By REUTERS 
 
 Photo: Reuters 
 
 Charlie Hebdo 
 
 PARIS - France said it would temporarily close its embassies and schools in 20 countries on Friday after a French magazine published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, a move it fears will further inflame tensions over a film mocking the prophet."We have indeed decided as a precautionary measure to close our premises, embassies, consulates, cultural centers and schools," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said of the shut-down on Friday, prayer day across the Muslim world.The French satirical weekly published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad on Wednesday, a move criticized by the French authorities which sent riot police to protect the magazine's offices.In response, Muslim leaders criticized the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad as another Western insult to their faith and urged France's government to take firm action against it."We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonor the Prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people's beliefs," the acting head of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, Essam Erian, said.Issues of the magazine hit newsstands with a front cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing a turbaned figure in a wheelchair with several caricatures of the Prophet on its inside pages, including some of him naked.The front page cartoon had the wheelchair-bound figure saying "You mustn't mock" under the headline "Untouchable 2", a reference to a hugely popular French movie about a paralyzed rich white man and his black assistant.The publication came amid widespread outrage over a short film, made with private funds in the United States, that mocks the Prophet and has ignited days of sometimes deadly protests in the Arab world, Africa, Asia and some Western countries.French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius criticized the move as a provocation and said he had ordered security beefed up at French diplomatic offices in the Muslim world.Charlie Hebdo's Paris offices were fire bombed last November after it published a mocking caricature of Mohammad. In 2005, Danish cartoons of the Prophet sparked a wave of violent protests across the Muslim world that killed at least 50 people.Many Muslims consider any representation of Allah or the Prophet Mohammad offensive."Is it relevant and intelligent in this environment to add fuel to the fire? The answer is no," Fabius told France Info radio. "I'm very worried... and when I saw this I immediately issued instructions for special security precautions to be taken in all the countries where it could be a problem."The government has called for restraint over the cartoons, restating the principles of free speech in France and urging those shocked by the images to take action through the courts.Muslim leaders in France, which has Europe's largest Muslim population, have appealed for calm.As outrage over the anti-Muslim film continues to fuel violence and protests across the Islamic world, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the authorities had rejected a request to hold a march against the film in Paris."There is no reason for us to allow conflicts that do not concern France to enter our country," Ayrault told RTL radio.Social media had circulated calls for a protest on Saturday against the film, after police arrested about 150 people who tried to take part in an unauthorized protest near the US Embassy in Paris last week. ||||| A FRENCH satirical magazine has published nude cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, a move that could further inflame tensions after violent protests in the Muslim world over an anti-Islam film. 
 
 The cover of Charlie Hebdo today shows a Muslim in a wheelchair being pushed by an Orthodox Jew under the title Intouchables 2, referring to an award-winning French film about a poor black man who helps an aristocratic quadriplegic. 
 
 Another cartoon on the back page of the weekly magazine shows a naked turbaned Mohammed exposing his posterior to a film director, a scene inspired by a 1963 film starring French film star Brigitte Bardot. 
 
 Charlie Hebdo's website crashed today after being bombarded with comments that ranged from hate mail to approbation. 
 
 The magazine is no stranger to controversy over issues relating to Islam. 
 
 Last year it published an edition ''guest-edited'' by Prophet Mohammed that it called Sharia Hebdo. 
 
 The magazine's offices in Paris were subsequently fire-bombed. 
 
 French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said anyone offended by cartoons could take the matter to the courts after expressing his 'disapproval of all excesses''. 
 
 But he emphasised France's tradition of free speech. 
 
 ''We are in a country where freedom of expression is guaranteed, including the freedom to caricature,'' he said on RTL radio. 
 
 ''If people really feel offended in their beliefs and think there has been an infringement of the law - and we are in a state where laws must be totally respected - they can go to court,'' Ayrault said. 
 
 He also said a request to hold a demonstration in Paris against the controversial US-made anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked furious protests across the Muslim world, would be refused. 
 
 Charlie Hebdo's latest move was greeted with immediate calls from political and religious leaders for the media to act responsibly and avoid inflaming the current situation. 
 
