Danes Urged To Leave Indonesia

Denmark urged its citizens on Saturday to immediately leave Indonesia, saying they were facing an "imminent" danger from an extremist group over the prophet drawings.

The warning came hours after Denmark announced it had withdrawn embassy staff from Indonesia, Iran and Syria, countries where Danish embassy buildings have been attacked by rioting mobs protesting the cartoons.

"There is concrete information that indicates that an extremist group actively will seek out Danes in protest of the publication of the Muhammad drawings," the ministry said in a statement. It did not name the group.

All Danes should leave the country as soon as possible because they were facing "a significant and imminent danger," the ministry said, adding the threat was focused on the eastern part of Java, but could spread to other parts of the country, including Bali.

Earlier Saturday, the Foreign Ministry said it withdrew all Danish staff from Indonesia and Iran after they had received threats. Diplomats were also pulled from Syria because they were not getting enough protection from authorities, the ministry said.

The Danish ambassador to Lebanon left earlier this week after the embassy building in Beirut was burned by protesters.

The small Scandinavian country is shell-shocked by the wave of anti-Danish protests, some of them violent, that have spread across the Muslim world.

Danish paper Jyllands-Posten, which published the cartoons in September, apologized for offending Muslims but stood by its decision to print the drawings, citing the freedom of speech.

Islam is interpreted to forbid any illustrations of Muhammad for fear they could lead to idolatry.

The newspaper's culture editor, Flemming Rose, who was in charge of the drawings, went on indefinite leave Thursday but many Muslims said that would do little to quell the uproar.

The paper has denied that Rose was ordered to leave because he suggested reprinting Holocaust drawings solicited by an Iranian newspaper, setting off a dispute earlier this week with Jyllands-Posten's editor-in-chief.

"He was not forced out," said the paper's spokesman, Tage Clausen. "He's on vacation, that's all."

Clausen said Rose had been under "tremendous pressure" as the conflict escalated with attacks on Danish embassies and anti-Danish protests throughout the Muslim world.

Abdul Wahid Pedersen, a Danish imam, said Rose's departure would have little effect, and might even escalate the situation by giving the impression the newspaper was more worried about offending Jews than Muslims.

"We warmly welcome that he is sent on holiday," Pedersen said. "But that it happens a day after the matter with the Jewish caricatures gives it a different taste somehow."

Many Danes suspect a group of Danish Islamic leaders helped stir rage in the Muslim world with visits to the Mideast and inflammatory comments to Arabic media.

The Muslim leaders deny responsibility for fueling the flames, and have repeatedly denounced the violence.

The anti-immigration Danish People's Party, which supports the government in Parliament, on Friday urged the government to withdraw the citizenship of three of the front-figures of the group.