Indonesian Muslims rally against Danish cartoon

JAKARTA (Reuters) - About 150 Indonesian Muslims staged noisy rallies in front of the Danish and Dutch embassies in Jakarta on Wednesday to protest against the reprinting of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammad in Danish newspapers.

Protests and riots erupted in many Muslim countries in 2006 when the cartoons, one showing the Prophet wearing a turban resembling a bomb, first appeared in a Danish daily. At least 50 people were killed and three Danish embassies attacked.

Most Muslims consider depictions of the Prophet Mohammad offensive.

"Freedom of speech should never be used as an excuse to insult a personality that is revered by 1.4 billion people in the world," said Ismail Yusanto, spokesman of radical international Muslim group Hizbut Tahrir, which organised the rally.

Yusanto said the group wanted the Danish government to stop the insult and punish the perpetrators.

"If nothing is done by Western governments, expect to see our Muslim brothers taking matters into their own hand."

Last Wednesday, Denmark's five major daily newspapers republished one of the 12 drawings of the Prophet Mohammad that angered Muslims around the world, as a protest against a plot to murder one of the cartoonists, 73-year-old Kurt Westergaard.

At least two Dutch newspapers published pictures of the Danish newspapers, with the cartoon visible. The protesters, who blocked the entrance to the embassies, wore headbands bearing Arabic inscriptions and waved banners saying "Death to those who insult the Prophet" and "Freedom of speech a disguise to insult Islam".

(Reporting by Reuters Television and Adhityani Arga; Editing by Sugita Katyal and Alex Richardson)