 The magazine's editor, originally a cartoonist who uses the name Charb, denied he was being deliberately provocative at a delicate time. 
 
 ''The freedom of the press, is that a provocation?'' he said. 
 
 ''I'm not asking strict Muslims to read Charlie Hebdo, just like I wouldn't go to a mosque to listen to speeches that go against everything I believe.'' 
 
 Dalil Boubakeur, the senior cleric at Paris's biggest mosque, appealed for France's four million Muslims to remain calm. 
 
 ''It is with astonishment, sadness and concern that I have learned that this publication is risking increasing the current outrage across the Muslim world,'' he said. 
 
 ''I would appeal to them not to pour oil on the fire.'' 
 
 France's Muslim Council, the community's main representative body, also appealed for calm in the face of ''this new act of Islamaphobia''. ||||| France's leadership is barring a planned protest by people angry over a film produced in the United States that insults the Prophet Muhammad, but are defending a newspaper's right to publish caricatures of the prophet. 
 
 France's foreign minister said security is being stepped up at some French embassies amid tensions in France and elsewhere around the film "The Innocence of Muslims." French authorities and Muslim leaders urged calm in the country with western Europe's largest Muslim population. 
 
 Riot police took up positions outside the Paris offices of a satirical French weekly that published crude caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad on Wednesday that ridicule the film and the furor surrounding it. The provocative weekly, Charlie Hebdo, was firebombed last year after it released a special edition that was "guest edited" by the Prophet Muhammad and took aim at radical Islam. The investigation into that attack is still under way. 
 
 Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that organizers of the planned demonstration Saturday against the film "Innocence of Muslims" won't receive police authorization for the protest. 
 
 Ayrault told French radio RTL on Wednesday that "there's no reason for us to let a conflict that doesn't concern France come into our country. We are a republic that has no intention of being intimidated by anyone." 
 
 A wave of protest has swept some Muslim countries over the amateurish video posted online. The total number of deaths linked to unrest over the film is at least 28. 
 
 In Paris, prosecutors have opened an investigation into an unauthorized protest last Saturday around the American Embassy that drew about 150 people and led to scores of arrests. 
 
 The tensions around the film in France provoked debate about the limits of free speech. 
 
 Ayrault emphasized that the freedom of expression was guaranteed in France, but said it "should be exercised with responsibility and respect." 
 
 Satirical, small-circulation weekly Charlie Hebdo often draws attention for ridiculing sensitivity around the Prophet Muhammad. Its website was down Wednesday, but it was unclear why. 
 
 Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, speaking on France Inter radio, said Wednesday, "In France we have freedom of expression, very well, this principle must not be infringed." But he added, "Is it pertinent, intelligent, in this context to pour oil on the fire? The answer is no." 
 
 He said that he had "sent instructions to all countries where this could pose problems, we are taking specific security measures." 
 
 An umbrella group for French Muslims, the CFCM, issued a statement expressing its "deep concern" over the latest Charlie Hebdo caricatures and warned that "in a very tense context, it risks exacerbating tensions and provoking reactions." 
 
 It urged French Muslims to "not cede to provocation and ... express their indignation in peace via legal means."
– France is on lockdown today after a satirical French newspaper published cartoons of the prophet Mohammed—including at least one featuring the prophet naked, reports ABC News. Fearing reprisals, Paris has closed embassies in 20 countries, reports the Jerusalem Post. The caricatures in the cheeky weekly Charlie Hebdo make fun of the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims and the uproar surrounding it. The cover features the prophet being pushed in a wheelchair by an Orthodox Jew under the title Untouchables 2, in reference to a popular French movie featuring a friendship in France between a disabled white man and his black helper. The last time Charlie Hebdo printed an image of Mohammed as a "guest editor" on its cover, its Paris office was firebombed. French government officials have criticized the decision to print the images just as Innocence of Muslims has sparked angry protests in some 20 nations, reports the Herald Sun. Officials didn't try to block publication of the caricatures, but have barred a Saturday protest against the film, reports the AP. Paris police have stepped up security at Charlie Hebdo's offices and around the city, where the top cleric in the largest mosque is already appealing for calm. France is home to Europe's largest Muslim population.