Tens of thousands participated in various parts of Pakistan on Friday in protests against the re-publication of cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, chanting "Death to France" and calling for a boycott of French goods.
In Indonesia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered that what the French magazine did is a provocative act that undermines tolerance in the world.
One of the banners the protesters raised read: "Decapitation is a punishment for blasphemers."
The cartoons ridiculing the Prophet sparked anger and turmoil among Muslims around the world in 2005, when they were first published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten.
A participant in the protests in Karachi supporting the Prophet (Reuters)
The Pakistani government condemned the re-publication of an insulting picture of the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and the Pakistani Foreign Ministry considered - in a statement last Wednesday - that such an act is an insult to the feelings of millions of Muslims, and cannot be justified as an exercise of freedom of the press or freedom of expression.
She said that such work undermines peaceful coexistence in the world and reduces opportunities for social harmony between religions.
A few days ago, the weekly Charlie Hebdo magazine reprinted the cartoons to mark the start of the trial of those accused of participating in the attack by two gunmen on its Paris offices in January 2015.
In the first court session, which was held last Wednesday, it was stated that the gunmen who stormed Charlie Hebdo and killed 12 people, wanted to avenge the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, and it was also stated in the session that the publication of the cartoons was the reason for the attack.
Marsudi considered what the French magazine did an act that undermines tolerance and upsets hundreds of millions of Muslims (Anatolia)
Indonesia condemns
Also on Friday, Indonesia condemned the French magazine's re-publication of insulting cartoons of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and Foreign Minister Retino Marsudi described - in a statement - what the French magazine did as a "provocative act" that undermined tolerance among religious communities and disturbed hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world.
Marsudi emphasized that this act contradicts the principles and values of democracy. She also criticized - in the context - the act of 3 activists in the Danish "hard line" party, to burn a copy of the Holy Quran in the Swedish city of Malmö, at the end of last month.
On Thursday, the International Union of Muslim Scholars condemned the re-publication of the French Journal of insulting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, considering that "a departure from the limits of freedoms and a spread of hatred and extremism."