PARIS (AFP/Reuters) - France was swept up Thursday in the wave of anger washing over the Muslim world as protesters in Afghanistan and Iran denounced a magazine’s publication of obscene cartoons of the holy Prophet.Chanting “Death to France! Death to America!”, hundreds demonstrated in the Afghan capital Kabul against the cartoons and a US-made anti-Islam film that has sparked widespread outrage. In Tehran, up to 100 people protested in front of France’s embassy, chanting “Death to France!” as dozens of police deployed around the compound prevented the crowd from approaching.France has been bracing for a backlash following Wednesday’s publication of the cartoons - two of which show the holy Prophet by satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo.In anticipation of potential protests on Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, Paris said it would shutter its diplomatic missions, cultural centres and French schools in around 20 Muslim countries.More than 30 people have been killed in attacks and violent protests linked to the anti-Islam film, made in US, including 12 people who died in an attack by a female suicide bomber in Afghanistan and four Americans, among them the US ambassador, killed at the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.The crudely made film - produced by US-based extremist Christians and depicting the holy Prophet has triggered protests in at least 20 countries since excerpts were posted online.The low-budget, amateurish video appears to have been the work of Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, an Egyptian Coptic Christian and convicted fraudster living in California who went into hiding Saturday.Protests against the film took place in many countries on Wednesday, including in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Sri Lanka.Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has called for protests all week in Lebanon and major demonstrations are expected in Pakistan on Friday, where the government has declared a national holiday in honour of the holy Prophet.Washington has also moved to boost security amid the protests, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying the United States was taking “aggressive steps” to protect diplomatic missions worldwide.The US embassy in Jakarta said all its diplomatic missions in Indonesia would be closed Friday because of “the potential for significant demonstrations”.Singapore on Thursday joined countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan that have blocked access to YouTube following the site’s release of the clip of the film.In France, police said Thursday they had forbidden a demonstration planned for Saturday in front of Paris’s Grand Mosque.The interior ministry has said it will deny all requests for permits to protest the film after a demonstration last weekend near the US embassy in Paris turned violent.The OIC also signalled on Wednesday that it will revive long-standing attempts to make insults against religions an international criminal offence. The bid follows uproar across the Muslim world over a crude Internet video clip filmed in the United States and cartoons in a French satirical magazine that lampoon the holy Prophet.But it appears unlikely to win acceptance from Western countries determined to resist restrictions on freedom of speech and already concerned about the repressive effect of blasphemy laws in Muslim countries such as Pakistan.Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary-general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said the international community should “come out of hiding from behind the excuse of freedom of expression”, a reference to Western arguments against a universal blasphemy law that the OIC has sought for over a decade. He said the “deliberate, motivated and systematic abuse of this freedom” were a danger to global security and stability.Separately, the Human Rights Commission of the OIC, which has 57 members and is based in Saudi Arabia, said “growing intolerance towards Muslims” had to be checked and called for “an international code of conduct for media and social media to disallow the dissemination of incitement material”.Leaders of France’s Muslim community - the largest in western Europe - said an appeal for calm would be read in mosques across the country on Friday but also condemned Charlie Hebdo for publishing “insulting” images.