Khartoum/Nairobi - Thousands of people took to the streets of the Sudanese capital Khartoum Wednesday in protest at the republishing of cartoons in Danish newspapers depicting the Muslim Prophet Mohammed, reports said.

The protest, called by President Omar Beshir, saw hundreds of thousands of people waving banners and chanting anti-Danish slogans, calling for an end to diplomatic ties with Denmark and urging other Muslim countries to do the same, al-Jazeera reported.

Beshir, who addressed the protestors, announced a boycott of Danish goods and issued a decree banning Danes from entering the country.

Sudan's trade ministry has declared a national boycott of Danish products over the cartoons, one of which depicted Mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban.

Denmark's newspapers reprinted the cartoons, which sparked fury and protests across the Muslim world in 2006, after a plot to kill the cartoonist was uncovered two weeks ago.

Despite the outrage sparked the first time they were printed, the newspapers said they republished the cartoons to promote freedom of expression.