France bans protests Friday against anti-Islam film, cartoons

French authorities have refused authorisations for protests Friday against the recent video and cartoons published respectively in the United States and France over the past week and which are insulting to Islam, official sources announced. The Police Prefecture and the Interior Ministry said that the protests would jeopardise public security and would not be allowed to take place in view of the clashes that took place at a similar, unauthorised demonstration near the US embassy last Saturday. Police and mainly Muslim demonstrators clashed on the Champs Elysees near the US mission and there were even incidents in front of the nearby Elysee Palace, the official residence of President Francois Hollande, and in front of the Interior Ministry. About 250 people demonstrated against the insulting US video last week and 150 were detained for identity checks before being released. A mass protest scheduled for the central Trocadero area opposite the Eiffel Tower on Friday has been banned and a second request for a demonstration outside the Paris Mosque has also been forbidden. The Rector of the Paris Mosque, Dr. Dalil Bubaker, complained in a statement that Muslims were being deprived of any means to protest the insult to their religion. Nonetheless, he called on the Muslim community to avoid violence and to protest in dignity and quietly and to respect the laws of the Republic. He blasted the video and the cartoons that were a direct slight against the Muslim religion and were a provocation. In a statement, Bubaker called the video and cartoons "imbecile" a label also given Thursday by Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. The US was the main target of large protests across the Muslim world in the past week, because of the video, but France is now also targeted because of the insulting cartoons published Wednesday in satirical weekly "Charlie Hebdo." Thirty people have died in the week-long protests, mainly against US interests, but France is now taking exceptional security measures at its embassies, consulates, schools and other institutions in about 20 Muslim countries and has decided to close all offices on Friday, fearing a violent reaction to the cartoon publication. The government here has regretted the publication of such cartoons but noted it cannot ban media for doing so under the freedom of expression laws. Despite the ban on demonstrations, there are calls for protests in several areas Friday and police are on high alert to break up the protests.