SINGAPORE — Anti-France anger is growing across the Muslim world, with the burning of its flag, protests and calls to boycott French goods, after the nation’s president Emmanuel Macron defended the right to free speech over religious cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.

Mr Macron’s comments followed the beheading of a French history teacher Samuel Paty, who had used the cartoons in a civics lesson to illustrate the right to free speech.

Earlier this month, the French leader also pledged to fight “Islamic separatism” and said that Islam is in need of “an enlightenment” amid a crackdown on extremist groups in the country.

The outcry over Mr Macron's comments is escalating, with protests numbering in the tens of thousands in some countries.

WHAT DID MACRON SAY?

Mr Macron made his defence of the cartoons on Oct 21 at a national tribute for the history teacher who was beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen extremist outside his Paris school on Oct 16. The attacker was shot dead by police.

The teacher’s use of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad during a civics lesson angered some parents as depictions of the Prophet are considered blasphemous by Muslims.

Mr Macron described the killing as an “Islamist terror attack”, adding that France would not censor such cartoons.

The cartoons were originally published by French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which led to the slaughter of 12 people at the magazine’s Paris headquarters in January 2015. Trials for suspected accomplices of the Charlie Hebdo terror attacks are ongoing.

Earlier this month, Mr Macron unveiled measures for regulating Islamism in France, such as making mosque financing more transparent.

He also described Islam as a religion that was “experiencing a crisis”, provoking backlash from French Muslims for what they argue is the propagation of an Islamophobic narrative.

The French government has conducted numerous raids against suspected Islamic extremists, closed the Grand Mosque of Pantin, a major mosque on the outskirts of Paris, and shut down some Muslim aid groups.

REACTIONS FROM THE MUSLIM WORLD

Mr Macron’s defence of religious cartoons has sparked anger across the Muslim world.

On Tuesday (Oct 27), an estimated 40,000 people marched through Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital. Along with calls to “boycott France”, protestors burnt an effigy of the French president in the biggest anti-France demonstration since Mr Macron’s remarks on Wednesday.

Protests have erupted in other predominantly Muslim countries, including Syria, Libya, Iraq and Pakistan. Shops in Qatar and Kuwait have also removed French products from their shelves.

In a series of Twitter posts on Sunday, Pakistan's prime minister Imran Khan accused Mr Macron of “attacking Islam” and encouraging Islamophobia.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey has called on citizens to boycott French products and said that Mr Macron required treatment and “mental checks” because of his attitude towards Muslims.

A foreign ministry official from Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, has said that the country condemns all acts of terrorism and rejects offensive images of the Prophet Muhammad.