MORE than 600 Muslims carried out a peaceful protest in Blackburn town centre against controversial cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist.

Men, women and children marched to the town hall in King William Street and saw speakers praise the town's MP Jack Straw for his condemnation of the cartoons.

Organised by the Muslim Council of Europe and supported by several local councillors, the protest began in Bangor Street and people marched down Whalley Range into the town centre for a rally on Saturday afternoon.

Designed also to show a moderate side to Islamic protests, placards carried slogans such as Respect all Religions', Britain United' and Blasphemy', although one carried the words Freedom is the cancer, Islam is the cure'.

The protest was called to express the anger of East Lancashire Muslims towards cartoons published in a Danish newspaper that depicted the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist.

The cartoons, which have never been printed in the British media, provoked violent protest around the Muslim world.

Following their publication Foreign Secretary Mr Straw said: "The right of freedom of speech in all societies and all cultures has to be exercised responsibly and does not extend to an obligation to insult."

The protest coincided with a gathering of 15,000 people in London who held a peaceful rally against the cartoons.

Coun Hussain Akhtar, whose Shear Brow ward has an 80 per cent Muslim population, helped organise the protest. He said: "This is one of the biggest demonstrations we have ever held.

"We wanted to show that Muslims can protest about something that is deeply insulting to our religion in a positive, peaceful way.

"We have been together in this community for 40 years and these cartoons have threatened to undo all the good relations.

"There are people aged from five to 80 on this march. As well as expressing our anger, we also want to praise the British media for the even-handed way they've covered the cartoons and to Jack Straw for condemning them."

Haroon Rashid, a Manchester-based barrister invited to address the crowd, told them: "With freedom of speech comes responsibility.

"As Muslims we distance ourselves from those who have taken part in violent protests. We express our concerns in a constructive and peaceful way. We want the media to take notice of us and not concentrate on one idiot who dresses up as a suicide bomber."

People were also asked to sign a petition calling for those responsible for the Danish cartoons to make an unreserved apology'.

Police said the rally was organised with their co-operation and passed off peacefully.