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Reactions to the publication of satirical cartoons

Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten's publication of satirical cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad on September 30, 2005, led to violence, arrests, inter governmental tension, and debate about the scope of free speech and the place of Muslims in the West. Many Muslims stressed that the image of Muhammad is blasphemous, while many Westerners defended the right of free speech. A number of governments, organizations, and individuals have issued statements defining their stance on the protests or cartoons.

At least four protesters were killed in Afghanistan, in Mihtarlam and a US air base in Bagram. One boy was trampled to death in Bossaso, Somalia, when the crowd stampeded. On February 5, 2006, one protester died at the Danish embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. On February 6, 2006, one demonstrator involved in the torching of the Danish consulate in Beirut, Lebanon, was found dead on a staircase. One protester was shot to death in Laghman Province, Afghanistan. Four people were killed and 22 injured on February 7, 2006, in an attack on a NATO base in Maymana, Afghanistan. Andrea Santoro, a Catholic priest, was killed on February 5, 2006, in Trabzon, Turkey. A 16 year old high school student carrying a 9mm pistol was arrested two days later. The student told police he had been influenced by the cartoons. On February 13, 2006, two people were killed in Lahore, Pakistan. The next day two were killed in Peshawar, Pakistan, and another in Lahore. On February 17, 2006, 11 people died during protests in Libya. On February 18, 2006, 16 people were killed in northern Nigeria as demonstrators protested the cartoons by storming and burning Christian churches and businesses. As of February 24, 2006, around 146 people were killed in religious riots in Nigeria as a result of attacks against Christians in the predominantly Muslim North. As of April 14, 2006, a 67 year old Coptic Christian was knifed to death by a 25 year old Muslim in a Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt. At the same time others attacked two other Coptic churches and injured more than ten Christians. According to press reports, referring to the department of the Interior of Egypt, the killer acted in revenge to the publication of the Muhammad cartoons. On May 3, 2006, 28 year old Pakistani Amir Abdur Rehman Cheema hanged himself in prison in Berlin, Germany, while awaiting trial for an unsuccessful attempt to attack the chief editor of the German newspaper Die Welt with a knife. At his autopsy, two high ranking Pakistani police officials were present.

Demonstrations against the cartoons took place in several predominantly or partially Muslim countries, including the Philippines and Indonesia. A prominent feature of many of these demonstrations was burning the flags of Denmark, France, and Norway. The Swiss flag was also burned at some protests. At some of these protests, many American, British, and Israeli flags were also burned. In addition to burning, some demonstrators walked on Danish flags or tore them up. Since the Danish flag incorporates a cross, desecrating a Danish flag can be seen as both anti Danish and anti Christian. An interview in the Russian media asserts that a US newspaper made the cartoons, and that Jyllands Posten only distributed it. The controversy produced labour strikes and protests in Pakistan and mass demonstrations in Baghdad, Iraq. In the Palestinian territories, thousands of people participated in demonstrations and gunmen in the Gaza Strip threatened violence against any Scandinavians in the area. The European Union's Gaza offices were raided by 15 masked gunmen from the al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades. They demanded apologies from Denmark and Norway, but left 30 minutes later without any shots being fired or injuries caused. On February 2, Palestinian gunmen shut down the EU headquarters in Gaza in protest of the Jyllands Posten drawings. According to CNN, "Masked members of the militant groups Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinians' former ruling party, Fatah, fired bullets into the air, and a man read the group's demands. The gunmen left a notice on the EU office's door that the building would remain closed until Europeans apologize to Muslims, many of whom consider the cartoons offensive." On February 6, at least four demonstrators in Afghanistan were shot by riot police, while taking part in an assault on the Bagram Airbase outside Kabul, and another two died in Mihtarlam. As of February 24, at least 150 people, most of them Nigerian, had died in the protests.

