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Clashes erupted in Istanbul with police firing rubber bullets and teargas to disperse a mob on Monday after allegations that a satirical magazine had published a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad.

The clashes occurred after Istanbul’s chief prosecutor ordered the arrest of the editors at LeMan magazine on grounds it had published a cartoon that “publicly insulted religious values”.

The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Tuncay Akgun, said the image had been misinterpreted.

“This cartoon is not a caricature of prophet Muhammad in any way,” he told Agence France-Presse. “In this work, the name of a Muslim who was killed in the bombardments of Israel is fictionalised as Muhammad. More than 200 million people in the Islamic world are named Muhammad.

“[It] has nothing to do with prophet Muhammad. We would never take such a risk.”

As the news broke, several dozen angry protesters attacked a bar often frequented by LeMan staffers in downtown Istanbul, provoking angry scuffles with police, an AFP correspondent said.

The scuffles quickly became clashes involving between 250 to 300 people, the correspondent said.

Founded in 1991, LeMan is famed for its political satire and has long been the bane of conservatives, especially following its support for France’s Charlie Hebdo after its Paris offices were attacked in 2015 by Islamist gunmen who killed 12 following the magazine’s publication of caricatures of the prophet Muhammad.

The interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, said on that X police had arrested the cartoonist responsible for the image as well as LeMan’s graphic designer.

“The person named DP who made this vile drawing has been caught and taken into custody,” he wrote, adding: “These shameless individuals will be held accountable before the law.”

Others named in the arrest warrant were LeMan’s editor-in-chief and its managing editor, media reports said.

In a string of posts on X, LeMan defended the cartoon and said it had been deliberately misinterpreted to cause a provocation.

“The cartoonist wanted to portray the righteousness of the oppressed Muslim people by depicting a Muslim killed by Israel, he never intended to belittle religious values,” it said. “We do not accept the stigma imposed on us because there is no depiction of our prophet. It takes a very malicious person to interpret the cartoon in this way.”

“We apologise to our well-intentioned readers who we think were subjected to provocations.”

The justice minister, Yilmaz Tunc, said an investigation had been opened on grounds of “publicly insulting religious values”.

“Disrespect towards our beliefs is never acceptable,” he wrote on X. “No freedom grants the right to make the sacred values of a belief the subject of ugly humour. The caricature or any form of visual representation of our prophet not only harms our religious values but also damages societal peace.”

Istanbul’s governor, Davut Gul, also lashed out at “this mentality that seeks to provoke society by attacking our sacred values”.

“We will not remain silent in the face of any vile act targeting our nation’s faith,” he said.

The Dalai Lama has declared in a direct challenge to China that the centuries-old spiritual institution bearing his name will continue after his death and that only his inner circle, not Beijing, will have the authority to identify his successor.

In a video message played on Wednesday during prayer celebrations ahead of his 90th birthday this weekend, the 14th Dalai Lama said the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which manages his affairs, would oversee the search for his reincarnation.

“No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” he said in Dharamshala, the northern Indian hill town that serves as the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. “In accordance with past tradition, the search for my reincarnation and the naming of a 15th Dalai Lama will be carried out.”

The Dalai Lama had previously hinted he might be the last in the line, but he said consultations with senior spiritual leaders and appeals from the Tibetan public, including in Chinese-ruled Tibet, had persuaded him otherwise.

“In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” he told the gathering of senior Buddhist monks. He said clear written instructions would be left behind, but did not elaborate on their contents.

China annexed Tibet in 1951 and has retained tight control over the region ever since. It has said the choice of the next Dalai Lama lies only with Beijing, and has enshrined state assent for all senior Tibetan religious leaders in law. It insists the golden urn – a Qing dynasty ritual in which names are drawn by lot from a ceremonial vessel – is the only legitimate method for recognising reincarnated lamas. The Communist party must approve the final selection.

Beijing has already used this approach to assert control. After the death of the 10th Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second-highest spiritual authority, in 1995, the Dalai Lama recognised a six-year-old boy as his reincarnation. The boy and his family vanished into Chinese custody days later and have not been seen since. China installed its own candidate, widely rejected by Tibetans. According to Chinese state media, the Beijing-backed Panchen Lama met President Xi Jinping just last month and pledged loyalty to the Communist party.

The Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born in a free country, raising the possibility that the next reincarnation could emerge from among the Tibetan diaspora, which numbers about 140,000 globally, half of them in India. He has also said the next Dalai Lama might be an adult and not necessarily male.

