Newspapers in France and Germany have reprinted Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, saying press freedom was more important than the protests and boycotts the cartoons have sparked across the Muslim world.
The Danish embassy in Damascus was evacuated after a bomb threat that turned out to be a hoax and Syria recalled its ambassador from Denmark in protest against the cartoons, one of which shows the Prophet Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.
In Copenhagen, security police met Islamic leaders in a bid to calm reactions there. Muslims consider images of prophets distasteful and caricatures blasphemous.
Dalil Boubakeur, head of the French Muslim Council, denounced the publication of the drawings as a "provocation."
Burhan Kesici, a leader of Germany's Turkish community, said they reduced Islam "to two or three terrorists."
Two large Danish companies reported their sales falling in the Middle East after the incident led to protests in the Arab world and calls for boycotts.
"Enough lessons from these reactionary bigots!" France Soir editor Serge Faubert wrote in a commentary explaining why his newspaper had printed the cartoons.
"Just because the Koran bans images of Mohammed doesn't mean non-Muslims have to submit to this."
Germany's Die Welt printed a similar piece to accompany the cartoons.
"There is no right to be shielded from satire in the West," it said. "Christianity has been the object of ruthless criticism ... being able to make fun of the holiest things is a non-negotiable core tradition in our culture."
French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said France supported press freedom, which "should be exercised in a spirit of tolerance and respect for beliefs and religions."
Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons last September, has apologized for any hurt they may have caused. The Danish government says it cannot tell free media what to do.