Violence escalates over prophet cartoons

Muslims believe any depiction of their religion's founder is blasphemy.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) -- Thousands rampaged through two cities Tuesday in Pakistan's worst violence against Prophet Mohammed caricatures, burning buildings housing a hotel, banks and a KFC, vandalizing a Citibank and breaking windows at a Holiday Inn and a Pizza Hut.
At least two people were killed in Lahore, where intelligence officials suspected outlawed Islamic militant groups incited the violence to undermine President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's U.S.-allied government.
What was observed
An Associated Press reporter in Lahore saw crowd members who appeared to be orchestrating the attacks, directing protesters -- some of whom were carrying containers of kerosene -- toward particular targets. The demonstrators also set the provincial government assembly building on fire.
In the capital, Islamabad, hundreds of students stormed through the main entrance of the tightly guarded enclave that houses most foreign embassies, brandishing sticks and throwing stones. They were dispersed with tear gas, and no foreigners were hurt.
The unruly protests and deaths marked an alarming spike in the unrest in Pakistan over the cartoons, which first appeared in a Danish newspaper in September and have been reprinted by other Western newspapers. One cartoon depicts Mohammed wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with an ignited detonator string.
Many in this conservative Islamic country, as across the Muslim world, regard any depiction of the prophet as blasphemous. They reject the newspapers' explanations that the cartoons have news value and represent free speech.
In southern Iraq, Basra's provincial council demanded the withdrawal of Denmark's 530-member military contingent from the region unless the Danish government apologizes for the cartoons -- which it refuses to do, saying it has no influence over the media.
The president of the European Commission backed the Danish government's refusal, saying freedom of speech cannot be compromised. "It's better to publish too much than not to have freedom," President Jose Manuel Barroso told Jyllands-Posten, the paper that first published the drawings.
What's happened
Demonstrations around Asia and the Middle East have subsided in recent days, including in Afghanistan, where 11 people died in riots last week. But the protests have gathered momentum in Pakistan this week.
In Lahore, the eastern city that is the main commercial hub in prosperous Punjab province, about 15,000 joined the protest organized by a little-known religious group and an Islamic school. The demonstration was also supported by associations representing local traders who shuttered businesses and most markets Tuesday.
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