Malaysia Protest Draws Thousands

Malaysia's leader on Friday warned of a "huge chasm" between Muslims and the West, as thousands of people took to the streets for the largest demonstrations yet in Asia against the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.

It was the second week of demonstrations. But last week's protest attracted less than 100 people, indicating that anger is growing in Malaysia, viewed as a model of a tolerant, modern Islamic state.

The protest came a day after the government ordered a nationwide ban on possessing or distributing the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad first published in a Danish newspaper that have outraged the Islamic world, saying they could trigger public tensions.

Thousands of Muslims also rallied in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, India and Sri Lanka, while smaller demonstrations were held in Indonesia and the Philippines. Protesters shouted anti-American and other slogans and burned, stomped and spat on Danish flags. There were no immediate reports of violence.

The demonstrations grew out of traditional Friday prayers. Some were held outside mosques while others involved crowds marching on the diplomatic missions of Denmark, the main target of Muslim ire because a newspaper there was the first to publish the cartoons.

In Malaysia's largest city, Kuala Lumpur, about 3,000 protesters marched from a mosque to the high rise building housing the Danish Embassy shouting: "Long live Islam. Destroy Denmark. Destroy Israel. Destroy George Bush. Destroy America!"

Opening a conference at a nearby venue, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi talked of a "huge chasm that has emerged between the West and Islam," particularly because of Muslim frustrations at Western policies toward Iraq, Afghanistan and the Palestinians.

"They think Osama bin Laden speaks for the religion and its followers," Abdullah said in his speech. "The demonization of Islam and the vilification of Muslims, there is no denying, is widespread within mainstream Western society."

Islam is interpreted as banning any depiction of the prophet as a guard against idolatry. Proponents say publication of the cartoons is a free speech issue.

In an interview with CBS News Up to the Minute Contributor Frank Ucciardo, international political cartoonist Ranan Lurie said he didn't believe he would draw a cartoon that "hurts a God."

"[The cartoonist] had a right to publish it and readers had the right to say it's in poor taste," Lurie explained.

In Pakistan, about 5,000 supporters of radical Islamic groups demonstrated in the capital, Islamabad, the biggest turnout since protests against the cartoons began about a week ago. Protesters burned Danish cheese, broke windows and briefly clashed with police Friday.

In a fiery speech, Mian Aslam, a leader of a coalition of Islamic groups, urged Pakistan to sever ties with any country where the drawings were published.

In Bangladesh, more than 5,000 Muslims watched by hundreds of riot police marched on Denmark's embassy in the capital, Dhaka, burning the country's flag and shouting, "Death to those who degrade our beloved prophet!"

In India, thousands of angry Muslims kicked, spat on and tore Danish flags and burned effigies in the capital, New Delhi, and in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Thousands of Egyptians protested in cities across the country after Muslim prayers, and clashes erupted with police who tried to disperse the demonstrators with water canons and tear gas.

In the Philippines, hundreds of Muslims burned a mock Danish flag and demanded the Danish newspaper that first published the caricatures be punished.