Europe closes ranks over Muslim cartoons

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- European leaders have gone into diplomatic overdrive, calling for restraint in a Muslim world angered by cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammed.

Throughout Muslim countries, violent demonstrations and riots have targeted Danish, Norwegian, French and other European embassies and consulates in the past five days over the series of cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper.

Tuesday, U.S. President George Bush called Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to express his "support and solidarity." Rasmussen said he and Bush agreed that all sides must move forward "through dialogue and tolerance, not violence," the International Herald Tribune reported.

Officials said Austria was also engaged in aggressive diplomacy to defuse the tensions over the cartoons. They said Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik had ordered Austrian ambassadors in 20 countries to meet with ministers in these countries and get assurances that the security of EU citizens would be respected.

Also Tuesday, the Organization of the Islamic Conference joined the United Nations and European Union in appealing for calm over the cartoons.