Syrian protesters set Danish embassy ablaze over cartoon

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Furious Syrians set fire to the Danish embassy on Saturday as protests over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad spread and oil giant

Iran said it was reviewing trade ties with countries that have published such caricatures.

Chanting "God is Great," thousands of protesters stormed the embassy, burned the Danish flag and replaced it with a flag reading "No God but Allah, Mohammad is His Prophet." They set fires which badly damaged the building before being put out.

No one was hurt as the embassy was closed at the time.

Denmark is at the eye of the storm as the cartoons that Muslims demonstrators find offensive, one of the Prophet with a turban resembling a bomb, first appeared in a Danish daily.

In another twist, Iran said it had formed a committee to review trade ties with countries that published cartoons that are deemed to insult the Prophet.

"A committee has been formed to review trade ties," a spokesman for the presidential office said.

From Gaza to Lahore, demonstrators rallied on Saturday to condemn the cartoons in what has developed into a face-off between press freedom and religious respect.

For many Muslims depicting the Prophet Mohammad is forbidden and European leaders have called for calm, expressing deep concern about the furor that has erupted over the last days.

Newspapers have insisted on their right to print the cartoons, citing freedom of speech.

Indonesia and Malaysia were the latest nations to publicly voice anger at the cartoons, joining a dispute that has become a lightning rod for anti-European sentiment in the Islamic world.

A black wreath was laid at the Danish embassy in Ankara. About 1,500 people were outside the Danish embassy in London.

Around 500 students of Islamic seminaries or madrasas protested in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, chanting "Down with Denmark" and "Hang the culprits."

Dozens of Palestinian youths tried to storm the office of the

European Union in Gaza and pledged to give their "blood to redeem the Prophet."

PUBLICATION BARRED, EDITOR ARRESTED

In South Africa, a court granted a request by a Muslim group to bar publication of the cartoons.

Jordan's state prosecutor arrested the editor of a tabloid weekly which had published the cartoons. He had already been sacked by publishers of his Shihan weekly for reprinting the turban-bomb cartoon as part of an article headlined "an Islamic Intifada (Uprising) against the Danish insult to Islam."

Two New Zealand newspapers on Saturday reprinted the cartoons, which have now appeared in newspapers in Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Hungary, saying their decision was based on press freedom.

Polish financial daily Rzeczpospolita also published the cartoons, drawing the ire of Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz who said: "It is my conviction that the bounds of properly conceived freedom of expression have been overstepped."

But in an interview with La Repubblica daily, European Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said it was not for the European Union to apologize.

"No, it's not Europe's duty, nor do I think it is the duty of (Danish) Prime Minister Rasmussen. We don't have the power to apologize in the name of the press. That would be violating the basis of freedom of the press. If they feel it is right, it is up to the editors and the authors of the cartoons to apologize to those who feel offended," he said.

U.S. STEPS INTO ROW

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul of Muslim but secular Turkey, a European Union candidate country, called for calm and for mutual respect between Muslims and non-Muslims.

And a prominent British Muslim expressed outrage at placards held at a rally outside the Danish embassy on Friday -- "Europe your 9/11 will come" and "Behead those who insult Islam."

"I've been calling scores of Muslim groups around the country today to talk about this," Asghar Bukhari of Britain's Muslim Public Affairs Committee said. "Every single one of us is outraged by this bunch of thugs."

The United States also stepped into the row.

"These cartoons are indeed offensive to the belief of Muslims," State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said. "We all fully recognize and respect freedom of the press and expression, but it must be coupled with press responsibility. Inciting religious or ethnic hatreds in this manner is not acceptable."

The U.S. response contrasted with European governments, which have tended to acknowledge tension between free speech and respect for religion but have generally accepted papers' rights to print the cartoons.