Jakarta, Indonesia - Indonesia's government and top Islamic leaders on Wednesday urged Muslims protesting against controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad to stop rallies from spinning out of control.
Speaking after discussing the issue with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda, Muslim clerics did not call for an end to protests, but said violence would only be used to paint a negative picture of Indonesia.
Denmark has been the focus of Muslim rage since images -- one showing the Prophet with a turban resembling a bomb -- first appeared in a local newspaper and were subsequently published elsewhere in Europe and further afield.
Indonesian protesters have vandalized a Jakarta tower housing the Danish embassy and its consulate in another city, prompting Copenhagen on Tuesday to urge its citizens to leave the world's most populous Muslim country.
Denmark's flag has also been burned in numerous cities.
"The reaction has been sufficient...in getting the message across," said Din Syamsuddin, who leads the 30-million strong Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim group.
"But do not go overboard and get trapped into a situation that can be used by elements bent on painting an image of Indonesia's Islam as an intolerant, rigid and anarchic society," he told reporters.
Wirajuda warned that uncontrolled protests could "give more ammunition to radical groups" to heighten tensions. He did not elaborate.
Syamsuddin said the Danish envoy to Indonesia had called him to express regret over the situation and had urged Indonesia's Muslims to accept such apologies.
But Syamsuddin warned that continued negative portrayals of Islam could stoke tensions that might prove there was a clash of civilizations between Islam and the West.
"If this happens again and the West still doesn't understand Islam, I think this will spark Islamic radicalism," he said.
Another top Muslim intellectual, Azyumardi Azra, who heads Jakarta's State Islamic University, said some groups wanted to exploit the passions over the cartoons to "discredit" Islam.
Some people have been killed in protests linked to the controversy -- in Somalia, Lebanon and
Afghanistan -- and violence has hit cities across Europe and the Middle East.
Newspapers in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, New Zealand, Poland, the United States, Japan, Norway, Malaysia, Australia, Jordan, Yemen, Ukraine and Fiji have so far reprinted some of the cartoons.