Palestinians march against Charlie Hebdo cartoon

RAMALLAH — Thousands of Palestinians marched Saturday in the West Bank in protest over the latest cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo,

Answering calls by the Liberation Party, an Islamist group, demonstrators rallied in the cities of Ramallah and Hebron, some carrying banners expressing faith in Islam and others wearing black headbands calling for the establishment of a Muslim caliphate, AFP photographers said.

The protests were called in response to a cartoon published by Charlie Hebdo a week after a January 7 attack by Islamist gunmen at its Paris headquarters killed 12 people.

Depictions of the prophet are considered forbidden in Islam and the latest one has sparked angry protests across the Muslim world, some of which turned deadly.

There have been several demonstrations in the Palestinian territories, notably in Gaza City on Monday, where some 200 radical Islamists tried to storm the French cultural center and burned French flags.

They were arrested by the police of the Islamist Hamas, the de facto power in Gaza.

Hamas and other political and religious authorities have condemned the Charlie Hebdo cartoon but also the deadly attack on the magazine.