BareNakedIslam posted: " A French magazine published vulgar caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad on Wednesday, inflaming global tensions over a movie insulting to Islam. In response, the French government ordered embassies and schools to close Friday in about 20 countries. CHE" New post on BARE NAKED ISLAM |  | A French magazine published vulgar caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad on Wednesday, inflaming global tensions over a movie insulting to Islam. In response, the French government ordered embassies and schools to close Friday in about 20 countries. 
France 24 is reporting that, fearing backlash, the country is temporarily closing 20 embassies. ABC NEWS The move by the provocative weekly Charlie Hebdo followed days of violent protests from Asia to Africa against the U.S.-produced film "Innocence of Muslims" and turned France into a potential target of Muslim rage. Up to now, American government sites have drawn the most ire. Violence linked to the amateurish movie, which portrays the prophet as a fraud, a womanizer and a child molester, has killed at least 30 people in seven countries, including the American ambassador to Libya. At the same time, the country - which has western Europe's largest Muslim population - plunged into a new debate over the limits of free speech in a modern democracy. France's prime minister said freedom of expression is guaranteed, but cautioned that it "should be exercised with responsibility and respect." Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius warned that Charlie Hebdo could be throwing "oil on the fire," but said it's up to the courts to decide whether the magazine went too far. The magazine's crude cartoons played off the film and ridiculed the violent reaction to it. Riot police took up positions outside the offices of the magazine, which was firebombed last year after it released an edition that mocked radical Islam. Charlie Hebdo's chief editor, who goes by the name of Charb and has been under police protection for a year, defended the cartoons. "Muhammad isn't sacred to me," he said in an interview at the weekly's offices on the northeast edge of Paris. "I don't blame Muslims for not laughing at our drawings. I live under French law; I don't live under Quranic law." Charb said he had no regrets and felt no responsibility for any violence. "I'm not the one going into the streets with stones and Kalashnikovs," he said. "We've had 1,000 issues and only three problems, all after front pages about radical Islam." Abdallah Zekri, president of the Paris-based Anti-Islamophobia Observatory, said his group is considering filing a lawsuit against the magazine. "People want to create trouble in France," he said. "Charlie Hebdo wants to make money on the backs of Muslims." Charlie Hebdo was acquitted in 2008 by a Paris appeals court of "publicly abusing a group of people because of their religion" following a complaint by Muslim associations. 
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