With a mounting diplomatic storm, calls for a boycott of Danish goods and flag-burning protests, Danish security police met Muslim religious leaders in a bid to contain any domestic reaction to cartoons first run by the Jyllands-Posten paper.
Norwegian Christian weekly Magazinet also published the cartoons, prompting authorities to issue apologies. A boycott of Norwegian dairy giant TINE's products, particularly its leading Jarlserg cheese, has also been threatened by offended Muslim groups.
"Because no religious dogma can impose its view on a democratic and secular society, France Soir publishes the incriminated cartoons," the paper said.
Under a headline "Yes, we have the right to caricature God", the paper ran a front page cartoon with Buddha, the Christian and Jewish Gods and the Prophet Mohammed sitting on a cloud above Earth, with the Christian God saying: "Don't complain Mohammed, we've all been caricatured here."
"Enough lessons from these reactionary bigots! There is nothing in these incriminated cartoons that intends to be racist or denigrate any community as such," editor Serge Faubert wrote in a commentary. "Some are funny, others less so. That's it. That is why we have decided to publish them."
According to Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende, some of the offending cartoons have now also appeared in German newspaper Die Welt, and Icelandic daily DV.
