Jakarta – Indonesian Muslims staged noisy but peaceful protests in four cities on Monday demanding Denmark apologize over controversial cartoons that Muslims say insult Islam and the Prophet Mohammad.

About 200 protesters from a leading Islamist party rallied near a building housing the Danish embassy in Jakarta.

The embassy is on the 25th floor and the flag-waving demonstrators from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) were barred from entering the lobby, where unruly protesters from a hardline group rampaged on Friday.

The protesters shouted slogans condemning the caricatures, which were first published by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten last year. "Denmark must apologize for disgracing the Prophet," yelled the protesters. One banner read: "Insulting the Prophet = Insulting Islam." There were also small protests by separate groups in three other cities. There was no violence.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday joined the chorus of condemnation from the world's most populous Muslim nation over the controversial cartoons, which include the Prophet wearing a bomb-like turban.

Outrage has erupted in the Middle East and other countries in the Muslim world after more European newspapers published the cartoons, which were originally published last September. Muslims consider any images of Mohammad to be blasphemous.

A number of European newspapers have said press freedom was more important than the protests and boycotts they have provoked. Many Arab commentators have said that defense rang hollow because, they said, European media protected Judaism and Israel from criticism.