“Today’s message is that the Dalai Lama institution will continue,” Lobsang Tenzin, the trust’s second-most senior leader and known by his religious title Samdhong Rinpoche, told a news conference in Dharamshala. “There will be a 15th Dalai Lama. There will be a 16th.” He said the Dalai Lama would issue detailed instructions on how the search for the next reincarnation should proceed.

Beijing swiftly rejected the Dalai Lama’s statement. “The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama, and other great Buddhist figures must be chosen by drawing lots from a golden urn and approved by the central government,” said the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning.

“Tibetan Buddhism was born in China and is a religion with Chinese characteristics,” she told a news briefing.

The clash underscores a long-running power struggle between Beijing and the Dalai Lama over who controls Tibetan Buddhism’s most sacred office. Most Tibetan Buddhists, in Tibet and in exile, oppose China’s tight control of the region.

Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lama is the earthly manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, a revered figure in Buddhism known as the bodhisattva of compassion – a spiritual being who remains in the world to guide others on the path to enlightenment.

By tradition, only the current Dalai Lama, or those he appoints, can identify his successor, using visions, omens and consultation with senior lamas and protectors of the faith.

Tenzin Gyatso was recognised the 14th reincarnation at the age of two. He assumed full authority at 15 and fled Tibet four years later when Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in 1959. He has been living in exile in Dharamshala since.

He was awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1989 “for advocating peaceful solutions based upon tolerance and mutual respect”.He wrote in a recent book: “The purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor. The new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world.”

The deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament in exile, Dolma Tsering Teykhang, said: “The world needs to hear directly from His Holiness. China tries to vilify him at every chance … It is trying to frame rules and regulations on how to have the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama in their hand.”

The succession dispute has also sharpened tensions between China and India, which granted asylum to the Dalai Lama after he fled Tibet. More than 100,000 Tibetans live in exile in India. Delhi officially recognises Tibet as part of China, but it also allows the Tibetan government in exile to operate from Dharamshala.

The reincarnation issue has drawn global attention. The US passed the Tibetan Policy and Support Act in 2020, threatening sanctions on Chinese officials who interfere in the selection process. The EU has voiced support for religious freedom in Tibet, but it has stopped short of taking a formal position on reincarnation.

Few break-ups have as many gossiping observers as the fallout between the once inseparable Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

The ill-fated bromance between the US president and the world’s richest man, which once raised questions about American oligarchy, is now being pored over by social media users in China, many of whom are Team Musk.

The latest drama comes from Musk’s pledge to found a new political party, the America party, if Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, which Musk described as “insane” passed the Senate this week (it did). Musk had already vowed to unseat lawmakers who backed Trump’s flagship piece of legislation, which is expected to increase US national debt by $3.3tn.

On Wednesday, hours after the bill passed the US Senate, the hashtag #MuskWantsToBuildAnAmericaParty went viral on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform similar to Musk’s X, receiving more than 37m views.

“If Elon Musk were to found a political party, his tech-driven mindset could inject fresh energy into politics. The potential for change is significant – and worth watching,” wrote one Weibo user.

“When you’ve had enough, there’s no need to keep putting up with it,” wrote another.

One comment summed up the mood on the platform: “Brother Musk, you’ve got over a billion people on our side backing you.”

Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is widely venerated in China for his business acumen and technological achievements. Tesla’s electric vehicles are the only western brand on Chinese roads that can rival domestic firms, and the company’s biggest factory by volume is in Shanghai. Musk is known to have a close relationship with China’s premier, Li Qiang, while Musk’s mother, Maye Musk, is a social media celebrity in her own right in China.

Musk’s popularity in China follows a well-established trend of Chinese audiences enthusiastically embracing US tech innovators. Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs was a bestseller in China, as was his biography of Musk.

Trump, however, is seen by many as being an unpredictable funnyman who has launched the most aggressive trade war on China in recent history.

Some internet users commented that Trump and Musk should grow up. “These two grown men argue nonstop over the smallest things – and the whole world ends up knowing about it,” wrote one user, while another joked: “Every day, Musk is basically live-streaming ‘How Billionaires Argue’”.

The conversation has been allowed to flourish on China’s tightly controlled social media, suggesting that at least some censors are betting that the US political chaos could be no bad thing for China.

Additional research by Lillian Yang