France would close its embassies ..[ 2933 ]

France to Shut Embassies, Schools Amid Cartoon Row

• EUROPE NEWS
• September 19, 2012, 9:06 a.m. ET

By INTI LANDAURO

PARIS—France's Foreign Ministry said it would close its embassies as well as French schools in 20 countries on Friday, amid fears of backlash after a French weekly magazine published a series of caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.
French authorities said they feared the cartoons published in satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday could cause more outrage in the Muslim world, days after a low-budget film denigrating the Prophet Muhammad sparked violent protests at U.S. and other Western embassies in several Muslim countries.
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Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

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French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo's publisher, known only as Charb, speaks to journalists, on Wednesday in Paris.

Paris's decision to pre-emptively close its embassies highlights how Western governments are grappling to respond to a wave of protests fueled by events—the film in the U.S., or potentially the caricatures in France—largely out of their control.
The French government said that although freedom of speech rules applied in France, the magazine's decision to publish the cartoons was ill-timed.
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"It is dangerous, even irresponsible, when we know the general climate, to pour oil on fire," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said at a news conference in Paris on Wednesday.
French authorities didn't disclose the list of countries where they would close embassies. But government officials said they had decided to close buildings on Friday because it is the main day of prayer for Muslims, suggesting the order would apply mainly to Muslim countries. A spokesman at the Foreign Ministry said ambassadors would have the option to keep their embassies closed beyond Friday for security reasons.
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French interests overseas have so far been spared by the recent spate of protests in Muslim countries. The protests began last week, when a U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was attacked, resulting in the death of Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Demonstrations have since erupted elsewhere in the Middle East and South Asia, including Egypt, Pakistan and Afghanistan. 
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In Paris, about 150 protesters were arrested on Saturday during what police described as an unauthorized rally near the U.S. embassy.
Charlie Hebdo defended its decision to publish the prophet cartoons.
"If we start to wonder whether we have the right to draw Muhammad or not, or if it is dangerous to do it, we will have to start to wonder whether we can draw Muslims or human beings in the paper," the magazine's editor in chief, known only as Charb, told French radio RTL. "Eventually, we won't be drawing anything and a bunch of extremists in the world and in France will have won."
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The magazine headquarters in Paris were put under heightened police protection, police said.
Charlie Hebdo's offices were struck by arson last year after the paper published a special issue with Muslim cartoons called "Sharia Hebdo."