Campaigners stage demo outside Downing Street

Hundreds of Muslims have gathered in Whitehall as part of a demonstration against the recent publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

The protest was organised by the Muslim Action Forum. Participants said they were campaigning for global civility and wanted to encourage people to live together harmoniously.

The group has been running a petition on its website, which has so far collected 106,496 signatures.

It reads: "I believe that through mutual consideration and the revival of civility as a shared medium of dialogue we are better equipped to reconstructing a more enlightened society."

The petition also includes the following points:

• I endorse emphatically the Declaration of Global Civility drafted by the campaigners of Global Civility

• I call upon the British Parliament to table a debate in both Houses of Parliament to discuss the endorsement of the Declaration of Global Civility

• I call upon all civilised people and institutions globally to disassociate themselves from any actions that are an affront to global civility

• I denounce the actions of all those people who are connected with the production of the cartoons of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon Him, and believe that these actions are an affront to the norms of civilised society.