack on freedom of expression and said it will defend the right to display the cartoons.
Macron called the teacher a hero and vowed to fight “Islamist separatism”, saying it threatened to take over some Muslim communities in France.
The French Foreign Ministry on Tuesday issued security advice to French citizens in Indonesia, Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq and Mauritania, warning them to be cautious. They should stay away from any cartoon protests and avoid public gatherings.
“The greatest vigilance is recommended, especially during travel, and in places frequented by tourists or expatriate communities,” he said.
INSTAGRAM WARNING
Ramzan Kadyrov, leader of Russia’s Muslim-majority Chechnya region, addressed Macron in a post on Instagram.
“You are forcing people to participate in terrorism, pushing people towards it, leaving them no choice, creating the conditions for the growth of extremism in the minds of young people. You can boldly call yourself the leader and inspiration of terrorism in your country, “Kadyrov wrote. .
When asked by Reuters for comment, an official in the French presidential administration said: “We will not be intimidated and we will warn those who sow hatred, which in Kadyrov’s case is unacceptable.”
The images of the Prophet were first published years ago by a French satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, whose editorial offices were attacked in 2015 by gunmen who killed 12 people.
Since Paty’s murder, the French protesting in solidarity have displayed the cartoons on the street and they were projected on a building in a city. French officials closed a mosque in Paris that they said was stoking anger over the cartoons.
Calls to boycott French products were trending over the weekend on social media in Saudi Arabia, but officials did not back them, favoring a measured approach.
A Saudi Arabian Foreign Ministry official said Tuesday that the Gulf state condemns all acts of terrorism, an apparent reference to Paty’s murder.
“Freedom of expression and culture should be a beacon of respect, tolerance and peace that rejects the practices and acts that generate hatred, violence and extremism and are contrary to coexistence,” the official said in a statement.
The Arab News daily quoted the head of the Saudi Arabia-based Muslim World League, Mohammed al-Issa, on Tuesday as warning that an overreaction “which is negative and goes beyond what is acceptable” would only benefit “haters.” .
TURKISH UNIT
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday called on his compatriots to stop buying French products and accused France of pursuing an anti-Islamic agenda.
Previous Turkish calls to boycott foreign products have failed, but on Tuesday Industry and Technology Minister Mustafa Varank urged businessmen to enforce the boycott. “We must show a strong posture,” he said.
In a rare show of unity, four Turkish parties, including the main opposition group, issued a joint statement saying that Macron was being “reckless” in pushing for freedom of expression and that his stance could spark a harmful conflict.
In Jordan, around 50 protesters gathered outside the heavily guarded French embassy in the capital Amman.
“This is not freedom of expression, when other people’s religions are violated,” said former member of parliament Dima Tahboub, referring to the position taken by Paris on the cartoons. “This is an obvious attack.”
France has been on high alert following the beheading and areas around the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower in central Paris were briefly evacuated Tuesday on security alerts. There was no evidence that the alerts were linked to the cartoon row.
(Report from Reuters offices; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Peter Graff and Nick Macfie)
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