France has stepped up security at some of its embassies following the publication of crude cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in a French magazine, the Associated Press reported.
At the same time, New Yorkers will see a new ad campaign in the city’s subway system that calls jihad “savage,” The New York Times reports.
The French Foreign Ministry issued a warning on Wednesday instructing French people traveling in Muslim countries to exercise “extreme vigilance” and to try to avoid large gatherings and “sensitive buildings” that might represent the west.
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that security had been increased in French embassies in some countries, but it was unclear which. He further said that he had “sent instructions to all countries where this could pose problems.”
The cartoons, published in Charlie Hebdo, a small Parisian weekly, were inspired by the trailer for the film, “The Innocence of Muslims,” which has been blamed for sparking riots in the Muslim world and the attacks that killed four U.S. diplomats in Libya.
In New York, the ads were initially rejected by the city's transit system, but a federal court ruled they must be permitted to be shown on First Amendment grounds.
The ad reads: “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man,” and ends, “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.” The ads were produced by American Freedom Defense Initiative, a group headed by Pamela Geller, a prominent blogger who helped spark protest of the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque.”
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