France has announced it will temporarily close embassies and schools in 20 countries after a French magazine published cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed.

This week's edition of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo features caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, including some of him naked.

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The decision to print the obscene cartoons came as fresh protests erupted in the Muslim world over an anti-Islam film made in the United States.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius says the magazine is pouring oil on the fire.

"I have obviously issued instructions so that special security measures are taken in all the countries where this could pose a problem," he said.

The French government says it will close embassies and schools in those countries on Friday, the Muslim holy day, for fear of being targeted in demonstrations following weekly prayers.

The controversial edition of Charlie Hebdo hit the news stands with a cover showing an Orthodox Jew pushing the turbaned figure of Mohammed in a wheelchair.

The weekly carries a total of four cartoons which include images intended to represent Mohammed, as opposed to any other Muslim.

In two of them, the Prophet is shown naked.

One is inspired by Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 film Contempt and features the naked Prophet asking the director "You like my buttocks?" - parroting a line delivered by Brigitte Bardot in the film.

Another shows the founder of Islam crouched on all fours with a star coming out of his behind with the inscription "A Star Is Born."

The film references were an attempt to satirise the crudely-made short film Innocence of Muslims, which has triggered the worldwide protests.

Riot police have been deployed outside the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo. The magazine said its website had been hacked and was not accessible.

French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has called for "responsibility" and said anyone offended by the caricatures could sue.

But he made it clear there would be no action against the weekly.

"We are in a country where freedom of expression is guaranteed, including the freedom to caricature," he said.

Charlie Hebdo's editor, Stephane Charbonnier, has defended the cartoons.

"I'm not asking strict Muslims to read Charlie Hebdo, just like I wouldn't go to a mosque to listen to speeches that go against everything I believe," he said.

The United States has raised concerns over the publication of the cartoons.

"We have questions about the judgment of publishing something like this," White House spokesman Jay Carney said, while adding, "it is not in any way justification for violence."

"We don't question the right of something like this to be published, we just question the judgment behind the decision to publish it," he said.

US state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said as yet no decisions had been made regarding whether US embassies would be closed on Friday, as the situation was being evaluated "on a day-today basis".

Muslim condemnation

Leaders of the large Muslim community in France said an appeal for calm would be read out in mosques across the country on Friday but also condemned the magazine for publishing "insulting" images.

Initial reaction from Muslim countries has been critical.

"Of course it will anger people further. It will raise tensions that were already dangerously high," said Sheikh Nabil Rahim, a leading Salafist cleric in Lebanon.

"We will try to keep things managed and peaceful, but these things easily get out of hand. I fear there could more targeting of foreigners, and this is why I wish they would not persist with these provocations."

In Egypt, Essam Erian, acting head of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, condemned the cartoons.

"We reject and condemn the French cartoons that dishonour the Prophet and we condemn any action that defames the sacred according to people's beliefs," he said.

Charlie Hebdo is no stranger to controversy.

The left-wing, libertarian publication's offices were firebombed last year after it published an edition "guest-edited" by the Prophet Mohammed that it called Sharia Hebdo.

ABC/wires