France braces for backlash

France braced for a backlash over a French magazine’s publication of obscene caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammad, stepping up security at its embassies and banning demonstrations on its own soil as senior officials and Muslim leaders appealed for calm. Paris said that on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, it would shutter its diplomatic missions, cultural centers and French schools in around 20 Muslim countries for fear of violent protests. More than 30 people have been killed in attacks and violent protests linked to the film “Innocence of Muslims,” including 12 people who died in an attack by a female suicide bomber in Afghanistan on Tuesday. In Pakistan, around 1,000 students from the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami party took to the streets in the eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday, chanting anti-US slogans and burning the American flag.

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