Danish minister apologizes to Abbas over cartoons

The Palestinian news agency reported Friday Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller called Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and apologized for the insult to Muslims caused by the publication of cartoons mocking Prophet Muhammad in several European papers.

Moeller said the publication did not represent Denmark's official stance. Abbas on his part called on Palestinians not to hurt European nationals not involved with the cartoons' publication.

Meanwhile, European leaders called on Friday for restraint as Muslims staged growing protests over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad they consider blasphemous and more newspapers reprinted the images in the name of press freedom.

Muslim protests in Indonesia, Turkey and the Palestinian West Bank staged violent demonstrations against the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, one with a turban resembling a bomb.

"I am concerned...about this escalation we have seen over the last few days," said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the European Union's presidency.

"From my point of view it is high time to take a step back and make an effort to see things with each other's eyes and heart. The language or gestures of threats gets us nowhere," she told a news conference in Vienna.

But there was little respite in the fury of Muslims or in a debate over freedom of speech verses respect for religion. For some Muslims depicting the Prophet Muhammad is forbidden.

French President Jacques Chirac, whose country has the largest Muslim population in Europe, appealed for all sides to avoid "anything that could offend others' convictions."

U.S. condemns cartoons

In the name of press freedom, more European newspapers ran controversial cartoons. Belgian newspaper De Standaard reproduced the pictures along with letters from readers in favor of publication.

The United States condemned the cartoons on Friday, siding with Muslims who are outraged that newspapers put press freedom over respect for religion.

"We ... respect freedom of the press and expression but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable," said State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper.

Britain's newspapers have so far refused to publish the cartoons, earning them praise from Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

"I believe the republication of these cartoons has been unnecessary, it has been insensitive, it has been disrespectful and it has been wrong," he said.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen met Muslim envoys to seek calm but said he could not apologize on behalf of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper which first published the images.

"Neither the Danish government nor the Danish nation as such can be held responsible for drawings published in a Danish newspaper," he said after the meeting.