Fresh protests erupt

Paris: Fresh protests erupted across Asia and the Middle East over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on Monday, despite calls by world leaders for calm after Danish diplomatic missions were set ablaze in Lebanon and Syria.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed alarm and urged restraint but Iran, which is reviewing trade ties with countries that published the cartoons, vowed to respond to "an anti-Islamic and Islamophobic current".

The European Commission condemned on Monday the latest wave of violence by Muslim protestors against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, and urged all sides to return to calm debate.

The commission was "aware that the cartoons ... have aggrieved Muslims across the world," said Johannes Laitenberg, a spokesman for the European Union's executive arm, after weekend protests notably in Syria and Lebanon.

"But no grievance, perceived or real, justifies acts of violence such as perpetrated on the weekend," he added, saying the EU condemned the weekend violence "in the strongest possible terms."

Later, ambassadors from the EU's 25 member states were due to discuss the latest protests in Brussels, including being briefed by the main countries involved, primarily Denmark, diplomatic sources said.

In Tehran, about 200 people pelted the embassy of EU president Austria with fire bombs over the cartoons and Iran's nuclear confrontation with the West. The mission did not catch fire and police prevented people from storming it.

"I call on all Arab countries to talk with moderation about what is happening," French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said, in a view echoed by other leaders after the weekend riots in Beirut and Damascus. "Let's keep it calm."

Ukraine became the latest country where papers published the cartoons, joining Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Poland, the United States, Japan, Norway, Malaysia and Australia.

Two Romanian newspapers on Monday published pictures of the pages of foreign newspapers showing the cartoons.

Furious Muslims once again took to the streets. One protester was killed in Afghanistan in clashes with police. Another person died at the weekend when flames forced him to jump from the burning Danish consulate in Beirut.

Speaking from Beirut, Omar Bakri Mohammad, leader of the Islamist group al Muhajiroon which is banned in Britain, called for the execution of those involved with the cartoons.

Britain issued a stern warning after protesters carried inflammatory placards.

Moderate Muslim groups as well as Western leaders condemned the weekend violence and calls to arms and called for calm.

But Iran responded angrily, saying the cartoons "launched an anti-Islamic and Islamophobic current which will be answered."

"It was an ugly measure. The Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to sacrifice its life for its belief in Islam and the honour of the holy Prophet," Iran's government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told a news conference on Monday.

There were new protests about the cartoons outside the European Union offices in Gaza on Monday.

Waving fists, protesters chanted: "Down with Denmark. Down with Norway. With our blood we will redeem our Prophet."

In Afghanistan, one man was shot dead and two injured in clashes between protesters and police.

In Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, protesters in four cities demanded that Denmark apologise. Police fired warning shots to disperse 300 hardline Muslims when they threw rocks at police during a protest outside the Danish consulate in Indonesia's second largest city, Surabaya.

About 300 protesters rallied in front of the Danish embassy in Thailand's capital.

A Malaysian newspaper editor resigned after he embarrassed his Muslim boss by reprinting the cartoons to illustrate a story about the controversy.