Azernews.Az

By Araz Said, AzerNews Staff Writer

The French embassy in Azerbaijan, like other diplomatic missions of France all over the world, is tightening security, the embassy told Trend news agency on Wednesday.

French diplomatic missions and schools will be closed on Friday, September 21, in 20 countries around the world because of concerns for the safety of French citizens after the publication of cartoons of the prophet Mohammed in the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, reports Agence France Presse.

"For safety reasons (French) embassies, consulates, cultural centers and schools will be closed in 20 countries," said the representative of the French Foreign Ministry.

The French magazine increased Muslim ire by printing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed on Wednesday, a day after 12 died in an Afghan suicide bombing, the deadliest single attack linked to the anti-Islamic film.

The deaths raised to over 30 the toll from incidents linked to the trailer for "Innocence of Muslims," a film produced by extremist Christians in the United States that depicts the Prophet Mohammed as a thuggish womanizer.

After a week that has seen protests in at least 20 countries, there were fears that the wave of anger in the Islamic world could hit harder in Europe as it emerged that French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo was planning to publish cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohammed in its Wednesday edition.

Charlie Hebdo's latest move was greeted with immediate calls from political and religious leaders to avoid inflaming the situation.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault issued a statement expressing his "disapproval of all excesses".

Dalil Boubakeur, the senior cleric at Paris's biggest mosque, appealed for France's Muslims to remain calm.

The protests fired up with the attack on the U.S. embassy in Libya, where ambassador Chris Stevens and three other U.S. citizens were killed.

According to media reports, the U.S. embassies in a number of countries have also been warned about potential protests that may follow after the attacks on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya and the embassy in Cairo.

At least seven countries in the Middle East, Africa and the Caucasus have been included in the list of countries in which the embassies were warned. Among them are Armenia, Burundi, Kuwait, Sudan, Tunisia and Zambia.

No information about a possible threat to U.S citizens has been posted on the website of the U.S. embassy in Azerbaijan.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday he expected governments in the Muslim world to protect American diplomats, despite their revulsion at a film made on US soil deemed offensive to their faith.

"The message we have to send to the Muslim world is that we expect you to work with us, to keep our people safe," Obama said during a taping of the "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS TV.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, said "we are taking aggressive steps to protect" diplomatic missions worldwide.

Taliban fighters last week stormed a British-run airfield, killing two US Marines and destroying six US fighter jets in another act of vengeance.

In Pakistan, two protesters died after demonstrating against the film close to the Afghan border and outside the US consulate in Karachi.

Police used tear gas to disperse more than 2,000 protesters trying to reach the US consulate in the city of Peshawar, chanting anti-US slogans and burning the Stars and Stripes flag.

Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan blocked access to YouTube, following the video-sharing website's failure to take down the clip of the film. Saudi Arabia and Russia indicated they may follow suit.

In east Jerusalem hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli border police, hurling stones and firebombs at a checkpoint.