TRIPOLI - Libya said Sunday it was closing its embassy in Denmark in protest against the publication there last year of caricatures of the prophet Mohammed, amid a rising tide of anger in Muslim countries.
"In light of the attacks against the prophet Mohammed and the silence of the Danish authorities, Libya has decided to close down its diplomatic representation in Copenhagen," the Libyan foreign ministry announced in a statement run by the official Jana news agency.
The statement added that Libya would take "retaliatory economic measures against Denmark".
Denmark has been the target of protests, particularly in the Middle East since the publication of the cartoons in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper last September.
The 12 published cartoons included a portrayal of the prophet wearing a time-bomb shaped turban and showing him as a wild-eyed, knife-wielding bedouin flanked by two women shrouded in black.
Muslims consider images of Mohammed as blasphemous.
There have been campaigns for Danish products to be boycotted, especially in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The Danish government "vigorously condemns these attacks as well as the fact that Danish flags have been burnt in the Arab world (on the West Bank) and expects the governments of these countries to do the same," Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said in a statement.
Moeller said such acts were "worrying" as Denmark "normally maintains a good dialogue with the Arab world and has played a constructive role at the international level in the Middle East peace process and the promotion of dialogue and understanding."
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