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France warns citizens to take precautions in several Muslim countries amid caricature backlash

Supporters and activists of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh take part in a protest calling for the boycott of French products  -  REUTERS
Supporters and activists of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh take part in a protest calling for the boycott of French products - REUTERS

France warned its citizens to take extra security precautions in a string of Muslim-majority countries on Tuesday amid ongoing anger over President Emmanuel Macron’s staunch defence of the right to publish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

The foreign ministry issued safety advice to French citizens in Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iraq and Mauritania, advising them to exercise caution. They should stay away from any protests over the cartoons and avoid any public gatherings.

"It is recommended to exercise the greatest vigilance, especially while travelling, and in places that are frequented by tourists or expatriate communities," it said.

The French embassy in Turkey issued similar advice to its citizens there.

The warnings came as France’s interior minister told Turkey to refrain from “meddling in domestic affairs” hours after it joined calls for a boycott of French goods, citing Mr Macron's "anti-Islam" agenda.

"It should shock each one of us that foreign powers are meddling with what is going on in France," Gérald Darmanin told France Inter radio, adding he was referring to Turkey and Pakistan, where parliament passed a resolution urging the government to recall its envoy from Paris.

"Turkey should not meddle with France's domestic affairs," he added.

Men hold a sign bearing a picture of French President Emmanuel Macron with a shoe print on it as Turkish protesters shout slogans in Ankara, Turkey - ADEM ALTAN/ AFP
Men hold a sign bearing a picture of French President Emmanuel Macron with a shoe print on it as Turkish protesters shout slogans in Ankara, Turkey - ADEM ALTAN/ AFP

Far from toning down its rhetoric, however, Turkey branded Mr Macron a "desperate European politician vying for relevance” in the latest jibe in a war of words between the two countries.

"His flailing attempt to assume leadership in Europe is driving his promotion of Islamophobia, xenophobia, and his attacks on our President (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan," said Fahrettin Altun, the Turkish leader’s communications chief. He reiterated Mr Erdogan’s own remarks about France and fascism, claiming that "Macron is following the old fascist playbook that targeted Jews in Europe in this manner.”

The Turkish president caused a furore at the weekend by backing a French boycott and declaring that Mr Macron needed "mental checks”, prompting a string of European leaders to slam the “defamatory remarks”.

French goods have already been pulled from supermarket shelves in Qatar and Kuwait, among other Gulf states, whereas in Syria people have burned pictures of Mr Macron and French flags have been torched in the Libyan capital Tripoli.

While those protests were small, on Tuesday tens of thousands of protesters marched through the Bangladesh capital Dhaka in the biggest public show of anger in a Muslim country since the murder of a French teacher who showed a class cartoons of Mohammed during a lesson on freedom of expression.

Supporters and activists of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh group march in Dhaka -  REUTERS
Supporters and activists of the Islami Andolan Bangladesh group march in Dhaka - REUTERS

The gruesome beheading of Samuel Paty by an 18-year old Chechen extremist appalled staunchly secular France and prompted Mr Macron to vow that the country "will not give up cartoons".

Mr Macron, who met representatives of France's Muslim community on Monday, pledged to fight "Islamist separatism” and said the school teacher "was killed because Islamists want our future”.

Several suspected Islamist radicals have been arrested in dozens of raids since Mr Paty's murder, and about 50 organisations with alleged links to such individuals have been earmarked for closure by the government.

On Tuesday, a French court upheld the six-month forced closure of a mosque in Pantin, outside Paris, for relaying social media anger against the slain teacher.

As the backlash in the Muslim world continued, Iran summoned a French diplomat on Tuesday to complain that Mr Macron's comments were "unwise" and that France was using free expression as a pretext for stirring up hatred against Islam.

Chechnya's strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov accused Mr Macron of provoking Muslims and compared the French leader to a “terrorist."

Via the Telegram messaging app, the head of Russia's Muslim-majority southern region condemned said: "The president of France is himself beginning to look like a terrorist.”

"By supporting provocations, he covertly calls on Muslims to commit crimes." But in a sign that some countries want to limit the fallout, Saudi Arabia condemned the cartoons but refrained from calling for a boycott of French products or other actions.

Debate continues to rage in France, where Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of the French Council for the Muslim Faith, on Tuesday said he was personally against showing cartoons of Mohammed in schools.

“Between the freedom of expression and the deliberate desire to offend Muslim feelings, there is a duty of fraternity and responsibility,” he told France Info.

Mr Moussaoui reminded worshippers that such caricatures were allowed under French law.

"This same law doesn't force anyone to like them nor does it forbid anybody from hating them," he said.

He urged Muslims to follow the example of the Prophet Mohammad, who, according to Islamic tradition, simply ignored insults from a crowd who called him "ugly".

"Isn't it more in line with the prophet's example to ignore these caricatures and consider them as having no relation whatsoever with our prophet?," he said.