CAIRO: Hundreds of hardline Islamists protested outside France's embassy in Cairo on Friday against a French satirical newspaper that published pictures of the Muslim prophet, the state MENA news agency reported. The news agency quoted Khaled Said, the spokesman of the Salafi group that organized the protest, as warning of "an escalation in peaceful measures against French interests," including a boycott of French goods. The Islamist said his group had submitted a protest to the embassy and organized the demonstration after the French government described the affair as a freedom of speech issue. MENA did not report any violence in the protest, which was organized after the main weekly Muslim prayers. The weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo renamed itself Charia (sharia — Islamic law) Hebdo for a special Arab Spring edition and featured a front-page cartoon of the prophet Mohamed saying: "100 lashes if you don't die of laughter!" Its offices in Paris were destroyed in a suspected firebomb attack on Nov. 2. Jihadist groups urged Muslims in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia "to protest and demand that their current leaders threaten to sever ties with France" if the publishing license for Charlie Hebdo is not revoked, and that similar acts against Islam be "criminalized," the SITE Intelligence group reported.
