The United States backed Muslims yesterday against European newspapers which printed caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in a move that could help America's battered image in the Islamic world.
Inserting itself into a dispute which has become a lightning rod for anti-European sentiment across the Muslim world, the US sided with Muslims outraged that publication of the images put press freedom above respect for religion.
"These cartoons are indeed offensive to the belief of Muslims," State Department spokesman Kurtis Cooper said. "We all fully recognise 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."
He said he had no comment as to why the US chose to pass judgment in a dispute which ostensibly does not involve America.
Major US publications have not republished the cartoons, which include depictions of Muhammad as a terrorist, which believers say are blasphemous.
In contrast, some European media responded to the criticism against the Danish newspaper which originally printed the caricatures by reproducing the images, which fuelled anger that has led to boycotts of Danish products and widespread protests.
The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten said yesterday that it would not have published the material had it known what the consequences would be.
"If we had known that it would end with death threats and that Danish lives could actually be put at risk, we would naturally not have printed the drawings," the paper said in an editorial.
Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen met Muslim envoys to urge calm, but he said he could not apologise on behalf of Jyllands-Posten, which first published the cartoons.
"Neither the Danish government nor the Danish nation as such can be held responsible for drawings published in a Danish newspaper," he said after the meeting. "A Danish government can never apologise on behalf of a free and independent newspaper.This is basically a dispute between some Muslims and a newspaper."
Danish companies have reported sales falling in the Middle East after calls for boycotts. Mr Rasmussen said he hoped the situation would improve soon, but it could have "unpredictable repercussions" if protests continued.
Mona Omar Attia, Egypt's ambassador to Denmark, said after meeting Mr Rasmussen that she was satisfied with the position of the Danish government, but she regretted that the prime minister had said he could not interfere with the press.
European leaders yesterday called for restraint as more newspapers published caricatures of Muhammad, saying freedom of speech was sacrosanct. Muslims, however, protested against the images, which they call blasphemous. Violent demonstrations took place in Indonesia, Turkey and on the Palestinian west bank.
"I am concerned . . . about this escalation we have seen over the last few days," said Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the European Union's presidency.
"From my point of view, it is high time to take a step back and make an effort to see things with each other's eyes and hearts. The language or gesture of threats gets us nowhere," she told a news conference in Vienna.
French president Jacques Chirac, whose country has a large Muslim minority, appealed for all sides to avoid "anything that could offend others' convictions", a spokesman said.
Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said that the dispute pitted "the whole Islamic world vis-à-vis Denmark and vis-à-vis the trend of Islamophobia".
Up to 300 Islamic activists in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, stormed into the lobby of a building housing the Danish embassy in Jakarta. They smashed lamps, threw chairs, eggs and tomatoes and tore up a Danish flag. No one was injured.