(VOVworld) – Thousands of Muslims took to the streets on Friday to protest satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo’s recent caricature of Prophet Mohammed. Demonstrations were held in the Pakistani cities of Karachi, Lahore and the capital Islamabad. Clashes erupted in Karachi when protesters started heading toward the French consulate, throwing stones at police, who pushed them back with water cannons and tear gas. In Jordan, more than 2 thousand people joined in protests in Amman with slogans and banners criticizing Charlie Hebdo magazine and calling for strong actions against those targeting Islam. In Dakar, Senegal, police had to use tear gas to disperse crowds of around 1000 protestors.

Muslims shout slogans against France and call for its apology while carrying banners during a demonstration against satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, after attending Jumma prayer in Khartoum, Sudan on January 16, 2015. (Reuters / Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah)

In Algeria, people in the capital city of Algiers took to the streets with banners chanting “All of us are Mohamed. We sacrifice our lives for Mohamed”. Protests against Charlie Hebdo also took place in Palestine, Syria, Iran, Kuwait, and Mauritania.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that the French satirical weekly's latest caricature of the Prophet Mohammed is a provocative action. He said publications against Catholicism and Muslim can not be called under the name of freedom. Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said the caricature of the Prophet Mohammed is an attack targeting Muslim as well as other religions around the world. Authorities in Qatar and Bahrain also waned that Charlie Hebdo’s new caricature of Prophet Mohammed would flare up anger in the Muslim world.