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15 killed in Pakistani fury over film
Source: Agencies |
September 22, 2012, Saturday
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PROTESTS over an anti-Muslim film turned to violence across Pakistan yesterday, with police firing tear gas and live ammunition at thousands of demonstrators throwing rocks and setting fire to buildings. At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured.
Muslims also marched in at least half a dozen other countries, with some burning American flags and effigies of US President Barack Obama.
Pakistan has experienced nearly a week of deadly protests over the film, "Innocence of Muslims," that has sparked anti-American violence around the Islamic world since it emerged on the Internet in the past 10 days. The deaths of at least 45 people, including the US ambassador to Libya, have been linked to violence over the film, which was made in California and denigrates the Prophet Muhammad.
The Pakistani government declared yesterday a national holiday - "Love for the Prophet Day" - and encouraged peaceful protests.
The US Embassy spent US$70,000 for advertisements on Pakistani TV that featured Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denouncing the video.
The deadliest violence was in the southern port city of Karachi, where 12 people were killed and 82 wounded, according to hospital officials.
Armed demonstrators among a crowd of 15,000 in the city fired on police, and the crowd also burned two cinemas and a bank, a police spokesman said.
Three people were killed and 61 wounded in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said police official Bashir Khan. Police fired on rioters who set fire to two movie theaters and the city's chamber of commerce, and damaged shops and vehicles.
One of the dead was identified as Mohammad Amir, a driver for a Pakistani TV station killed when police bullets hit his vehicle parked near the cinema.
Later in the day, tens of thousands of protesters converged in a neighborhood and called for the maker of the film, an American citizen originally from Egypt, to be executed.
Police and stone-throwers also clashed in Lahore and Islamabad, the capital. Police fired tear gas and warning shots to try to keep them from advancing toward US missions in the cities.
Hospital official Tanveer Malik said 25 people were wounded in Islamabad.
Police clashed with more than 10,000 demonstrators in several neighborhoods, including in front of a five-star hotel near the diplomatic enclave where the US Embassy and other foreign missions are located.
The government temporarily blocked cellphone services in 15 major cities to prevent militants using phones to detonate bombs during the protests, said an Interior Ministry official.
Yesterday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned the US charge d'affaires in Islamabad, Richard Hoagland, over the film.
US officials have tried to explain to the Muslim world how they strongly disagree with the anti-Islam film but have no ability to block it because of free speech guarantees.
In Iraq, about 3,000 protesters condemned the film and caricatures of the prophet that were published in a French satirical weekly. Some protesters raised Iraqi flags and posters of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while chanting: "Death to America."
In the Sri Lanka capital of Colombo, about 2,000 Muslims burned effigies of Obama and US flags at a protest after Friday prayers.
In Bangladesh, more than 2,000 people marched in the capital, Dhaka, and burned a makeshift coffin draped in an American flag and an effigy of Obama.
They also burned a French flag to protest the publication of the caricatures of the prophet. Small and mostly orderly protests were also held in Malaysia and Indonesia and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
Muslims also marched in at least half a dozen other countries, with some burning American flags and effigies of US President Barack Obama.
Pakistan has experienced nearly a week of deadly protests over the film, "Innocence of Muslims," that has sparked anti-American violence around the Islamic world since it emerged on the Internet in the past 10 days. The deaths of at least 45 people, including the US ambassador to Libya, have been linked to violence over the film, which was made in California and denigrates the Prophet Muhammad.
The Pakistani government declared yesterday a national holiday - "Love for the Prophet Day" - and encouraged peaceful protests.
The US Embassy spent US$70,000 for advertisements on Pakistani TV that featured Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denouncing the video.
The deadliest violence was in the southern port city of Karachi, where 12 people were killed and 82 wounded, according to hospital officials.
Armed demonstrators among a crowd of 15,000 in the city fired on police, and the crowd also burned two cinemas and a bank, a police spokesman said.
Three people were killed and 61 wounded in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said police official Bashir Khan. Police fired on rioters who set fire to two movie theaters and the city's chamber of commerce, and damaged shops and vehicles.
One of the dead was identified as Mohammad Amir, a driver for a Pakistani TV station killed when police bullets hit his vehicle parked near the cinema.
Later in the day, tens of thousands of protesters converged in a neighborhood and called for the maker of the film, an American citizen originally from Egypt, to be executed.
Police and stone-throwers also clashed in Lahore and Islamabad, the capital. Police fired tear gas and warning shots to try to keep them from advancing toward US missions in the cities.
Hospital official Tanveer Malik said 25 people were wounded in Islamabad.
Police clashed with more than 10,000 demonstrators in several neighborhoods, including in front of a five-star hotel near the diplomatic enclave where the US Embassy and other foreign missions are located.
The government temporarily blocked cellphone services in 15 major cities to prevent militants using phones to detonate bombs during the protests, said an Interior Ministry official.
Yesterday, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned the US charge d'affaires in Islamabad, Richard Hoagland, over the film.
US officials have tried to explain to the Muslim world how they strongly disagree with the anti-Islam film but have no ability to block it because of free speech guarantees.
In Iraq, about 3,000 protesters condemned the film and caricatures of the prophet that were published in a French satirical weekly. Some protesters raised Iraqi flags and posters of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while chanting: "Death to America."
In the Sri Lanka capital of Colombo, about 2,000 Muslims burned effigies of Obama and US flags at a protest after Friday prayers.
In Bangladesh, more than 2,000 people marched in the capital, Dhaka, and burned a makeshift coffin draped in an American flag and an effigy of Obama.
They also burned a French flag to protest the publication of the caricatures of the prophet. Small and mostly orderly protests were also held in Malaysia and Indonesia and Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.
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