France on edge as religious row reawkens immigrant tensions

PARIS - The controversy over the publication in of the Muhammad cartoons has left France deeply divided and worried about a revival of tensions among its more than five million Muslims.

In a country still recovering from November's rioting by many young French-born Arabs, a controversy which pitched respect for the sacred figure of Islam against the freedom of expression was the last thing it needed.

Religious leaders, Muslim, Jewish and Christian, have attacked the cartoons as offensive, while politicians have kept a low profile.

Those who have spoken have sought to soothe tensions, emphasised regret at the hurt feelings among Muslims, yet not questioned the right of the press to run the cartoons.

Among the public, though, the feelings run deeper and sentiments are polarised.

There is deep anger at perceived hypocrisy and intolerance in Muslim countries, just as there are accusations that the reprinting of the cartoons were an attempt to sell newspapers or masked a racist motive.

Of 70,000 people who responded to an online survey by the leftwing Nouvel Observateur, 53 per cent were in favour of publishing the cartoons, and 47 per cent against.

The web forum AgoraVox buzzed with angry views, some posted by people who seemed afraid that cherished Wetern freedoms were at risk from a rising tide of religious intolerance.

"Of the 22 countries in the Arab world, two are pretty much democracies, and the 20 others are dictatorships, kingdoms, theocracies - the real cream of freedom, models for everyone!" said a post submitted by "Eric".

"These people want to wag their finger, and worse, they want to impose their way of thinking and living (on the West)."

Among French Muslims, the mood seems to be of vexation and concern that lasting damage has been done by the argument.

"If we Muslims get caricatured, that doesn't bother us," said Mohammad, sipping a drink in a Paris tea room. "But Mohammad shouldn't be touched. He's sacred."

"The people who drew these pictures probably don't believe in anything. Their lack of understanding could stoke bad tensions.

"Given what's happening in Palestine and Iraq, it's no time to make a joke [about Islam]."

His friend Rachid said the cartoons daubed Islam as a religion that supported violence when its true doctrine was quite the opposite.

"It foments hatred, and its an insult to all those who pray five times a day and have nothing to do with fundamentalism."