Cartoon protests 'global crisis'

2006-02-07 21:39

Copenhagen -Denmark's prime minister on Tuesday called the protests over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons a global crisis and appealed for calm.

"We are now facing a growing global crisis," Anders Fogh Rasmussen told a news conference.

A Danish paper, Jyllands-Posten, first published the caricatures that have sparked violent protests in Muslim countries.

"Now it has become an international political matter," he said. "I urge calm and steadiness."

Fogh Rasmussen said Denmark was not contemplating changes in its strategy for responding to the spiralling tensions.

"In Denmark we have a long tradition of solving disagreements through dialogue and that is what the government will do, enter a dialogue," he said.

"We must look ahead and everyone must contribute to a solution.

Outraged Muslim demonstrators, who have set fire to the Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon and held chaotic protests elsewhere, have demanded the Danish government apologise for the cartoons, which Jyllands-Posten printed in September.

"It is a very unpleasant situation for Danes, we're not used to this," said Fogh Rasmussen, who reiterated that Denmark's press freedom culture means the government cannot apologise for what an independent newspaper does.

The newspaper has apologised for offence caused to Muslims, but has defended its printing the drawings as a legitimate exercise in freedom of expression.

Rhetoric

"We appeal to Muslims around the world to look beyond the headlines and the rhetoric," foreign minister Per Stig Moeller said at the same news conference.

"We share with the Muslim world a common interest in calming down the situation," Fogh Rasmussen added.

Shortly before the news conference, US President George W Bush called Fogh Rasmussen.

"We agreed that the way ahead is dialogue and not violence," the prime minister said.

Earlier, the foreign ministry said the embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, has been temporarily closed because of fears it would be stormed.

Niels Erik Andersen, Denmark's ambassador to Indonesia, said Muslims groups throughout Indonesia had been burning Danish flags and effigies of Fogh Rasmussen.

"A Muslim organisation said it was looking for Danes on the streets," Andersen said on Danish public radio.

- AP