Palestinian Militants Protest, Threaten Over Cartoons

Protest in Pakistan denouncing the Danish newspaper on 1 February (epa)

2 February 2006 -- A group of armed Palestinians briefly surrounded European Union offices in Gaza today, protesting newspaper cartoons that they said are offensive to Muslims.

"The European insults will make all European institutions and their churches in Gaza a target for our [attacks]," one man said.

The cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper, triggered protests from Muslim governments and other organizations.

In addition to France and Denmark, the caricatures have also been reproduced in publications in Norway, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

Two armed groups in the Palestinian territories, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committee, today threatened to target nationals of all countries that had published the caricatures.

In Pakistan today, many religious schools, or madrasahs, called on the government to withdraw Pakistan's ambassador to Denmark over the cartoons.

The editor of a French newspaper that reprinted the controversial cartoons has reportedly been fired.

Editor in Chief Carsten Juste of the Danish newspaper "Politiken," which first published the cartoons, today said that if he had know what a controversy it would spark, he would not have printed them.

(compiled from agency reports)