"Muslims in the Middle East and beyond on Monday broadened their calls for boycotts of French products and protests, as a clash over depictions of the Prophet Muhammad and the limits of free speech intensified. Kuwaiti stores pulled French yogurts and bottles of sparkling water from their shelves, Qatar University canceled a French culture week, and calls to stay away from the Carrefour grocery store chain were trending on social media in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Protests have been held in Iraq, Turkey and the Gaza Strip, and Pakistan's parliament passed a resolution condemning the publication of cartoons of the prophet.br>
The beheading earlier this month of a French teacher who had shown caricatures of the prophet in class has once again ignited a debate over such depictions - which Muslims consider blasphemous. The growing confrontation is raising political tensions between France and some Muslim-majority nations, especially Turkey, and could put pressure on French companies. Other European countries have also entered the fray in support of France.br>
The teacher, who was killed by an 18-year-old Chechen refugee, has been heralded at home as a national symbol of France's dearly held secular ideals and its rejection of any whiff of religious intrusion in public spheres.br>
French President Emmanuel Macron has vigorously defended such depictions as protected by the right to free speech..."