In response to the publication of the drawings, the UK Islamist group Al Ghurabaa published an article on their website called "Kill those who insult the Prophet Muhammad". The article states, "The insulting of the Messenger Muhammad is something that the Muslims cannot and will not tolerate and the punishment in Islam for the one who does so is death. This is the sunnah of the prophet and the verdict of Islam upon such people, one that any Muslim is able execute." Al Ghurabaa organised the February 3 protest march from London Central Mosque to the Danish Embassy where protesters waved placards reading, "Butcher those who mock Islam", "Kill those who insult Islam", "Europe you will pay, your 9/11 is on the way", or "7/7 is on its way", "Europe you will pay, Bin Laden is on his way", and "Europe you'll come crawling, when the Mujahideen come roaring". Despite the similar theme on Al Ghurabaa's website, their spokesman, Anjem Choudary, said he did not know who wrote the placards. MPs from all parties condemned the protest, calling the Metropolitan Police to pursue those responsible on the grounds that the threats were an incitement to murder.

On January 29 six churches in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Kirkuk were targeted by car bombs, killing 13 year old worshipper Fadi Raad Elias. No militants claimed to be retaliating for the pictures, nor was it the first time Iraqi churches have been bombed, but the church's bishop stated that "[t]he church blasts were a reaction to the cartoons published in European papers. But Christians are not responsible for what is published in Europe." Many Assyrians in Iraq felt like "Westerners should not give wild statements [as] everyone can attack us [in response]" and said things like "Today I'm afraid to walk the streets, because I'm Christian." On February 6, an Italian Catholic priest named Andrea Santoro was reported to have been shot dead at the door step of his church in the Black Sea port city Trabzon. The convict, arrested on February 7 was a Turkish Muslim youth aged 16, who told the public attorney that his action was motivated by cartoons protests. Also on February 6, leaflets were distributed in Ramadi, Iraq, by the militant group "The Military Wing for the Army of Justice" demanding Christians to "halt their religious rituals in churches and other worship places because they insulted Islam and Muslims." On February 18, 2006, eleven churches, as well as several Christian owned businesses, in northern Nigeria were burned by protesters. On February 2, some Palestinians in the West Bank handed out a leaflet signed by Islamic Jihad stating, "Churches in Gaza could come under attack". The Danish government announced that a fatwa had been declared against the Danish troops stationed in Iraq. The government responded by heightening security for its troops.

On February 4, the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus, Syria, were set on fire, after being stormed by an angry mob. Within the building housing the Danish embassy were the Chilean and Swedish embassies, both having no formal connection to the present row. As it was a holiday, the building was unoccupied. As a response to this incident, the Danish and Norwegian Ministries of Foreign Affairs issued a warning, urging their citizens in Syria to leave the country immediately. The German Cultural Centre in Gaza was raided by Palestinian students. On October 19, ten ambassadors from Islamic countries, including Algeria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, as well as the head of the Palestinian delegation in Denmark, sent a letter to Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen requesting a meeting and asking him to distance himself from hate speech, including remarks by MP Louise Frevert, Culture Minister of Denmark Brian Mikkelsen, and the Radio Holger station. Rasmussen declined, saying that the government could not interfere with the right to free speech, but said that cases of blasphemy and discrimination could be tried before the courts, a reaction seen as a snub by the Muslims.

On January 10, a marginal Norwegian Christian magazine, Magazinet, printed the drawings after getting authorization from Jyllands Posten. Major newspapers in Norway had printed facsimiles from Jyllands Posten and reproduced all the caricatures in their online versions; a few days earlier, the Swedish newspaper Expressen had printed two of the drawings in conjunction with an article discussing the event. A Norwegian man made a threat against the lives of the people at the magazine, but later claimed, when faced by the police, that it was just a prank. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to their ambassadors in the Middle East stating that one of the pillars of the Norwegian society is freedom of speech, but they expressed regret that Magazinet did not respect Muslims' beliefs. On January 30, Palestinian groups demanded that all Scandinavians leave the Palestinian territories immediately. On January 30, an Islamic organisation, the Mujahedeen Army, called for militant attacks against "all available targets" in Denmark and Norway.