"This is hate speech, plain and simple," declared Nahid Noori, 19, of Fresh Meadows, describing the caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in several European newspapers. Like many of the 400 New York-area Muslims who a braved biting wind yesterday to join a protest at the United Nations, Noori viewed the cartoons as not just blasphemy, but proof of rising Islamophobia.

But in sharp contrast to the Muslim demonstrators in Syria and Lebanon, who burned embassies and made death threats, nearly every speaker at yesterday's rally organized by the Islamic Circle of North America, a Jamaica-based national group, decried violence as a response.

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NEW YORK: The General Assembly meeting of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) was held in New York from January 28 through 29. Members of General Assembly (MGAs) os ICNA from different states attended the meeting in large numbers. During the two day meeting, the MGAs reviewed ICNA's last year performance while reports concerning different state chapters and ICNA's affiliate organizations were also presented. Significant among these were the reports concerning Dawa, relief and education departments, said a press release issued by ICNA from its New York headquarters.