Comic effect

I have been refraining from putting anything related to major havoc caused buy a cartoon published somewhere in Europe. Was this the reaction the republisher's(the cartoons were initially published many moths ago and had gone unnoticed) were hoping for? I have been reading that in the Muslim countries it has just been used to launch all sorts of protests. And in Pakistan it is used to attach Indian embassy. Jokes apart... I am wondering how can a small sheet with scribbles can cause such reaction with people who have not even seen it?

An additional thought why is there no such protest against the treatment of prisoners? Isn't it worth more than a piece of paper?