About 200 Muslims in Finland held demonstration on Monday afternoon against the publication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad by Danish and other European newspapers.

The demonstrators marched peacefully to the Embassy of Denmark in central Helsinki to voice their indignation toward Danish press publishing of cartoon image of Prophet Muhammad.

The demonstration is organized by the Islamic Society of Finland. The leader of the Islamic Society, Imam Khodr Chehab went inside the Embassy of Denmark and presented protest to the ambassador Niels Dyrlund. He demanded on behalf of Muslims in Finland that the Danish government should apologize on the publication of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad.

In a temperature of -20 degrees Celsius, the crowd dispersed quickly and the protesters did not use violence.

According to a report of the Finnish media on Monday, Finnish Archbishop Jukka Paarma has expressed his support for Muslim population in Finland concerning the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. In an open letter, Paarma condemned the act deemed offensive to religious people.

The letter was addressed to Imam Khodr Chehab of the Islamic Society of Finland and to Chairman Okar Daher of the Finnish Islamic Congregation. The archbishop also spoke out against the recent violence which has erupted in certain Muslim countries.

The cartoons that caused outrage in the Muslim world were published by Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last September and republished then in some other European newspapers. The publication sparked violent protests in Syria and Lebanon where Danish embassies were torched over the weekend.

Source: Xinhua

Source :  http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200602/07/eng20060207_240692.html