The Paris newspaper France Soir has sacked its managing editor after the daily printed caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that have sparked protests and boycotts in the Muslim world.

The daily confirmed that owner Raymond Lakah had fired Jacques Lefranc on Wednesday evening after a tumultuous day on which German and Spanish dailies ran the controversial cartoons that first appeared in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. Lakah said in a statement Lefranc was sacked ?in a strong sign of respect for the beliefs and intimate convictions of every individual?.

But yesterday?s edition of the tabloid, which is in financial difficulty, defended its decision to print the cartoons first published in September by the Danish daily.

?The best way to fight censorship is not to let it happen?, it wrote in an editorial. ?In these circumstances, that meant publishing these drawings. Imagine a society that added up all the prohibitions of different religions. What would remain of the freedom to think, to speak and even to come and go ? We know societies like that all too well. The Iran of the mullahs, for example. But yesterday, it was the France of the Inquisitions, the burning stakes and the Saint Bartholomew?s Day (massacre of Protestants).?

Thousands of Palestinians protested against Denmark this week and Arab ministers called on it to punish Jyllands-Posten.

Saudi Arabia and Syria have recalled their ambassadors from Copenhagen and Libya has closed its embassy. Qatar condemned the cartoons and Danish products have been the subject of a boycott in some Arab countries.

Danish-Swedish dairy producer Arla, one of the companies hardest hit by the boycott, is having to lay off workers because of a fall in demand, Danish media said. Hizbollah head Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah told a religious rally on Wednesday night in Beirut those steps were not enough.

?Can recalling an ambassador and boycotting goods resolve the problem ? The answer is no?, Nasrallah said. ?I call on Muslim scholars, leaders and all Muslims to take a firm stand because if we forgive today God knows what they will do tomorrow.?

<B>Khaled ABDULLAH</B>