PARIS, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Fury spread across the Muslim world Thursday at the decision of a number of European newspapers to reprint cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
The first immediate casualty of the newly re-inflamed ire, however, occurred in Paris, where the Egyptian-French head of France-Soir daily fired an editor, after the daily decided to reprint all 12 of the offending caricatures of the Muslim prophet. France Soir was only one of several European newspapers who decided to reprint the images of the prophet, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper last September.
Anger among Muslims in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere has slowly grown since then.
Several countries have pulled their ambassadors from Denmark to protest the decision, and religious leaders have blasted the newspaper.
Two armed Palestinian groups threatened Thursday to target French, Norwegians and Dutch in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, because of decisions by newspapers in these countries to reprint cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
Others are calling for calm.
The Paris-based press watchdog group, Reporters Sans Frontiers, previously championed the right of the Danish and other newspapers to reprint the images as a crucial matter of free speech.
But in a telephone interview Thursday the group's head, Robert Menard, said he would not republish the cartoons if he were an editor today, facing the same Muslim ire.
"We're in a crazy situation," he said. "All the measures, all the decisions made on one side or another are radicalizing things -- pushing things toward more verbal violence, more threats. We must absolutely calm things down.
"The Arab world must weigh what they're saying," Menard added. "And political, religious authorities and the media must try to dialogue and understand each other."
The cartoon controversy has blossomed not only into an ostensible clash between supporters of free speech and those calling for a respect of faith, but is also perceived as exposing the sharp divide between secular Europeans and Europe's growing Muslim population.
The Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons has apologized for offending Muslims, but not for its decision to publish the cartoons.
