Egypt summons Danish ambassador over cartoons
CAIRO (Reuters) - The Egyptian government has summoned the ambassador of Denmark in Cairo to protest at the reprinting of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed in Danish newspapers, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The Information Ministry also said it has banned issues of four Western newspapers, including the Wall Street Journal and Britain's The Observer, because they contained the reprints, the state-run Middle East News Agency reported.
Protests and riots erupted in many Muslim countries in 2006 when the cartoons, one showing the Prophet wearing a turban resembling a bomb, first appeared in a Danish daily. At least 50 people were killed and three Danish embassies attacked.
"The insistence of the Danish media to insult Islam again is unfortunate since the incident of publishing the cartoons has undoubtedly confirmed that such shameful acts only lead to more tension," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Egypt is the most populous Arab country and is home to al-Azhar mosque, the highest seat of Sunni Muslim learning.
The Egyptian Football Association said on Tuesday that it had called off two friendly matches between the Egyptian and Danish youth teams, also because of the cartoons.
Ahmed Shoubeir, vice president of the football association, said the reprints were "provocative".
"This is hurting the feeling of Muslims in a way that we have never seen," he said.
The Egyptian youth team was scheduled to host the Danish team this month but will instead play the United Arab Emirates on March 1, Shoubeir told Reuters.
Denmark was known in Egypt and the Middle East mostly for its dairy products and through former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel until the Jyllands-Posten newspaper published the cartoons in 2005.
A poll conducted by a government agency in October 2006 showed most Egyptians viewed Denmark as a hostile state, second only to Israel, which fought four wars with Egypt.
Also on Tuesday, hundreds of students held a protest against the cartoons in the university of Assiut, south of Cairo.
The protestors, led by the state-appointed president of the university, called for boycotting Danish goods and chanted slogans praising the Prophet Mohammed.
(Writing by Alaa Shahine)
