Around 150 Muslim youths burnt the Danish flag in the southern Dutch city of Maastricht Friday in protest at cartoons published in a Danish newspaper last year. The protest was the first of its kind in the Netherlands since the row over the cartoons erupted. It was conducted by youths aged 14 to 18 and took place Friday afternoon on 1992 Square in the city. The group assembled at the main station and then walked accompanied by police to the square carrying banners and shouting slogans in Arabic. Police decided to allow the protest, even though permission had not been applied for as required under the law. The youths walked back to the station at around 4 p.m. (1500 GMT) and the protest disbanded without major incident. --SP 20 25 Local Time 17 25 GMT
