Huge Bangladesh rally calls for boycott of French products - BBC News

Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, demanding a boycott of French goods amid a row over France's tougher stance on radical Islam.

They burned an effigy of President Emmanuel Macron, who has defended cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also called for a boycott of French goods.

He said "European leaders should tell the French president to stop his hate campaign".

But governments across Europe have come out in support of Mr Macron and condemned Mr Erdogan's comments about the French leader.

Mr Erdogan said his French counterpart needed "treatment on a mental level" for his stance on radical Islam on Saturday, prompting France to recall its ambassador to Turkey for consultations.

Protesters chanted "Boycott French products" and called for President Macron to be punished.

A statement also criticised the calls for a boycott, saying they "distort the positions defended by France in favour of freedom of conscience, freedom of expression, freedom of religion and the refusal of any call to hatred", as well as distorting Mr Macron's comments on Islam "for political ends".

His portrait and Prophet Muhammad cartoons were projected on to town halls in two French cities last week as part of tributes to the teacher.

Mr Paty's death came two weeks after the French president described Islam as a religion "in crisis" and announced new measures in France to tackle what he called "Islamist separatism".

In a tweet on Monday President Macron said France "will not give in, ever" but also said it respects "all differences in a spirit of peace".

But it is certain that the demand for cutting off diplomatic relations with France or call for boycotting French products would largely be ignored.

A party leader told the BBC that the statement by the French president was unfortunate, but they don't support calls for a boycott of French products.

He said they expected that the president of a civilised country like France would withdraw his comments on Islam and its prophet.

Saudi Arabia has issued an official statement condemning cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, but did not mention France by name.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov accused Mr Macron of provoking Muslims, saying the French president was "himself beginning to look like a terrorist".

In a tweet on Sunday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the French president of "attacking Islam", while French products have been removed from some shops in Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands "stands firmly with France and for the collective values of the European Union", while Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also expressed his "full solidarity" with Mr Macron?