Asian Muslims protest against Danish cartoons

MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) – Hundreds of students burnt tires and blocked roads in the eastern Pakistani city of Multan on Wednesday in protest at the reprinting in Danish newspapers of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad last month.

“All Muslims should fight for Islam,” student leader Imran Liaquat told the crowd.

Muslim anger at the satirical cartoons, which first erupted in 2005, sparked a similar protest in Bangkok, the Thai capital where 400 Muslims marched to the Danish embassy to register their discontent.

Dozens of police blockaded the embassy gates as the crowd chanted anti-Danish slogans, burnt a Danish flag and stamped on pictures of Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen before dispersing peacefully.

At least 50 people have been killed in protests against the publication of the cartoons, which Muslims say are an affront to Islam. Newspapers which have reprinted the cartoons argue they are defending the right to media freedom.