Swedish Muslims Protest Prophet Cartoon

Pakistani protesters rally holding a flag with the name of artist Lars Vilks, as they condemn the publication of a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in a Swedish newspaper, Friday, Aug. 31, 2007, in Lahore, Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary) (K.m.chaudary - AP)

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Swedish Muslims demonstrated Friday against a newspaper that published a drawing depicting the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body and demanded its chief editor apologize.

The rally outside the newspaper Nerikes Allehanda in Orebro followed formal protests by the governments of Iran and Pakistan over the cartoon by Swedish artist Lars Vilks.

Sweden's prime minister called for mutual respect between Muslims, Christians and nonreligious groups in an attempt to avert a wider conflict. Last year, fiery protests erupted in Muslim countries after a Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons of Muhammad.

Islamic law is interpreted to forbid any depiction of the prophet for fear it could lead to idolatry.

About 300 people rallied outside the Nerikes Allehanda offices, saying the rough sketch showing Muhammad's head on a dog's body insulted Muslims, the news agency TT reported.

"We want to show Nerike's Allehanda that Muslims in this city are upset over what happened," Jamal Lamhamdi, chairman of the Islamic cultural center in Orebro, told Swedish public radio. Orebro is a city of about 100,000 people 125 miles west of Stockholm.

Earlier, a handful of people, mostly young, staged a separate demonstration outside the newspaper in defense of press freedom, TT said.

The newspaper's editor-in-chief, Ulf Johansson, met with Lamhamdi but refused to apologize for the cartoon, which was part of an Aug. 19 editorial criticizing several Swedish art galleries for refusing to display a series of Vilks' drawings showing Muhammad.

"They say they are offended and I regret that, because our purpose was not to offend anyone," Johansson told The Associated Press. "But they are asking for an apology and a promise that I never again publish a similar image ... and that I cannot do."

The editorial defended "Muslims' right to freedom of religion" but also said artists must be permitted to "ridicule Islam's most foremost symbols _ just like all other religions' symbols."

Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt commented on the dispute for the first time Friday, saying Sweden is a country "where Muslims and Christians, those who believe in God and those who don't believe in God can live side by side with mutual respect."

"At the same time we are eager to stand up for the freedom of speech ... which is about not taking decisions politically about what is published in newspapers," Reinfeldt told TT.

In a phone interview with AP, Vilks said he had expected protests but insisted he didn't mean to insult Muslims.

"My images are art. I don't have a xenophobic attitude. I'm not against Islam," he said.

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Associated Press writer Stephan Nasstrom contributed to this report.