Danes issue travel warning list

Danish flags have been burned in protests around the world

Denmark has listed 14 countries it says Danes should not visit unless strictly necessary, amid Muslim outrage over the Prophet Muhammad cartoons.

The foreign ministry also recommends against any travel to Syria or Yemen.

The advice follows protests by Muslims around the world, and attacks against Danish embassies in Syria and Lebanon.

The cartoons satirising the Prophet Muhammad were first published in a Danish newspaper. Norway has also advised against travel to Syria.

Norway has also been the focus of protests as the Danish cartoons were republished by the Norwegian press.

Muslims consider any images of Muhammad offensive. One of the cartoons shows the Prophet wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

Unfortunately, misinformation and misunderstandings on both sides have been allowed to nourish those forces that seek to promote confrontation Per Stig Moeller Danish Foreign Minister

Protests spread

In the Iranian capital Tehran a crowd of about 200 protesters pelted the Austrian embassy with stones, firecrackers and eggs on Monday. Austria currently holds the presidency of the European Union.

Austria's Kleine Zeitung newspaper republished the Danish cartoons on Monday - a move that triggered a strike by about 30 Muslims who deliver newspapers in Graz.

Over the weekend, Lebanese demonstrators set fire to the Danish embassy in Beirut and mobs in Syria torched the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus.

Lebanon's interior minister quit after the Beirut attack on the embassy. Two hundred people were arrested after the riot, including more than 70 Syrians and some Palestinians.

Danes living in Lebanon have been told to leave the country or stay indoors.

Apology

The countries on the Danish foreign ministry's travel advice list are: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates.

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said he was "horrified to see the wave of violence and attacks and how this is spreading throughout the Middle East at a rapid pace".

"This is clearly a matter of global concern and a matter that demands collective efforts and swift action," he said. "It is now a case which is much bigger than the issue of the drawings."

Mr Moeller thanked Muslim religious leaders who had deplored the arson attacks and criticised the reactions of the mobs.

The Danish newspaper which first published the cartoons, Jyllands-Posten, has apologised to the Muslim world for the offence caused.