KARACHI, Pakistan — Muslim anger flared over a French satirical weekly’s latest caricature of the Prophet Muhammad, with four people reported killed and dozens injured at a protest Friday in the West African country of Niger, and violent clashes between demonstrators and police in Pakistan, Jordan and Algeria.

Supporters say the cartoon on the cover of Charlie Hebdo is a defiant expression of free speech following a terrorist attack on the publication’s Paris offices that killed 12 people on Jan. 7, but many Muslims viewed it as another attack on their religion.

Additional Images

A man expresses his anti-Charlie Hebdo feelings during a protest in Algiers, Algeria, Friday. Elsewhere in Africa, four people died in a protest in the former French colony of Niger. The Associated Press

The new issue has a drawing of Muhammad, with a tear rolling down his cheek and a placard that reads “Je Suis Charlie” – a saying that has swept France and the world since the killings. The depiction of the prophet is deemed insulting to many followers of Islam.

A French cultural center was set ablaze by protesters in the town of Zinder in southern Niger, and one security officer and three demonstrators were killed in the melee, said Interior Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou. Another 20 security officers and 23 civilians were injured, he said.

The government of Niger, a former French colony, has banned the sale of Charlie Hebdo.

Many of the protests across the Muslim world began after midday prayers Friday, Islam’s holy day.

Demonstrations were held in the Pakistani cities of Karachi, Lahore and the capital of Islamabad.

The demonstrations overshadowed smaller rallies in Islamabad and elsewhere to commemorate the Peshawar school attack one month ago by Taliban gunmen that killed 150 people, many of them children. Those attending the rallies urged the government to do more to curb support for militancy and extremism, which many say have flourished at mosques and religious schools.

In a rare protest in the Algerian capital of Algiers, thousands of young men marched to protest the French satirical newspaper. The demonstrators threw bottles and rocks at security forces, who responded with tear gas.

Also Friday:

• About 160 men in Istanbul said funeral prayers to honor the Kouachi brothers, who carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack.

• Saudi Arabia’s top council of senior clerics said Charlie Hebdo’s latest depiction of the prophet served extremists looking to justify murder and terrorism.

• Qatar urged Western media “to respect others and their beliefs.”

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