The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has warned that cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Mohammed published in France will trigger a new wave of anti-Western violence.

In a statement, OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu "expressed shock and dismay over" the depictions and warned they would "further exacerbate the ongoing turmoil and violence created by the release of the anti-Islam film (Innocence of Muslims)".

Paris police have banned two demonstrations planned for Saturday, including one in front of the city's Grand Mosque, to protest against a U.S.-made anti-Islam film, a police source said.

An individual had made an official request to police to hold the demonstration before the city's main mosque but was refused permission, the source said.

Up to 200 people protested without incident in front of France's embassy in Tehran on Thursday over a French satirical weekly's publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

The protesters chanted "Death to France," as well as Iran's arch-foes Israel and the United States, as dozens of police deployed around the embassy compound in central Tehran prevented the crowd from approaching.

Hundreds of Afghans on Thursday protested for the first time against cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed published in France and staged fresh rallies against a U.S.-made anti-Islam film.

About 300 students chanted "death to France, death to America" in a western neighborhood of the capital Kabul, an Agence France Presse photographer said.

French schools and cultural centers in Egypt will close on Thursday as a precautionary measure after the publication in France of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed, the consulate said.

"Although there has been no specific threat in Egypt, it has been decided as a precaution and as in other countries, to close French schools and cultural centers in Egypt on Thursday September 20," it said in a statement.

The Vatican's official daily Osservatore Romano on Wednesday condemned a French weekly's decision to publish cartoons of a naked Prophet Mohammed as "fuel on the fire.”

"The debatable initiative by the French magazine threatens... to add more fuel to the fire after the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi," the newspaper said.

Security measures were bolstered outside the French embassy and near the ambassador's official residence on Wednesday over fears of a backlash after the publication in France of cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed.

Lebanese armored personnel carriers deployed near the mission and outside the Pine Residence in Beirut, where the ambassador resides.

France's interior minister said Wednesday after a French magazine published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed that freedom of speech, including caricature, was a "fundamental right" backed by the law.

Manuel Valls made the statement after meeting with French Muslim leaders angered by the cartoons, some of which depict the Prophet in the nude.

France stepped up security and appealed for calm Wednesday after a weekly magazine published cartoons of a naked Prophet Mohammed that risked fanning outrage in the Islamic world.

Security was reinforced at French missions and other institutions in countries feared most at risk of a hostile reaction.

The French Foreign Ministry stressed on Tuesday the importance of maintaining Lebanon and Syria's sovereignty and unity.

Spokesman Philippe Laleu said of claims that members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards may be in Lebanon and Syria that Paris condemns all that can harm the sovereignty of either country.